Sunday, December 13, 2009

Teachers want out of the rubber room

From the Daily News:

The infamous "rubber rooms" where teachers twiddle their thumbs while under investigation are unconstitutional, inhumane and even toxic, a new federal suit charges.

Six current and former teachers are asking a judge to shut down the detention centers for teachers who have been booted from the classroom.

Their lawyer, Joy Hochstadt, said terrible rubber room conditions are designed to humiliate teachers into quitting before a disciplinary hearing.

Teachers are "herded into over-crowded spaces" and "detention camp environments ... of trailers within chain-link cages, prison-style, supervised by a uniformed employee referred to as a 'warden,'" says the complaint, filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Hochstadt charged that a quarter of teachers assigned to a midtown rubber room fell ill because of poor air circulation. The site has been replaced by trailers in Washington Heights.

16 comments:

georgetheatheist said...

When I was a teacher in a NYC High School, back in the '70's, the "rubber room" for one teacher-administrator was the school's library. He sat there all day reading. In the teacher's cafeteria, he sat with the administrators. He didn't even have to sweep the floors.

Anonymous said...

Now the rubber room "inmates" can kill their boredom by watching two Brooklyn lesbie teachers kissing.

Queens Crapper said...

Unless the guido from the Jersey Shore punches them!

Pissedoffteacher said...

Rubber rooms are a nightmare for people in them. Don't believe every cartoon you read. Innocent people are being deprived of their jobs (and possibly will see an end to their income) due to trumped up charges made by incompetent principals. This is not a laughing matter.

Anonymous said...

I've seen classrooms in trailers...where overcrowded students must make do as they can.

"Hey teach...what's good for the goose is good for the gander!
Now you know how we students feel."

Anonymous said...

Either toss them or clear them. No one needs to pay checks to psychos or perverts, but it is inappropriate for lies and slander to hang over the heads of the innocent too.

Anonymous said...

Oh, bull shit.

First off, if you are in one, you are there because you fucked up, and in any other job, would have been booted out the door.

Second, some of the rubber rooms that i have seen come complete with sleeping areas. This way, you can work at night at another job, and come collect your your school money while you sleep during the day.

Anonymous said...

"First off, if you are in one, you are there because you fucked up, and in any other job, would have been booted out the door."

You don't know what the F- you are talking about.

Anonymous said...

First off, how does asking people to have their day in court equate to bullshit.

I specifically complained about people in limbo, so are you saying the rubber rooms are acceptable? Or do you have a problem with the idea that there are sometimes abusive principals too.

I imagine that there are many politically-connected people who are not in any rubber room or fired, but collecting big paychecks while committing sexual abuse and fraud.

There are other people who have attempted to whistle-blow and have ended up in these rooms or out of work themselves.

Anonymous said...

YEAH kids can't read or speak English, they swear us the N word,and act all ghetto while we pay these clowns to do nothing.

It's the only place to save money....fire these clowns in 90 days or less, make sure they collect pension only when they are 65...disabled or if they are really RETIRED and have the w-2's to prove it

The vast majority of NYC budget is for peopleand bennies, its time to say enough is enough with the slack workers bad attitudes the incredible amount of time off...and of course full health insurance.

There is no excuses for any pay raises for years to come....let alone pay cuts.

there are so many people out of work who will do a great job for that kind of money today

Anonymous said...

"act all ghetto"

Anonymous said...

In the real world, there are no "rubber rooms". It's hire at will and fire at will. The case has not been made that teachers should be exempt from this. Whatever "due process" or "fair hearing" the residents of rubber rooms deserve or need could happen after three business days -- and it's back to the classroom, or you're fired. This is a payroll increasing/foot dragging scheme which is a collusion of the teacher's union and the city's DOE. Why the city didn't eliminate pay-for-nothing from the teacher's contract after it took over is a mystery.

Anonymous said...

"Prima" is obviously connected to the teaching "profession" judging from her many overly defensive comments posted here supporting "educators".

Maybe she's warmed a bench in the "rubber room" herself (or himself) since there's no way of knowing which gender our poster really is.

Anonymous said...

it's being done to anyone who is getting near to retirement to stop the Dept of Ed to pay their full pensions and to crush any real organizing among younger teachers.
this was done to a friend. it was devastating for her as she is a guidance counselor. A person who genuinely was of help getting NYC public high school students into good colleges.

for the three years she was put in the rubber room, the students were the ones who got ripped off. the idiot who set her up still has a paycheck, but guess what? that scum is working at Rikers. where she deserves to stay.

Anonymous said...

GM was forced to get rid of their Rubber room....or "Jobs bank"..

Hey Bloomberg.. No raises until we make it real easy to fire bad city workers.

-Joe said...

I think anybody who wants to be a babysitter for the Dept Of Ed and its millions of undomesticated anchor babys belongs in a rubber room.

Why bust your butt to get crapped on 10 months a year by both the students and administration?
Don’t these teachers know by now the Bloomberg gang wants NYC students stupid so they can be manipulated easy.

A NYC teacher could be TEACHING privately in Great Neck or Kings Point.
Those Iranian doctors in that area pay over $100K a year for private home education.