Central Falls High School is an urban Senior High School in Central Falls, Rhode Island that serves students from grades nine through twelve. It is centrally located within the city of Central Falls so that students are able to walk to and from school. It is a part of the Central Falls School District. Beyond academics, the high school offers a wide variety of co-curricular activities and clubs. Their co-curricular activities and clubs help their students develop their individual talents and achieve personal goals outside the classroom.
History
In 2010, Central Falls High School was named among the six worst schools in the state. Due to this, the District was ordered to make improvements by selecting one of four reform plans outlined in federal law. The District and the Teachers' Union were in contract negotiations during this time. Talks between the two parties broke down when the Teachers' Union would not agree to a package of changes for the high school, including lengthening the school day, requiring teachers to offer more tutoring, get additional training and eat lunch with students once a week under the "transformation model." In order to meet the deadline for choosing the model and because of a Rhode Island State Law that requires layoff notifications to be given to certified staff prior to March 1, the superintendent chose the "turnaround model." The turnaround model required a district to fire the entire staff. They may rehire up to 50% of the teachers for the beginning of the next school year. The teachers union sued the school district challenging the requirement that teachers must reapply for their jobs. More controversy began when President Obama weighed-in on the teacher firings. Eventually, both parties agreed to resume talks and in May 2010, the teachers were rehired once both parties agreed on a Settlement Agreement. At the time when this was happening the school had a graduation rate of around 50%, and 7% of 11th-graders were proficient in math in 2009. In 2012, the high school's graduation rate significantly increased to 71% and was highlighted by the Rhode Island Department of Education.
