On Education: The Best Storytellers Tell Their Own Stories

When you hear the term “rubber room”, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? A padded cell used to house the severely mentally ill? How about a purgatory for public school teachers and staff awaiting disciplinary hearings?

That’s right, a purgatory. For those of you unfamiliar with the New York City public education system’s dirty little secret, here’s the skinny on what are not-so-affectionately referred to as “rubber rooms”.

According to union contract regulations, whenever public school teachers are accused of an offense (ranging from insubordination and sexual misconduct to, as some teachers claim, blowing the whistle on an administrator who fudges test scores, accidentally pushing a student while breaking up a dangerous fight, or allowing a student to sit in class with his hat on), they must be allowed to continue in their jobs, in some capacity, while waiting for their cases to be heard. The catch is that they cannot return to their classrooms nor can they be given other work.

So they are banished to off-campus office spaces (officially called “temporary reassignment centers”) where they must sit, for eight hours each day, five days each week, and do nothing while awaiting their hearings. Since there are only 23 arbitrators working a mere five days each month to hear cases  (can that even be true?) teachers commonly sit in rubber rooms for months—many for years. And guess how much they get paid during this extended stay? Their full salaries!

At any given time there are 700-900 teachers getting paid about $70,000 per year to do nothing. And while it might sound like a sweet deal for the teachers involved, in reality it’s anything but that. It’s humiliating, first of all, and many teachers say that depression runs rampant among rubber room occupants. It can also be dangerous as tensions flare easily and fights sometimes break out.

Five Boroughs Productions is making a documentary about this shameful fiasco called The Rubber Room which has yet to be released. They have a great website where you can learn more about rubber rooms in NYC and even see a trailer for their film.

I don’t know what’s worse here: making teachers wait an indefinite period of time for a fair hearing; confining them to the purgatory of rubber rooms while they wait; or making tax payers dish out millions of dollars (in these trying economic times!) to fund this absurdity?! I understand that complexity is endemic to the New York City public school system but how can something so outrageous be allowed to continue for years on end? Maybe I’m going out on a limb here, but wouldn’t it be more cost effective to expedite the whole evaluation process by hiring more arbitrators? Or even to have the existing ones work more than 5 days a month? And couldn’t the union agree on something more productive for these waiting teachers to do in the meantime?

I’m definitely looking forward to seeing The Rubber Room documentary whenever it’s released. Hopefully it will raise awareness about this troubling issue, and maybe even help put an end to the madness.

(Photo: silas216’s flickr photostream/Creative Commons)