Warehousing Teachers in Rubber Rooms

For more on rubber rooms, see this article by John Stossel, a follow up to his must-watch 20/20 segment, Stupid in America, which can be seen (commercial free!) at: http://www.viddler.com/explore/RazrHog4Life/videos/1/

 "You can't fire him?"
 
"It's almost impossible."
 
It's almost impossible because of the rules in the New York schools' 200-page contract with their teachers. There are so many rules that principals rarely even try to jump through all the hoops to fire a bad teacher. It took six years of expensive litigation before the teacher who wrote Cutee101 was fired. During those six years, he received more than $300,000 in salary.
 
"Up, down, around, we've paid him," said the chancellor. "He hasn't taught, but we've had to pay him, because that is what is required under the contract."
 
Hundreds of teachers the city calls incompetent, racist, or dangerous have been paid millions.
 
And what do they do while they get paid? They sit in rubber  rooms.

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Warehousing Teachers in Rubber Rooms
BY JOHN STOSSEL - JFS Productions Inc.
February 16, 2006
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/27753

Bosses, have I got an idea for you: Don't pay your best employees more, don't ease out your least productive workers, and for crying out loud, never fire anyone, not even for the most blatant misconduct on the job.