More Related Content
![Chapter05[1]](https://cdn.slidesharecdn.com/ss_thumbnails/chapter051-101217224403-phpapp01-thumbnail.jpg?width=560&fit=bounds)
Similar to Sheri Miller-Williams & Dr. W.A. Kritsonis (20)
Sheri Miller-Williams & Dr. W.A. Kritsonis
- 1. Ricochet in An American School District: A Tug-of-War between Educational Law and Rubber Rooms in New York City Sheri L. Miller-Williams PhD Student in Educational Leadership College of Education Prairie View A&M University Director of Leadership Houston A+ Challenge Houston, Texas William Allan Kritsonis, PhD Professor and Faculty Member PhD Program in Educational Leadership Prairie View A&M University Member of the Texas A&M University System Visiting Lecturer (2005) Oxford Roundtable University of Oxford, Oxford England Distinguished Alumnus (2004) Central Washington University College of Education and Professional Studies ABSTRACT It’s a June morning, and there are fifteen people in the room; four of them fast asleep, their heads lying on the card table. Three are playing a board game. Most of the others stand around chatting. Two are arguing over one of the folding chairs. But there are no children there. The inhabitants are all New York City school teachers who have been sent to what is officially called a Temporary Reassignment Center also known as Rubber Rooms (Brill, 2009).
- 2. Introduction Rubber Rooms are Department of Education facilities throughout the New York School District that serve as a type of holding facility where teachers awaiting investigations or hearings involving alleged mishaps are sent for an indefinite period of time (Williams, 2009). New York State Education Law 3020 clearly defines how a tenured teacher may be disciplined, with the provision that “no person enjoying the benefits of tenure shall be disciplined or removed during a term of employment except for just cause.” Purpose of the Research The purpose of this research is to explore the teacher tenure laws and use the Rubber Rooms in New York City as a means of exploring due process for teachers. This research paper also seeks to expose many of the short and long term effects on the system as a whole; coupled with the impact on teachers who often return to the classroom after up to three year stints in these facilities. New York State Education Law 3020 Education Law 3020 provides teachers a protected property interest in his or her position which creates a requirement for due process when the offense could result in termination. The tenure laws however do not provide a space whereby teachers have secure placement in a particular school or classroom. During due process, teachers must retain their full salary and a benefit until their case is resolved. Joel Klein vs. New York and Education Law 3020 New York City is devoting more resources to efforts aimed at getting incompetent teachers out of the classroom, with New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein introducing the Teacher Performance Unit, a group dedicated to pushing through the long process for teacher
- 3. removal. Joel Klein noted: "The disciplinary system for tenured teachers is so time-consuming and burdensome that what is already a stressful task becomes so onerous that relatively few principals are willing to tackle it," Klein told The New York Times for a November 15 story. "As a result, in a typical year only about one-hundredth of 1 percent of tenured teachers are removed for ineffective performance.” Only 10 to 15 tenured teachers a year are forced to leave the school system entirely because of incompetence. But as of late 2007, more than 700 had been removed from classrooms and required to report to "rubber rooms" where they are separated from students but continue to receive full pay ( Bedford, 2008). In the New York School District there are hundreds of teachers who are kept in rooms under loose supervision, which often presents an atmosphere that is deemed as psychological torture. “The Rubber Room” also known as reassignment centers are places where hundreds of New York City school teachers presently sit, and are being paid full salary for doing absolutely nothing. Each year in New York City hundreds of school teachers lose their teaching privileges. These teachers are accused of a wide range of offenses ranging from insubordination to sexual misconduct; and consequently are no longer allowed to be in the classroom. Instead, while awaiting a lengthy adjudication process, they are compelled to report to an off-campus location commonly referred to as “The Rubber Room.” According to the New York City Department of Education the Rubber Room is estimated to cost in excess of $65 million annually (Kolodner, 2009). In addition, there is general consensus that this cost continues to rise steeply with each passing year. There exists, at any given time, at least one Rubber Room in each of New York City’s five boroughs. The rooms are often medium-sized, nondescript administrative spaces with chairs and sometimes tables. Because almost no one in the New York City public education system is willing to discuss the issue on record, it is difficult to obtain an exact figure regarding the total number of teachers
- 4. housed in these rooms, but educated guesses usually place it at a population of approximately 600 to 900 occupants; a population that, according to most is dramatically increasing. The Origin of Rubber Rooms The premise of the so- called Rubber Rooms is not new. Rubber Rooms have been in existence for approximately 40 years. The ideology of the Rubber Room began in 1984 by General Motors at which time they were referred to as Jobs Bank. The intent of these “Jobs Bank” was to act as a holding a place for their current employees. Jobs Bank employees would have otherwise been laid off for various reasons. These employees were also provided with additional training during their assignments (McCracken, 2009). The Jobs Bank theory that was developed with the intent to assist GM and its employees in a time of need, may very well have contributed to their current financial deficit. According to McCracken, GM’s total cost, as a result of these Jobs Banks, is “likely to range in the amount of $750 million to $900 million in May 2006. Matthews (2009) reported that approximately 700 public school teachers are fulfilling their contractual obligations in what NYC education system refers to as “Rubber Rooms” or “Reassignment Rooms”. Teachers housed in this capacity were given this assignment for multiple reasons and “infractions”. During which time they are paid their full salary. This has caused quite a bit of discourse and strife among colleagues, government officials and tax payers. Major concerns are linked to the perception that these public school educators are being paid the same salary, if not more, as their counterparts, yet are not doing the same work. Some argue that they are not working at all. Controversy also stems between those who sit behind the walls of the “Rubber Room”. The reason for each teacher’s assignment ranges in reasons from assault, insubordination and possible personality conflicts. (Matthews 2009).
