I told them this was a situation where we've taken five steps forward and two steps backward. I told them I had expected more from them. Assistant Principal Mary Randle adds that there wasn't enough time to make good hiring decisions about replacing them or the some 20 teachers who were not invited to return to Harper. Sometimes people interview well, but later things don't work out as well as expected. She adds that, Harper had no choice but to take some teachers who had been dismissed from other reconstituted schools.
Some new teachers are standouts.
Aretha Collins, chair of the Science Department, points, for example, to Nicholas Miklusak, who came to the school from the Teachers for Chicago program. He allows students to have input into the lesson. If Mason is unhappy with any of his 92 teachers, he isn't saying so. However, he does suggest that the Reform Board offer incentives to draw and retain quality teachers at reconstituted schools. The bottom line for all reconstituted schools, as well as schools on probation, is improvement in reading and math.