The good news is the city's Education Department said that a majority of staffers removed to the city's infamous Rubber Rooms last June are out. The bad, or at least questionable news, is that a "majority" of those are back in the classrooms. Under an agreement between the city and the teachers' union, all 744 teachers in the rubber rooms had to have their cases resolved by the end of 2010. Now 38% of the teachers have been removed from the city's payroll, and the rest are teaching again. more ›

Former Schools Chancellor Joel Klein may be making millions at News Corp. now, but he's still annoyed by NYC's byzantine process to fire teachers. He told the Sunday Times of London, "Five to 10 percent [of educators] are not remotely capable. It's easier to prosecute a capital-punishment case in the US than terminate an incompetent teacher." And of the United Federation of Teachers, he said, "The union is going to protect incompetent workers -- that is their job." more ›

The Bronx public school teacher whose past as a sex worker made her front page fodder announced her resignation yesterday. In the fall, Melissa Petro was bounced from teaching art at Public School 70 in Mount Eden to the rubber room, after an essay she wrote on being a Craigslist prostitute led to her picture being plastered on the dallies. The Department of Education was reportedly embarrassed by the incident, and was seeking to fire her for "conduct unbecoming" her profession. more ›

Remember back in April when the city and the United Federation of Teachers announced that by the end of the year teachers accused of misconduct would no longer be sent to the infamous "rubber rooms" (where they would collect their full salaries while sitting around)? The NY Times checked in yesterday and finds that for all intents and purposes little has changed. “There are indeed still rubber rooms,” one teacher accused of sexual harassment told the paper. “They just don’t call them that.” more ›

Melissa Petro, the teacher who was reassigned from duties as an art teacher in the Bronx to the rubber room after word of her sex worker past became front page fodder, has a MFA in creative non-fiction and has dabbled in open mic nights. Which means she's more than happy write and/or chat about being thrown into the rubber room. The 30-year-old has a new essay on the Huffington Post ("I have no regrets and have done nothing I'm ashamed of.") and an interview in Marie Claire ("Prostitution is a far from perfect occupation — I will be the first to admit that — but it is an occupation, and it is an occupation that many individuals choose."). She also gives this news flash, "Teachers have s-e-x. That is to say, individuals who work as teachers are still allowed to be sexual beings with adult lives outside the classroom." more ›

The city will navigate the Byzantine, 83-step process it takes to fire a teacher because having a teacher who blogged about her services as a Craigslist sex worker on city payroll is embarrassing! Melissa Petro was removed from teaching duties at PS 70 in the Bronx when the tabloids caught wind of her provocative past, but, since she was recently granted tenure, it's difficult to actually fire her. But now the Department of Education has leveled conduct "unbecoming a teacher" charges at the 30-year-old. more ›

Teacher Joseph Gullotta and assistant Abraham Fox were accused of starting an impromptu "Fight Club" at PS 65 in Ozone Park earlier this year. They are facing child endangerment charges for the fighting, but according to new reports, the father of one of the boys involved is now making accusations that Gullotta groped his son on five occasions in 2009. more ›

After years of withering criticism, it seems Department of Education is finally doing something about their infamous "rubber room," where hundreds of teachers accused of misconduct can spend years getting paid to practice yoga, work on their novels, sleep, whatever. In April, the city and the United Federation of Teachers announced that rubber rooms would be closed, and now there are reports that the teachers are being forced to work. How is that even possible? One Bronx teacher explains: more ›

The New York State Department of Education syllabus says that a teacher instructing students about STDs and sex should encourage children to use words they understand. "If students use different terms," the syllabus says, "make sure they understand the relationship between both sets of terms." So during a class on HIV one day in 2008, Staten Island health teacher Faith Kramer did just that, writing down the clinical words for sexual organs, sexual acts and bodily fluids on the chalkboard, then asking the eighth grade students what language they used to talk about such matters. That's when the trouble started. more ›

An eighth grade math teacher in Crown Heights was charged with assault and re-assigned after allegedly punching a female student in the face yesterday. The student, Tytahnisha Moulterie, says she entered the classroom to retrieve a book when the teacher, Ruth Romain, grabbed her sweater from behind. "I didn't know it was her, it was just a reaction," Tytahnisha, 15, tells the Post. "I turned around and pushed her hand. And she pushed me, then I pushed her back, then she punched me in the face." Then "CHAOS" spread "throughout the school," according to the tabloid's definitely not sensationalized account. more ›

Yesterday, the city and the United Federation of Teachers announced that the practice of shifting teachers accused of misconduct to "rubber rooms" will end by the end of the year. Currently, there are 550 teachers in rubber rooms, where they are paid their full salaries during investigations, and the concept—which costs the city $30 million a year—has been ridiculed, criticized and questioned for years. The city called the news a "breakthrough" and Mayor Bloomberg said, "Starting this September, you'll be happy to know that rubber rooms will be a thing of the past. To say that this is a big deal is probably an understatement." more ›

