Posted on 06/23/2009 8:52:44 AM PDT by greatdefender
NEW YORK – Hundreds of New York City public school teachers accused of offenses ranging from insubordination to sexual misconduct are being paid their full salaries to sit around all day playing Scrabble, surfing the Internet or just staring at the wall, if that's what they want to do.
Because their union contract makes it extremely difficult to fire them, the teachers have been banished by the school system to its "rubber rooms" — off-campus office space where they wait months, even years, for their disciplinary hearings.
The 700 or so teachers can practice yoga, work on their novels, paint portraits of their colleagues — pretty much anything but school work. They have summer vacation just like their classroom colleagues and enjoy weekends and holidays through the school year.
"You just basically sit there for eight hours," said Orlando Ramos, who spent seven months in a rubber room, officially known as a temporary reassignment center, in 2004-05. "I saw several near-fights. `This is my seat.' `I've been sitting here for six months.' That sort of thing."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
This has been the case for years now. Nothing new here except the numbers have probably gotten larger.
What is up is down, move on now.
How parents can hate their children enough to consign them to public schooling is beyond me.
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Uh oh! A government school defender will assume you are attacking them personally and report you for abuse. ( sarc)
Some public school systems are good, some are okay, some are bad, some are terrible. They typically reflect the community and its values- so, public schools in urban ghettos or rural trash communities are horrible, while public schools in upscale suburbs and rich towns are good.
Look at the surrounding community and you can predict what the graduates of the local public schools will end up like.
23 arbitrators only work 5 days a month? I might have identified one of the problems.
I know this is going to sound crazy, but why not pay the arbitrators to work more than 5 days a month so that they can hear the cases and then use the savings from taking the people out of the rubber room and either fired or working to pay for the extra days.
It's so crazy, it just might work
23 arbitrators only work 5 days a month? I might have identified one of the problems.
I know this is going to sound crazy, but why not pay the arbitrators to work more than 5 days a month so that they can hear the cases and then use the savings from taking the people out of the rubber room and either fired or working to pay for the extra days.
It's so crazy, it just might work
A “good” public school is like a “good” amputation.
That’s Gatto’s point: When it “fails”, it’s merely functioning as intended; when it “succeeds”, it does so in spite of itself.
In addition to that, when it “fails”, it points the finger at the child, the parents, the community, the lack of funds, etc. But when it “succeeds”, it takes the credit.
The public school system in America is a devilish enterprise with “progressive” roots.
You're painting with a broad brush and, frankly, ignoring reality. I can name several school systems within maybe 20 miles of me that are incredibly good. They're so good that they raise property values by tens of thousands of dollars compared to neighboring areas.
Again, schools reflect the communities around them- districts with lots of two-parent, college-educated households are going to produce very well-educated graduates. That is due to a lot of factors, including a high level of parental involvement, low corruption, kids who are prepared to learn etc. Maybe I've been lucky, but the public schools I attended were quite good.
I get what you're trying to say, but it isn't based on reality. I can point you to plenty of public schools and districts that do a very good job of educating students.
The goals of our public school system are so anti-American, and their means so unnatural and damaging to children, that I cannot fathom why anyone who's aware of them would condemn his children to such a fate.
The goals of individual public schools and districts reflect the goals of the surrounding communities. Nothing more, nothing less. Personally, I'd be happy to send my son to several of the school districts here in the DC area and would be thrilled if he went to certain schools (such as Thomas Jefferson in Northern Virginia or Bethesda-Chevy Chase in Maryland).
Some book about what may be some abstract goal of public education is meaningless. You have to look at each school and district and evaluate them individually.
How can these blood suckers live with themselves? I wonder how this gimme crowd votes. Ha.
I understand your point. But if someone argued that there are some “good” communist systems, or some “good” dictators, I suspect you’d take objection to such claims.
See, the “good” is often superficial, while the real damage is deep and insidiously hidden.
- Kid graduates high school knowing how to read? Must be a “good” school.
- Kid doesn’t get shot or stabbed or hooked on dope? “Good” school.
