700 NYC teachers are paid to do nothing (while education diminishing!)

AP-Yahoo! ^ | 22 June 2009 | KAREN MATTHEWS

[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."

[wk4bush2004]

And they wonder why New York is in such a financial crisis.....

[Oldpuppymax]

And people doubt that liberalism works. Silly, aren’t they?

[Tahoe3002]

Gotta love unions.........not.

Seriously, I think I had rather buy something foreign made than buy the equivalent USA union made product. My justification is that bho would not be president today, had not the unions supported him.

I am beginning to think unions are anti-American.
This is a vent......

[Vaquero]

thats a bogus headline.

the NYC Teachers pretty much ALL do nothing.

[Holicheese]

The overworked, underpaid public school teachers!

[blam]

The unions are destroying this country:

Alabama Teacher Who Had Sex With Student Paid While In Prison

[skully]

Maybe if we paid more of them to do nothing...our kids would
be smarter.

[Kozel89]

Sounds like there are also some administrators who need to go to their own rubber room (or just plain old fired in short order)!

[quesera]

This brought to you by our wonderful government. The same government about to take over health care.

I am already pissed off as it is. I pay for our three children to go to parochial school and I still have to pay the stupid school tax.

This is NUTS!

[tatsinfla]

i am with you...have never supported them....i think when the ideas of unions first started they were in fact for the good of the people working....i believe they lost their vision years ago though like any good idea seems to do....

[shag377]

Public Education Ping

This list is for intelligent discussion of articles and issues related to public education (including charter schools) from the preschool to university level. Items more appropriately placed on the “Naughty Teacher” list, “Another reason to Homeschool” list, or of a general public-school-bashing nature will not be pinged. If you would like to be on or off this list, please freepmail Amelia, Gabz, Shag377, or SoftballMominVa

[hoosierham]

Unions nearly always protect the lazy,the incompetent,and the criminal members while punishing any member who tries to do a better job than the quota minimum.I've seen it several times up close and personal in my early work days.

There's something wrong with a group whose standard greeting is "don't work too hard".

[MaggieCarta]

"It's sort of peaceful knowing that you're going to work to do nothing," he said.

"It's sort of peaceful knowing that you're going to work to do nothing," he said.

Fixed it. You are not "going to work" if you plan "to do nothing."

Sounds like the rooms at the Auto Companies where "workers" go to spend all day not working.

[LearsFool]

Maybe if we paid more of them to do nothing...our kids would be smarter.

You're right about that.

We needn't fret about our "failing education system". It's working exactly as intended. The problem is that we're mostly ignorant of its goal. (http://www.spinninglobe.net/againstschool.htm)

How parents can hate their children enough to consign them to public schooling is beyond me.

[Vigilanteman]

Sounds sort of like the Jobs Bank program at Government Motors. I once mentioned to my boss that I’d like to get a job like that. He replied “No you wouldn’t. You’d go crazy doing nothing quicker than anybody I know.”

[eleni121]

Fiddling while Rome burns...

[eleni121]

You’d go crazy doing nothing quicker than anybody I know

---

Maybe we could add hardship pay on top of the job bank program pay.

[metmom]

ping

[Tzimisce]

And even with this story, nothing’s going to happen to any of these people.

New York is a liberal Democrat state - so the people of New York will smile and pay their taxes...