The Rubber Room?

[Addict]

Came across this in a blog I read:

http://www.rubberroommovie.com/

Thoughts?

[Chef Dave]

New York certainly has many problems. The district is large ... perhaps too large to be properly managed.

I really don't understand how teachers can remain in the rubber room for months or even years while the district has acute teacher shortages in nearly every subject.

The teacher shortage is so acute that in 2000, after experiments with non-certified personnel failed to produce adequate results, the DOE instituted a number of innovative programs for teacher recruitment, including the New York City Teaching Fellows, the TOP Scholars Program, and a number of initiatives to hire foreign teachers to teach in the city's schools. The New York City schools are even paying housing subsidies for experienced teachers who are willing to relocate to New York.

There is no doubt in my mind that this district has a great many problems. Although the district has an annual budget of $15 billion, it also has a great many expenses.

Did you know that they're paying $824 million per year to fund the private education of autistic children that the district has been unable to provide services for?

Last year the school district paid $53 million to settle lawsuits filed by disgruntled parents for not meeting the needs of their special education children. The average settlement came to about $100,000 for each case.

A 2005 audit conducted by Federal officials found that the district had mis-spent $870 million in Medicaid payments by channeling tens of thousands of poor special-education students into speech therapy performed by unqualified practitioners. The district also disregarded advice from the New York State Department of Education which "strongly suggested" that referrals for speech therapy be made by doctors or licensed practitioners.

District record keeping was so bad that some school officials were unable to prove that all of the referred students even received these services.

The Federal auditors recommended that this money be returned to the government.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/23/ny...3students.html

Budget problems in the New York City district are so acute that in February of 2008, the Chancellor for finance and administration cut all school budgets by 1.75%.

This may not seem like a lot of money ... but 1.75% effectively translates into anywhere from $9,000 to $447,587.

With the budget cuts coming mid year, administrators across the city are having to cut programs or terminate teacher employment. One administrator whose school lost $208,000 is quoted as saying, “That’s six teachers’ salaries for the rest of the term." Given teacher tenure, I would imagine that this administrator was talking about the employment of novice teachers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/ny...rincipals.html

The high cost of living and the strength of the teachers' union has not helped the district. Average teacher salaries in New York City are higher than the national average. The average teacher makes over $50,000. The average guidance counselor makes $59,232. Senior teachers with 20 or more years of experience make $79,161 NOT INCLUDING extracurricular pay which can raise this total to about $85,000.

Reference: teacher salaries
http://www.payscale.com/research/US/...ucation/Salary

The average building administrator in New York City makes $66,129. There are roughly 1,400 administrators employed by the district.

In 2005, the Chancellor of the New York City Schools made $250,000 ... which really surprised me as it was much lower than I actually expected given that this is the salary of the superintendent of the nation's largest school district.
Of course ... who knows what has happened during the last two years.

Surprisingly enough, Mount Vernon, New York is looking for a new superintendent. Their offer? $317K. The superintendent of the Boston Public Schools earns $275,000. Last year in Atlanta, the superintendent earned a whopping $347,228.95 which included some hefty performance bonuses.

Getting back to the financial woes of the New York schools, on top of everything else, a new charter school that's scheduled to open in 2009, is looking for highly qualified teachers. To recruit the best of the best, they're offering to pay an astounding $125,000 plus a potential bonus for performance. The salary being offered is roughly 2 1/2 times the national average.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/ny...hp&oref=slogin

Still ... how economical is it to retain teachers who do no work? How cost effective is it to take up to ten years to complete an investigation into alleged impropriety? For that matter, why should it take so long to complete an investigation?

[busbus]

All I can say is, Wow! This is such a waste of money and time.

True, there are possibly teachers there who are guilty. But, think about it, there are many who are innocent. Can you imagine how they are feeling? Can you imagine the delight of the person or persons who caused it to happen? This is humiliating and a darn shame.

For those who are innocent, it's like the IRS - You're guilty until you prove yourself innocent! In this case, for the innocent, the damage is done! A career destroyed! A life and, possibly a family, forced into purgatory! All of this because of false (far too many, I can imagine) accusations by disgruntled students, unhappy parents, over zealous advocates, etc..

I'm aware of teachers and principals in my district who have been subjected to administrative action. They had to report to some office everyday - waiting and waiting and waiting ad waiting for their "case" to be resolved. For a short time, you keep up with them; but, eventually, you realize that you haven't heard of any update on the person's situation. Then, it's like they never existed.

In some cases, I have known teachers who have been reassigned after the administrative action. Everyone on the staff knew the history. Gossip travelled into the neighborhoods. These teachers were under "constant watch" all day, everyday, all week and every week! They were walking on egg shells.