- Kid graduates with honors and a scholarship to a notable university? “Good” school.
Nevermind what “schooling” did to the young man or woman. The above are the criteria we’ve been handed, so they’re the ones we use to determine whether the amputation..err..school experience was a “good” one.
Some things do such destruction to the person, such crippling damage, that we’ll settle for the satisfaction of a shallow but pleasant veneer. Good job, nice house, comfortable car... What do we care that our children were contorted and constrained and disfigured into grotesque semblances of life - LIFE as in Solomon’s and Aristotle’s “telos”.
Like harpies, we rob them and let them be robbed of all the true good that childhood lays before them as a smorgasborg. Like Oriental women who cram their feet into tiny shoes to make them small and dainty, we cram our children into pre-defined courses of life. And if they ever escape the cave, they’ll curse us. But I digress. :-)
At one time I agreed with you 100%, and argued the same points you make. Thanks to a FReeper whose “about” page I came across a few years ago (which had a couple links to Gatto’s writings) - and a few other resources besides - I’m now aware of what our public schools do and why they do it. Much makes sense now which didn’t before. (Such as why Ritalin is such a goldmine, for instance.)
You might be right if all teachers didn’t come from schools of education, all curriculum from the same few sources, and all schools didn’t have to meet the same standards. As it is, the local control stuff is like the deck chairs on the Titanic - a nice touch, but really kind of irrelevant considering the ship is doomed.
I have a friend who was in one of these rubber rooms. He had a disagreement with an assistant principal on how he did things in the class room. While I cannot say if his his approach to teaching is correct, having not sat through one of his classes, I do know the man. He loved teaching very much and is a person of good character.
The problem is that what he was accused of, (incompetence) happened 3 years ago. This is a man with a Masters Degree in education. From what I could tell, the entire process is a “Kangaroo Court” of sorts. Once accused, it takes years before a hearing comes up and when it does, the supposed infraction happened so long ago, that the person accused can no longer mount a credible defense. No person sent there has ever been cleared of charges, ever! They are either dismissed, told to pay a fine or kept waiting so long for a hearing that their teaching licenses expire.
My opinion is that some innocent people are used as sacrificial lambs on the alter of tenure. The local teachers union won’t even provide for a practical defense for these people.
Some one here gets it. Home school people.
Hundreds of New York City public school teachers accused of offenses ranging from insubordination to sexual misconduct are being paid their full salaries to sit around all day playing Scrabble, surfing the Internet or just staring at the wall, if that's what they want to do. Because their union contract makes it extremely difficult to fire them, the teachers have been banished by the school system to its "rubber rooms" -- off-campus office space where they wait months, even years, for their disciplinary hearings.So IOW, nothing much changed in their careers.
Depends on which state you live in, it can be very difficult to avoid, since parents can lose their children, in some cases.
John Stossel covered this during a report on the nations schools. I worked for over 10 years for the personnel director at a school district. NEVER was a teacher fired while I worked there.
How can these blood suckers live with themselves? I wonder how this gimme crowd votes. Ha.
Hmmmm...Well...I'm guessing that there aren't any leftover "Union Members for Bush" bumper stickers on any of their vehicles.
"Because their union contract makes it extremely difficult to fire them, the teachers have been banished by the school system to its "rubber rooms" — off-campus office space where they wait months, even years, for their disciplinary hearings. The 700 or so teachers can practice yoga, work on their novels, paint portraits of their colleagues — pretty much anything but school work.
Do they accept Harvard graduates into this program?
We may have an ideal candidate for the rubber room...
You're comparing apples and oranges.
Nevermind what “schooling” did to the young man or woman. The above are the criteria we’ve been handed, so they’re the ones we use to determine whether the amputation..err..school experience was a “good” one.
What criteria would you use? I'm looking for a school that is safe, gives a good education and prepares my kids for college. What are you looking for?
Public Education is a service. We pay for it through tax dollars. It's like road-building or police, not some philosophical construct discussed in a Greek philosopher's academy.
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