Posted on 09/21/2009 8:12:54 AM PDT by george76
over the last six years, Buffalo taxpayers have paid millions of dollars to teachers not to teach.
Twelve different teachers have collected $2.25 million in salary while under suspension and waiting for disciplinary hearings during that time.
And that amount doesn't include the costs for substitutes and the hearings themselves.
The average wait for those hearings: three years.
The school district doesn't release the names of the teachers, or what they've been charged with, but we've learned that right now there's a Physical Education teacher awaiting a hearing who was suspended four years ago this month and has been paid close to a quarter of a million dollars during that time.
The culprit is a state education law - "3020a".
It requires that any teacher with tenure who's facing disciplinary charges have a hearing before an independent arbitrator, where both the teacher and the school district can call witnesses and present evidence.
(Excerpt) Read more at wgrz.com ...
That’s OK. Given the quality of teachers in Buffalo - this may have helped the students, It may have conferred a net benefit to society to keep these chumps out of the classroom.
Unions are destroying the USA.
I’m sure it conferred a benefit to have these teachers out of the classroom. It’s just that the cost of that benefit is too high. We should be able to get the benefits of their idolence for free.
so if the teacher screws up...or maybe has false allegations made to her....she has a right to a hearing and can be paid in the mean time.
The culprit is a state education law - “3020a”.
The New York City school system used to have a large building on Livingston Street in Brooklyn that was set aside for ex-principals and former school administrators. They were people with political connections who had proven to be too incompetent and unpopular to remain in their jobs. So they were “promoted” to Livingston Street, with large raises in pay, where they lived out the remainder of their careers “adminstering” the school system.
I think they’ve moved them somewhere else since then, but I’ll bet they’re still there—in New York and every other union-controlled city.
Another reason why ‘tenure’ should NOT exist.
End it....NOW.
No other job has tenure—closest job might be the Pope.
3 years is a long time for due process.
The main Homeschool Ping List handles the homeschool-specific articles. I hold both the Homeschool Ping List and the Another Reason to Homeschool Ping list. Please freepmail me to let me know if you would like to be added to or removed from either list, or both.
Teachers, who were falsely charged (it happens a lot), are the victims. They have to endure years living under a cloud of suspicion — or even being social outcasts. They aren't doing the work they trained for & their career will never get back on the rails.
Justice delayed is justice denied. The process needs to be expedited. Blame everyone responsible for the wonky process for this situation — not the suspended teachers, who should be considered innocent until found guilty.
3 years is a long time for due process.
3 years would be too long for the non-guilty and ethical person. Even with pay.
Such a condition leaves you with a corrupt person who is content with a cloud of guilt as long as the paycheck keeps coming.
NY State has had teachers who ultimately went to prison as child molesters who were able to sit home and draw full pay/benefits for 2+ yrs. while they exhausted all of their court appeals.
re: endure years living under a cloud of suspicion
I doubt that in today’s world they can ever make a come back after the experience. Great damage is done them moment someone accuses them, even if it is quickly shown to be a false charge. Every day, week, month, year the process takes to reach it conclusion just adds to the damage.
Juvenile law being what it has become these days a few kids can get together, make up a story and accuse a teacher they don’t like, knowing full well it could destroy the teacher but they will pay virtually no price at all.
That will change only if, and when, the consequences for making a false charge are more negative than the reward they get by making it.
There are lots of jobs I would not care to have these days. Being a teacher is way up there on the list!
At least they are not doing any harm..............
exactly. you know unions drag the process out on behalf of their members too.
You got that right!
New York City’s budget for Teachers who are paid not to teach is approximately $100,000,000.00. Really.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/08/31/090831fa_fact_brill
Long article but breathtaking in terms of the sick, corrupt power teacher’s unions have amassed over education.
Just posted this in my blog. http://Albanysinsanity.com
Isn’t this just typical! And it sucks. How the hell they can even try to explain this away, it’s an abomination. What crap, absolute crap. And we wonder why the budget for the City of Buffalo School district is 3/4 of a billion dollars.
How about they all find a job and if you are found innocent you get back pay. That or they could make you reimburse the county if you are found guilty. I bet that would get some of them motivated to agree on an arbitrator. Who would be agreeable if they were going to keep paying them. And a huge portion of this country wants the government to run healthcare too? Unreal!
That averages to roughly $62,500/year. For a PE teacher. Talk about overpaid, what a joke.
our kids in general are not learning and not keeping up with other kids in the world....
yes, I blame the teachers....
a teacher backed by the powerful NEA will have no problem getting back to work....they’ll have kept their seniority and their pay and pension will have kept pace, just like if they had actually done some meaningful work....
The classroom bureaucrats’ union keeps getting dues while the classroom bureaucrat is being paid for sitting at home.
We need to do away with the socialized school system and return to a capitalist system. Government schools have no place in a free society.
http://www.schoolandstate.org/case.htm
Interesting take. Frankly, for some reason I was envisioning a teacher who is not really a pedal-to-the-metal union member. There are teachers who belong to the union but don’t really like a lot of what it does. My aunt was one of those for 30 plus years. She supported them to the extent her conservative background would permit. I heard her say a number of times she wished it weren’t necessary to have a union, but the school board and an individual school’s administration often made it a necessary evil. She regretted the fact it was needed at all, felt it just opened the door for the union to spread like a fungus.
But you are certainly correct!
Most teachers work their asses off. I grew up watching two of them. Even the weekends at my house centered around grading papers. Even after watching that, I might get into the game myself. I encourage any poster who thinks that most teachers are lazy overpaid bums to become a teacher. Do it right rather than complaining online about the few who do it wrong.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.