According to the New York Post, New York City’s infamous “reassignment centers” for controversial teachers will be closed. The centers, known as “rubber rooms,” cost taxpayers $40 million in salaries alone last year, according to the Department of Education.
Ironically, the topic of rubber rooms was addressed on Glenn Beck’s program yesterday, where he recounted some of the many outrages of a system that refuses to suspend teachers who are awaiting disciplinary hearings for misconduct. In some cases, the waits are measured in years and one or two have dragged on for decades. All the while, teachers earn full pay, which translates to $70,000 or more, for “playing Scrabble, reading or surfing the Internet.”
The Post reports that Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the city’s teachers’ union, which has long backed the arrangement, have reached an agreement that will have the centers close this coming fall.
Currently, rubber rooms are the daily haunt of more than 600 teachers accused of misconduct ranging from educational incompetence to sexual abuse. At a time when New York State is grappling with a $9 billion budget shortfall, news of this spectacular bureaucratic waste is particularly galling.
Under the new arrangement, teachers accused of lesser charges will now report to Department of Education administrative offices or schools to perform clerical duties. In addition, the city will hire more arbitrators and set a strict time limit on the length of investigations in order clear up the logjam in disciplinary hearings.
Comments 1
It would be better if these hard working and badly misunderstood teachers were put to work, I say!
They could raise money for education as targets in pie throwing daily fund raiser contests at various subway stops.
Nail an overpaid, useless teacher with a Boston Cream pie today!
April 16th, 2010 at 6:32 pm