- 5. Education Law 3020: Justification for the Rubber Room One such justification by the New York Department of Education is that the union contract requires that teachers be allowed to continue in their jobs in some fashion while their cases are being heard. The union in sharp contrast reports that they entered into an agreement with the Department of Education on reducing the amount of time educators spend in these centers, however, progress is slow and a teacher’s stay could last up to five years. The research on the topic revealed that each side is blaming the other for the often extended period of time teachers remain in these centers. Worse than that is that often after receiving full salaries for up to five years, many of these teachers protected by tenure law and unions, return to the classrooms to teach students due to a lack o evidence of their egregious behavior. Differing Opinions: Contrasting Views on Rubber Rooms The Rubber Room is an extremely controversial subject, with many involved in New York education regarding it as simply too dangerous a topic to discuss. Some complain that the Rubber Room allows teachers guilty of atrocious and even criminal misconduct to remain on the public payroll, being paid a full salary to sit and do nothing. On the other side, there are those that claim the entire process, although initially created as an instrument to protect child safety, has now been expanded into a lethal weapon, used by principals and other administrators to remove teachers from their classrooms based on minor insubordination, personality conflicts, or even for budgetary reasons such as making way for a new replacement teacher who will be paid a far lesser salary. Although opinions vary widely with respect to The Rubber Room, they do seem to share one common denominator: they are impassioned, sometimes inflammatory, and never positive. In fact, it would be extremely difficult to find an individual, either working in New York City education or not, who thinks The Rubber Room is a system that works even
- 6. moderately well. The Department of Education, naturally, says that teachers end up for long periods in Rubber Rooms because their union—the United Federation of Teachers—has made it so difficult to fire lousy teachers. Significance of the Rubber Room on the Mental Health of its Inhabitants In New York City the structures that house the “Rubber Rooms” are “low-ceiling and over-heated rooms” (Einhorn, 2008). Teachers here may be seen playing cards, practicing yoga, participating in a book club or any other activity, except educating children. Once a teacher has been assigned to the “rubber room” their reputation has been tainted. It does not matter whether their accusations have been proven or not, “these are demoralizing, horrible places” (Weingarten, 2008). Many of the rubber room’s occupants find this to be a hard place to be. Rubber Rooms: The Concept Expands Many school systems across the nation have incorporated such methodologies as New York City for holding teachers whom are up for investigation or possible termination. Los Angeles district refers to their employees who are given a “Rubber Room” type assignment as being “housed”. Philadelphia has teachers in their “cluster office”. In a time of economic crisis, with millions of people without jobs and millions of students who are not being properly educated, the significance of these Rubber Rooms is being debated. Significance of Rubber Rooms to the Economy It has been said the New York City spends an estimated cost to tax payers of $65 million a year (Matthews, 2009). A recent Education Department study found teachers who lost their permanent posts - including some who haven’t even looked for other jobs - will cost another $81 million over two years (Klein, 2009). Nothing upsets citizens more than the misappropriate use of funding most taxpayers’ want to see their money being spent wisely and fairly. School
- 7. systems around the nation are experiencing financial deficits, programs are not financially sound for implementation, programs are successful yet will not continue due to lack of funds. Conclusion In conclusion, with increasing accountability standards being implemented as a result of the federal No Child Left Behind act and state accountability systems, it should not be of any surprise that administrators will by any means necessary terminate those who compromise their schools and the education of the children within those schools. Thus, the Rubber Room has been born. In an attempt to staff schools with qualified, compassionate, and effective teachers; administrators have been forced to send the others to “Rubber Rooms”. The unfortunate reality is that it is difficult to dismiss ineffective teachers from their positions, which is also unfortunate to the taxpayers who must foot the bill and the innocent students who missing their opportunity to be properly and effectively educated.
- 8. REFERENCES Bedford, R. (2008). New york city beefs up efforts to get poor teachers out of class. School Reform News. The Heartland Institute. Einhorn, E. (2008). Teacher in trouble spending years in ‘rubber room’ limbo that cost $65m. Retrieved November 15, 2009. http://www.nydailynews.com/nylocal/education/2008/05/04/2008-05-04teachersin troublespendingyearsinru.htm Klein, J., Weeingarten, R. (2008). Joel Klein, Randi Weingarten blame each other for Education cuts. Retrieved November 5, 2009 http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2008/05/07/2008-05- 07_joel_klein_randi_weingarten_blame_each_o-1.html Kolodner, M. (2009). Despite pledge to fix $61M problem, troubled teachers spending longer in ‘rubber room’. Retrieved November 5, 2009. https://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2009/04/30/2009-04- 30_despite_pledge_to_fix_61m_problem_troubled_teachers_spending_longer_in_rubber _ro.html Matthews, K. (2009). 700 NYC teachers are paid to do nothing. Retrieved November 15, 2009. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090622/ap_on_re_us/us_rubber_rooms McCracken, J. (2006). Money for Nothing. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 5, 2009. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090622/ap_on_re_us/us_rubber_rooms Wiliams, B. (2009). New york city rubber rooms: The legality of temporary reassignment centers in the context of tenured teachers’ due process rights.