Why wait?

By Liam Day
October 2nd, 2007

My post today is really a question. It has to do with Boston English High, one of the oldest and most venerable secondary schools in the country, erstwhile rival to Boston Latin and the focus two weeks ago (sorry, I’m behind the times) of a Boston Globe feature.

It seems that English High is on the brink of closure due to consistent underperformance. The school, and its principal, Jose Duarte, have been granted a one-year reprieve to turn it around. To help him, Mr. Duarte has been given a moratorium on union work rules, allowing him “greater leeway over faculty appointments.”

As Mr. Duarte and his teachers strive to turn English High around, I wish them only the best. But my question is this: If the state believes that suspending union work rules and granting a principal the leeway to appoint his faculty are necessary to save a school, wouldn’t such practices help avoid the whole mess in the first place?