Getting Paid To Do Nothing: NYC Teachers In Rubber Rooms

Every few years, the issue of public school teachers in rubber rooms gets explored. These are teachers who have been removed from duty—whether they've been rightly or unfairly accused— while their cases are investigated...and all while they are still paid. (Remember the Bronx school bomb scare allegedly caused by a teacher? Well, that teacher was upset that he might be transferred to a rubber room over allegations he punched a student.) Now the Associated Press delves into the bizarro world of the rubber room, the holding pens where teachers are kept.

The AP describes the scene, "The 700 or so teachers can practice yoga, work on their novels, paint portraits of their colleagues — pretty much anything but school work. They have summer vacation just like their classroom colleagues and enjoy weekends and holidays through the school year...Because their union contract makes it extremely difficult to fire them." The teachers are still paid $70,000/year; the United Federation of Teachers said that while the UFT and Department of Education have agreed to reduce the teachers' time in rubber rooms, "No one wants teachers who don't belong in the classroom. However, we cannot neglect the teachers' rights to due process."

One teacher, Jennier Saunders, who spent about three years in a rubber room (or "reassignment center") because she was "charged with having a student sit in my class with a hat on, singing," said, "Most people in that room are depressed." Another, Michael Thomas, said he was in the rubber room for over a year after accusing the assistant principal of fudging test results, "The principal wants you out, you're gone."

Some try to make the best of it: Judith Cohen, (pictured, in the rubber room) who says she was "charged with using abusive language when a girl cut her with scissors," said, "The day just seemed to crawl by until I started painting." David Suker, who claims he was in limbo after being (falsely) accused of throwing a student's test sign-up sheet in the garbage during an argument, said, "It's sort of peaceful knowing that you're going to work to do nothing."

John Stossel also covered this for Reason in 2006 and the Village Voice looked at rubber rooms in 2007—one teacher said, "It's high school on steroids. Or maybe a mixture between a minimum security prison and a senior home."

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By Jen Chung in News on June 23, 2009 2:00 PM

Comments [rss]

Jeff Kaufman

Having been reassigned from Rikers I can honestly tell you while everyone makes the best of it there are incredible parallels between the teachers I met in the rubber room and the students I taught on Rikers Island waiting for their trial dates. Not knowing your fate and thinking about it constantly leaves most rubber room occupants in severe and in some cases, clinical, depression. My students exhibited similar behaviors. When trial dates approached anxiety increased sometimes, in both places, to violence. Denial and ignorance prevail. In the rubber room UFT lawyers don't contact their clients or investigate their cases. Rikers inmates have, for the most part, assigned counsel who do not return phone calls or care about their incarcerated clients. Without proper advocacy for either group they will continue to be abused and end up costing our society millions. The fact that the Mayor, in charge of both systems, is not held accountable demonstrates how disenfranchised both groups are.

r1b2

Because unions are archaic, there's no room for them in a market economy. They reward adequacy, with no gain for excellence and no penalty for failure.

Avaz383

article from yahoo news this morning...

insomniac010

I think this is the part of the article that speaks the most as to why this is the way it is:

"Once their hearings are over, they are either sent back to the classroom or fired. But because their cases are heard by 23 arbitrators who work only five days a month, stints of two or three years in a rubber room are common, and some teachers have been there for five or six."

I agree that a fair percentage of these teachers are the victims of poor management by the school administrators, I just find it shocking that the reaction to this issue hasn't been to make the system of review more efficient. Maybe it could run more than 5 days a month??

EricRoberts

And would no doubt pay for itself. Unfortunately government is short on common sense.

Spirit of 76

Doesn't Bloomberg have complete control of city schools? The blame should lie squarely on his shoulders.

The Vidiot

It sounds outrageous on its face. HOWEVER, many times, teachers are dismissed because the vindictive administrator decided he or she had to go. Or, a student has it out for a teacher and claims the teacher did something when the teacher did nothing. There are almost as many illegitimate reasons for placement in 'the rubber' room as there are legitimate ones.

As long as the system is managed top down, it will always be dysfunctional.

verbal

That's 50 million dollars a year, plus add about 15% in taxes and admin fees, absolutely outrageous. Give them a hearing and fire their molesting asses. This is what's wrong with education in this country - UFT is a 4 letter word.

sarahlucy

I was gonna mention the TAL ep too! It's definitely worth a listen, really interesting.

NewarkStateOfMind

A few months ago, This American Life ran a great episode about these rubber rooms :

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1286