Recently, a high school teacher was accused of calling a student the "N" word. An investigation took place. Students who were in the class at the time, said that it didn't happen and staff members who were in the area at the time that it happened, said that they had not heard the "N" word being used by the teacher. However, ironically, after about a week, the teacher was removed from the school and reassigned to one of our school district offices. It took over a month for this case to be resolved. The teacher was found innocent and assigned to a new school. But, as I said, news travel. The damage has been done. I wonder how this teacher is making out.

I think that there are "Rubber Rooms" in every school district. We just haven't heard about them. For the most part, a waste of money and a waste of time. Yes, we should be protecting our students; however, too often, folks know who to play the system and the innocent gets caught up in this mess.

Whose protecting the teachers and other staff members?

[Chef Dave]

In some cases, I have known teachers who have been reassigned after the administrative action. Everyone on the staff knew the history ... recently, a high school teacher was accused of calling a student the "N" word. An investigation took place...I think that there are "Rubber Rooms" in every school district.

We lost our art teacher during first semester because he hid a video camera in a make shift changing room for female art students. The girls were changing into clothing that was more suitable for the silohuette project his art class was working on.

He was caught when the video camera began beeping. He was immediately placed on administrative leave and removed from his classroom by the building administrator and resource officer.

For reasons unknown, nobody confiscated the camera. While following the police officer to the station house, he removed the recording chip and destroyed it.

I don't remember whether he was terminated or whether he resigned ... but he was out of a job within a rather short period.

He is now facing multiple charges of voyeurism, surreptitious photography, attempted voyeurism and attempted surreptitious photography.

In a plea agreement he is pleading guilty and will be on probation as a registered sex offender.

The most recent news is that the judge may not accept the plea agreement because he says that the teacher has not accepted responsibility for his behavior. I think he is scheduled to render a verdict in April.

[busbus]

Chef Dave,

In this case, GET RID OF THE B*****D! He shouldn't even go to the Rubber Room. Put his rear-end to the curb!

But, ... We do have Due Process.

I just get upset when false charges, lies and deceit causes innocent folks grief for something that they did not do or say.

But, ... As we know, life isn't fair! The innocent also has the right of Due Process.

[sgaestel]

Wow. That is crazy. After getting my BA I applied and was accepted to NYU's School of Education to become certified to teach English and theatre arts in New York. It has always been a dream of mine to live in NYC. I couldn't afford NYU, and moved to NC to lateral entry teach. Boy am I glad I did!
Surprisingly enough, while I was in training here in NC, there were THREE teachers from NY there. I had to ask why they were in NC, when I was dying to teach in NY. They asked what I wanted to teach. "English," I replied, "and theatre." They laughed and said I would have a very difficult time getting a job in NYC in a half way decent school in those contents.
After viewing that film, I am SO glad I made the decision I made!

[Chef Dave]

In a recently published report by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, "The Leadership Limbo, Teacher Labor Agreements in America's Fifty Largest School Districts," the New York City public schools have been rated a D+ for Employee Work Rules.

Surprisingly enough, despite stories like the Rubber Room, there are other districts that rated a lot worse than NYC including Orange County, Palm Beach, and Philadelphia all of which earned a D- and Los Angeles, Fresno, San Diego, and Miami-Dade, all of which received an F.

The report cites several problems including: risk averse principals, superintendents, district office personnel, and school boards who promote "collegiality" over "unseemly conflict." Other problems include administrative blame shifting and exaggeration, lethargic school and district leadership, and "one size fits all" management policies.

The report also blasted union contracts. In some cases, union contracts have prohibited administrators from some of the strategies used in the private sector such as offering extra pay for high demand skills or strong work performance. Administrators complained of having to place teachers with the most seniority in coveted teaching assignments rather than having the flexibility to hire the most qualified applicant.

To read this report in its entirety, visit:

http://vcww.edexcellence.net/doc/the...ship_limbo.pdf

[busbus]

I read parts of the report and really looked at the pages related to my school district. At this time, I'll accept the grade. I see too much of the possibility of subjectivity in many of its recommendations and I see too much control suggested for school administrators.

There are several errors in its findings about my school district. One is that seniority is a major influence on coveted assignments. This is NOT true. True, seniority does have a place; however, based on the job opportunity requirements, a person with seniority may not have them. Plus, principals create the requirements for the job and often create it to fit only the person that they want.

Stipends for professional development! What's wrong with being paid for overtime? ALL professional development is not done after school hours. Therefore, ALL professional development are not stipend!

Performance pay! Please! How subjective can one be. It's human nature to reward those with whom you have a positive relationship and ignore those with whom you have a dislike or a negative relationship. No! No! and No! I've seen too much politicking in the schools. Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Schools have the option of using Site Selection for selecting new teachers and other staff members. If schools don't opt for this, then it's their fault. I think that this is enough. Public schools are NOT private schools.

I do not believe that student performance on the standardized tests should be an indicator of teacher performance. There are too many variables that can affect scores. Teachers are accountable enough as it is.

Actually, our "contract" is not a contract; it is an Agreement!.