DOE Rubber Room's Worst Ex-Teachers List, Officials Respond

Alan Rosenfeld

In its latest assault on the Department of Education’s Rubber Room (a long-term city holding area for bad teachers) the NY Post has published a list of its top offenders. That is, those who have been there the longest, get paid the best and have committed the most disgusting and reprehensible crimes (fondling, lewd comments, sexual assault, etc.). One put his hands down the pants of a special-ed student in 2003. One impregnated a student, who he met when she was 13. And we all know Rubber Room poster boy Alan Rosenfeld, who loves looking at his students’ rears. All get generous salaries and don’t work at all; in total they cost the city $540,000 each year. With out further ado, the “dishonor roll” as well as comments from the Schools Chancellor and Teachers Union President are after the break.

ALAN ROSENFELD Typing, IS 347, Queens Got a wrist slap for making lewd comments. Since 2001, he has been overseeing a $7.8 million real-estate portfolio and his law practice in the rubber room. Salary: $100,049
RADHARAMAN UPADHYAYA
Guidance counselor, Long Island City HS, Queens
Served a three-day suspension after he was accused of fondling a learning-disabled student at his home. A witness was found not credible. In a rubber room since 2003. Salary: $102,852

ARYEH ELLER
Music, Hillcrest HS, Queens, Admitted making lewd comments, but an arbitrator said he was not informed of his rights. In a rubber room since 2003. Salary: $85,426

WAYNE MILLER
Biology, Jamaica HS, Queens, In a rubber room since 2002, he was accused of sexually assaulting a child, but the alleged victim recanted the allegation, sources said. Salary: $78,039

FRANCISCO OLIVARES
Math, IS 61, Queens, Allegedly impregnated and married a 16-year-old student. He allegedly sexually molested two 12-year-old pupils a decade later. In a rubber room since 2003. Salary: $94,145

Today the Post also published an op-ed by Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, encouraging a three-pronged approach to the Rubber Room debacle. He wants to 1) Remove employees from payroll while their cases proceed. 2) Adhere to prompt timelines for disciplinary action and 3) Let full-time judges decide cases (currently the arbitors who hear DOE cases work only five days a month, hence the delay). All good ideas Mr. Klein. He added, “No one starting from scratch would set up such a dysfunctional disciplinary system. The only people this system serves well are teachers no parent would willingly allow to educate their kids.”

Teachers Union President Michael Mulgrew also put in his two cents. “‘Rubber rooms’ don't work,” he begins, elaborating that the problem can be fixed by speedier investigations, more arbitration-panel members and putting booted teachers to work as administrators, among other things. Mulgrew points a finger at the DOE for slowing down reform, saying it will work “only if DOE decides it would rather solve the rubber-room problem than grandstand about it.”

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Sabrina Jaszi in News on February 14, 2010 12:49 PM

Comments [rss]

Jeff Kaufman

It is amazing how wrong you have this story. The true story evidences the NYC Department of Education's incompetence and the failure of the UFT to protect its members.

After a dispute between a school's administration and Mr. Rosenfeld, he was brought on totally unsubstantiated charges involving his alleged "looking" at female students while he was a dean at a junior high school (typing hasn't been taught in NYC for over 25 years). These allegations resulted in a hearing; the same hearing that any civil servant is entitled to determine the truth or falsity of the allegations. The arbitrator found all of the allegations, except for one, totally false and the one he substantiated involved the statement of a girl that basically said that she “thought he loved her,” clearly not an offense for which a teacher should be excluded from the classroom. The penalty was a one week suspension and Mr. Rosenfeld was ordered, by the arbitrator, back into his former position as dean. The DOE refused and the union did nothing to enforce the arbitrator's decision. Mr. Rosenfeld has been ready, willing and able to teach or assume his dean responsibilities.

