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700 NYC teachers are paid to do nothing
ap ^ | Jun 22 | KAREN MATTHEWS

Posted on 06/23/2009 3:29:47 PM PDT by Mount Athos

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.

"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.

Because the teachers collect their full salaries of $70,000 or more, the city Department of Education estimates the practice costs the taxpayers $65 million a year. The department blames union rules.

Judith Cohen, an art teacher who has been in a rubber room near Madison Square Garden for three years, said she passes the time by painting watercolors of her fellow detainees.

Some sell real estate, earn graduate degrees or teach each other yoga and tai chi.

David Suker, who has been in a Brooklyn reassignment center for three months, said he has used the time to plan summer trips to Alaska, Cape Cod and Costa Rica. Suker said he was falsely accused of throwing a girl's test sign-up form in the garbage during an argument.

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

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: nea; nyc; unions
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What teachers unions do for america
1 posted on 06/23/2009 3:29:47 PM PDT by Mount Athos
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To: Mount Athos

Hey, let’s put these guys in charge of health care too! Imagine the savings we could achieve with a single-payer system!


2 posted on 06/23/2009 3:32:39 PM PDT by hometoroost (Torture? Would you rather do 5 years at Gitmo or 5 hours with the Muslims?)
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To: Mount Athos

The teachers assigned to the classrooms do almost as little, until Cucumber Day


3 posted on 06/23/2009 3:33:35 PM PDT by HighWheeler (The higher the concentration of libs, the bigger the tragedy that follows.)
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To: Mount Athos

What differentiates them from most other school employees?


4 posted on 06/23/2009 3:33:43 PM PDT by Lou Budvis (Palin Nation = Reagan Country.)
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To: Mount Athos

This sounds exactly what happens with the auto workers who would sit around in rooms playing cards. Typical union thugs...the whole lot of them.


5 posted on 06/23/2009 3:37:15 PM PDT by battletank
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To: Lou Budvis

Playing Scrabble. Most NY teachers can’t spelling good enough.


6 posted on 06/23/2009 3:39:26 PM PDT by Balding_Eagle (Overproduction, one of the top five worries for the American farmer.)
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To: Mount Athos

Well, at least they’re not in class telling the kids how great gay sex is.


7 posted on 06/23/2009 3:40:45 PM PDT by taillightchaser (!)
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To: Mount Athos
The department blames union rules.

How about they blame the dumbass bureaucrats that accepted these dumbass union contracts.

Or the dumbass voters that voted in the dumbass bureaucrats that accepted these dumbass union contracts.

8 posted on 06/23/2009 3:40:45 PM PDT by A message (3 years 6 months 3 weeks 5 days)
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To: Mount Athos

The news is not that the teachers in question continue to draw full paychecks while under suspension or while acting as “ghost employees”, the news is that only 700 are being reported.

The real number is almost certainly much higher. There is no oversight on these things, as this is largely a Democrat suzerainty, and this is purely internal to the City of New York.


9 posted on 06/23/2009 3:41:24 PM PDT by alloysteel (Never let an inanimate object know that you are in a hurry.)
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To: battletank
In most states the often quoted Classroom per pupil spending is bogus. Look at California, as a part of the total budget California is 7th in spending per pupil, but when the money filters down to the actual local classroom it is 47th per pupil. Unions and their cronies steal most of the money to return to the crooked politicians.
10 posted on 06/23/2009 3:41:35 PM PDT by Wooly
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To: A message
How about they blame the dumbass bureaucrats that accepted these dumbass union contracts.

Or the dumbass voters that voted in the dumbass bureaucrats that accepted these dumbass union contracts.

Photobucket

"and a double dumb-ass on you"

: )

11 posted on 06/23/2009 3:45:19 PM PDT by digger48
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To: Mount Athos

Well, following the dictate of “First, do no harm.”, they are arguably some on New York City’s most productive municipal “workers”. I say this as someone who has cashed hundreds of paychecks issued by my native burg, Noo Yawk.


12 posted on 06/23/2009 3:47:07 PM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (AGWT is very robust with respect to data. All observations confirm it at the 100% confidence level.)
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To: digger48

Exactly.

I’d like to neck pinch some politicians and CEO’s that have caved to some of these Unions over the years.

Stupidity has consequences.


13 posted on 06/23/2009 3:51:02 PM PDT by A message (3 years 6 months 3 weeks 5 days)
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To: hometoroost
Hey, let’s put these guys in charge of health care too! Imagine the savings we could achieve with a single-payer system!

that's a really good comment
14 posted on 06/23/2009 3:52:17 PM PDT by Mount Athos (A Giant luxury mega-mansion for Gore, a Government Green EcoShack made of poo for you)
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To: Mount Athos

More like 78,000 paid to do nothing, IMHO.


15 posted on 06/23/2009 3:56:49 PM PDT by noblejones (<deprecate>Ben Stein 2008.</deprecate> Sarah 2012, 2016, 2020.)
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To: noblejones


That's 700 jobs we can mark in the category of "saved or created"!!
16 posted on 06/23/2009 3:58:30 PM PDT by Mount Athos (A Giant luxury mega-mansion for Gore, a Government Green EcoShack made of poo for you)
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To: Mount Athos

Likely the best education $$ we spend.

Pray for America


17 posted on 06/23/2009 3:58:44 PM PDT by bray (Hope or Chains?)
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To: Mount Athos

There is no politician or political party that can save us from this kind of idiocy. Something this stupid is going to require divine intervention.


18 posted on 06/23/2009 3:59:37 PM PDT by SaveTheChief (Obama lied, America died.)
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To: Mount Athos

Based on the results they get, a lot more the 700 are being paid to not teach.


19 posted on 06/23/2009 3:59:58 PM PDT by bigbob
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To: Mount Athos

Only 700?


20 posted on 06/23/2009 4:00:23 PM PDT by InvisibleChurch (Trailer of "33 Minutes", video by Heritage.com - http://www.heritage.org/33-minutes/)
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