With the recent agreement the city made with the public school principals' union in the news for it's unusual additions (like a $25,000 incentive for principals to head schools in difficult areas), we suggest you also read the Village Voice article about teachers in "rubber rooms" for the underbelly of the public school dealings. The "rubber rooms" are where teachers who are in the middle of disputes, whether they've been rightly or unfairly removed from teaching duties. more ›

Say what you will about ABC News corresopndent John Stossel (and there's a lot to say), but his piece in The Reason about the difficulty in firing a NYC public school teacher is pretty great. There is an extensive two-page PDF that shows the complicated-beyond-belief process of how an administrator would fire a teacher - basically you need an iron-clad reason, nerves of steel, and a few years of patience.

The regulations are so onerous that principals rarely even try to fire a teacher. Most just put the bad ones in pretend-work jobs, or sucker another school into taking them. (They call that the "dance of the lemons.") The city payrolls include hundreds of teachers who have been deemed incompetent, violent, or guilty of sexual misconduct. Since the schools are afraid to let them teach, they put them in so-called "rubber rooms" instead. There they read magazines, play cards, and chat, at a cost to New York taxpayers of $20 million a year. more ›

John Stossel, 20/20 correspondent, author of Give Me a Break more ›