Here's Joel Klein's take on the agreement:

'We brought some sanity to the system'

By JOEL KLEIN

Last Updated: 9:20 AM, April 16, 2010

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All parents want great teachers in their children's classrooms. The city's public schools and the teachers union are committed to making that happen. No child benefits from an ineffective educator.

But for far too long in New York City, removing teachers who are incompetent -- or worse -- and getting them off payroll has been next to impossible. It's a system that everyone agrees has served no one well and hurts students, their schools and the city.

Yesterday, we were able to bring some sanity to the system. The city and the United Federation of Teachers reached a breakthrough deal to speed up greatly the process for resolving cases of teacher incompetence or misconduct so that good teachers can get back to work quickly and bad ones can be let go.

We're also eliminating the so-called rubber rooms, where teachers brought up on charges have been reassigned -- sometimes for years -- earning a paycheck, but doing absolutely no work.

We've all heard stories of teachers sitting around in rubber rooms reading magazines, playing cards, even running other businesses -- all on the city's time. At a cost of more than $30 million a year.

Those days are over.

Our resources are too precious, especially in these tough economic times. Instead, we'll put teachers to work in administrative offices until their cases are resolved.

Those brought up on the most egregious charges -- violent felony offenses or sexual misconduct, for example -- will be sent home without pay until their cases are decided.

Under the agreement, cases that may once have lasted several years will now be resolved within a few months. After removing a teacher from the classroom, the Department of Education will have 10 days to file incompetence charges or 60 days to file misconduct charges.

We're hiring more investigators to meet these timelines and more hearing officers to decide cases.

The agreement is fairer to teachers, especially those who have done nothing wrong. And this new, expedited process will be much better for students and schools.

After all, a cumbersome arbitration system leaves them in limbo, waiting to find out if their teachers are returning or whether schools have to hire someone new.

There is no more critical need than helping our students learn while keeping them safe. Thanks to productive cooperation with the teachers union, we're now one step closer to ensuring that only our best teachers are working in our schools and for our students.