NY1 reports that the city will announce at noon that it will no longer use "rubber rooms" for teachers who are under investigation: "The mayor will announce that the Department of Education has come to an agreement with the teacher's union to close the so-called rubber rooms. Teachers accused of misconduct will no longer go to reassignment centers, where they receive full benefits and salary. They will now apparently be assigned to clerical duty, either in central offices or schools." Teachers can be assigned to rubber rooms for years, as their cases make their way through the bureaucracy. more ›

Remember Cindy Mauro and Alini Brito, the thirty-something language teachers at James Madison High School who were caught naked during their lesbian rendezvous on school grounds while their students were at an assembly? Of course you do! The duo have been in the Rubber Room since the incident took place in December , and the Daily News has an update, noting the city's Office of Special Investigations are ready to charge them with professional misconduct, now that the allegations against them have been substantiated. A Department of Education spokeswoman wouldn't go into details, but says, "They face disciplinary action." more ›

You’ve heard it described, now two filmmakers are ready to give us a rare glimpse into the bizarre saga of NYC’s infamous rubber room. The long-term holding area for misbehaving teachers—fodder for many a sordid Post expose—is the subject of a documentary premiering soon, and the tabloid got a sneak peak. "It's like a jail for teachers," one rubber-room hostage says in the film. "We have constant fights," says another. "Yesterday, three fights broke out." See a trailer below. more ›

These days the Post is not only reporting on the Department of Education’s Rubber Room, it’s sending people there! The tabloid says that after an incident last week, in which a Brooklyn gym instructor allegedly assaulted a 10th grade girl, officials barred her from teaching any more classes and gave her a seat in the long-term holding area for bad teachers. When asked if it was true that she had punched a 15-year-old, the teacher, 53-year-old Deborah Mortley, told a reporter to, “Go ask your mother.” more ›

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. more ›

Today's update on Alan Rosenfeld, the ex-teacher who landed in a Department of Education teacher reassignment center (aka Rubber Room) nearly a decade ago for lewd behavior towards students, features weird and outlandish quotes from some of his victims. We also get more info on how the educator ogled students, some as young a 13, at his school, a neighboring school and from the women's bathroom. more ›

Following a barrage of exposés on the Department of Education's Rubber Room—a paid purgatory for union teachers booted from the classroom— Sen. Ruben Diaz of the Bronx slammed the system. "New York City must no longer permit a gift of several million dollars for incompetent former teachers who sit in the infamous 'rubber rooms,' drawing full salary while the Department of Education drags its feet and refuses to promptly address allegations of teacher misconduct and incompetence," said the Democrat in an angry statement to the Post. more ›

And now for this week’s installment of Stories from the Rubber Room: today meet Francisco Olivares, a Queens math teacher who knocked up and then married his 16-year-old student, then decades later sexually molested two 12-year-olds and one more student, according to the Department of Education. Like that rich gross lawyer guy profiled last week, he’s sat for years in the Rubber Room, all the while draining the city’s coffers in ever-growing increments. more ›

Alan Rosenfeld, a creepy butt-watching ex-teacher who was booted from the classroom in 2001, is actually a multimillionaire, thanks to a side business he runs from the Department of Education's infamous Rubber Room. For almost a decade he's collected double salaries, using his days in the Rubber Room to advise clients of his law practice. After yesterday's NY Post expose, the city is finally moving to fire him. "Conducting a business while working for the city is a serious violation of conflict-of-interest law," said DOE spokesman David Cantor. "We'll ask the special commissioner to investigate. If he recommends termination, we'll move to terminate." more ›

Today the NY Post profiled two teachers who educated their students in carnal knowledge, and paid for it. Well, sort of. One—former high school chem teacher Lindsay Dunaj—locked lips with a student in front of seniors and staffers on a prom booze cruise. Another, suspended Queens teacher Alan Rosenfeld, made lewd comments to eight-graders and “stared at their butts.” Yucky. And he still collects his salary! more ›

All has been quiet on the James Madison High School front since three teachers were put in the rubber room last year for various sex scandals... until now. The Brooklyn school that the press has endearingly dubbed "Horndog High" is back in the spotlight after 37-year-old gym teacher Lisa Guttilla felt up a 14-year-old female student. more ›

For well over two years now, Bronx gym teacher and coach Dan Smith has been sidelined in one of the Department of Education's infamous "rubber rooms," thanks to an allegation of sexual misconduct in March 2007. But while other teachers (over 600 hundred of them!) use their rubber room time to play Sudoku and nap, Smith has been hatching a plan to get out. more ›

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. more ›

Earlier this morning, a teacher made a bomb threat at JHS 145 in the Bronx, prompting the school to be evacuated. The Post reports the threat was "called in to police by the teacher, who locked himself into a second floor computer room. Cops are communicating with the teacher, whose identity has not yet been released... The man told police he is protesting the mistreatment of teachers." more ›