01:00 AM EDT on Monday, May 9, 2005

Having helped some 200 inner-city students do better in a special charter school than in other public schools, Rick Landau has announced that he will step down as chief executive officer of Providence's Textron Chamber of Commerce Academy.

The reason? Teachers'-union leaders are furious at him for trying to protect his school's role as an engine of innovation.

In struggling to keep together a team of excellent teachers, Mr. Landau took aim at the sacred cow of "bumping" -- a practice in which public-school teachers with seniority hold on to their jobs during a layoff through the dismissal of teachers with less seniority, even at other schools, regardless of how well they perform.

Mr. Landau asked his Textron Academy teachers to explore setting up a separate bargaining unit after it seemed that six of them -- a third of the teaching staff -- might be laid off so that teachers from other Providence schools could be shipped in. The teachers'-union leaders made it clear that they would allow no such innovation. Mr. Landau was then subjected to a steady fire, to the point at which he felt he could no longer lead effectively.

Mr. Landau had argued, correctly, that his school could not fulfill its mission unless it had the best teachers possible -- regardless of their status in the public-school bureaucracy. The Textron corporation and other businesses had contributed nearly $2 million to help educate Providence students who had economic and other disadvantages. And under Mr. Landau's leadership, Textron Academy established standards, raised test scores, and improved literacy.

Now all this may be at risk.

Mr. Landau is not a typical Rhode Island educator. He went to Brown University (was captain of the basketball team) and became a highly successful Wall Street executive. He then decided to do something more with his life, so returned to Brown to teach public policy; he was then named head of the Textron school. His inner-city students were immensely fortunate to have in their corner a leader of his experience, intelligence, integrity, and compassion.

Mr. Landau's departure is about more than the fate of the Texton Chamber of Commerce Academy. "Bumping" is a pernicious practice; it takes place both in Rhode Island and in some other states. Legislators and local officials should work, through law or contract negotiations, to do away with it -- and let educational leaders give precedence to the best, most dedicated teachers.