Both the NYC DOE and the UFT prefer to allow Mr. Rosenfeld to be lambasted by the Chancellor, the mayor and the press for something that was not his doing or fault. It is outrageous that they have charged him with engaging in activities that they deem are violative of city conflict of interest laws and yet have no evidence whatsoever.

adventureben

oy, you can't just fire someone because some kid made an allegation. the rubber rooms are good in theory assuming that the DOE got off their asses and investigated them in timely manners.

I had a few kids angry at me because i broke up their fight ( i know i shouldn't have done that either, and it screwed me)and to get back at me they made a statement that i had dragged them out of the room by their neck. completely false. Later he kids recanted their statements and admitted they made it all up. They were in the wrong for fighting.

BUT..... in both their and my statements it says that i did indeed touch them. my hand touched a student's elbow and shoulder ( as i walked them to the Dean's office. Since the DOE was trying to avoid rubber rooming ( thanks media!) i was forced to take a 30 days to termination and allowed to keep teaching until that time. The school was behind me and so were the kids. but the DOE has a zero tolerance police about physical contact with students. Now had i been tenured, i would have had a herring, but i'm not.

point is, kids know they have this power and just because you are accused, doesn't mean you actually did anything wrong. I know several teachers who have done stints i the rubber room because a kid is pissed off.

There is a big difference between doing something and being accused of doing something. Teachers must be protected form allegations made my angry and spiteful children. KIDS LIE! have you spent much time around them? Lets check out their claims before we go and throw away peoples careers. They answer to this is to give them all hearings quickly. get the good teachers back in the classroom and the bad ones out of the system.

justthinkin

The ghost of Albert Shanker (the Osama Bin Laden of the UFT) rattles its chains again. Given the rules that our children are expected to adhere to in their conduct at school, I'm flabbergasted and disgusted by the flexibility that is granted to the teachers. If a kid brings in a Lego toy gun, they're subject to suspension, but if a teacher puts their hands down a kids pants, they get "rubber roomed" while the charges are investigated. Absurd. It's time for a kids union.

jbloggs

Fire the bottom 5% teachers and administrators every year. I went to NYC public schools and the degree of entitlement, buffornery and cronyism is ridiculous. Over paid and under worked results avoiding idiots decribes the bulk of the teaching core; one needs to look no further than the product the system produces.

The public schools are terrible starting at the middle school and need a complete make-over. The average instructor is from the bottom decile of rather sorry college.

No more raises; let's talk about pay for performance. All salaries and benefits should be examined as they are out of line with the private sector.

We pay to much in taxes and get to little in return.

Powerhugs

The DOE Rubber Room policy is simply wrong and they need to come up with a better solution like anyone in the private sector would...While there are teachers out there that legitametly deserve to be fired - the UFT wont permit it...Again a very strong union...but 99% of the teachers in this rubber room are in the for all sort of allegations and many of them are unsupportable in a court of law...Even if a teacher is involved in some police matter outside of school they are thrown in the rubber room...The system is terrible and we are all paying for it..and nobody at the DOE wants to change anything?!?

FutureMan83

" and putting booted teachers to work as administrators"

wat

ANGRYGOD11

Teachers Union President Michael Mulgrew :

the problem can be fixed by speedier investigations, more arbitration-panel members and putting booted teachers to work as administrators, among other things.

Brilliant.

According to the teachers' union president one of the ways to keep perverts from children is to promote them to a higher position of power in the system after they are proven dangerous.

Reassigning them to teach Mr Mulgrew's kids, if he has any, probably isn't on the table.

handsomedevil

"Remove employees from payroll while their cases proceed."

Well, no. People should be somewhat protected from false allegations. If this went through a pissed-off student could put a teacher out on the street over nothing.

The rest (which both the union and the DOE seem to be saying): duhuh. Do it already.

potsmoker

expect some bad news regarding the dept of education,

February 9, 2010, 1:27 pm

A Teacher Terror Alert Phenomenon?

By SHARON OTTERMAN

fake scandal news drops everytime bloomberg loving media needs to hide important facts about the sad state of how he is running the show...thanks bl00mturd