that's just insane
The Rubber Room
What is The Rubber Room?
Simply put, "The Rubber Room" is a room where hundreds and hundreds of New York City schoolteachers presently sit, being paid full salary to do absolutely nothing.
But, like so many things, it's not quite so simple...
What Happens?
Each year in New York City hundreds of schoolteachers are suspended. Their teaching privileges are temporarily, but indefinitely, revoked.
Accused of a wide range and varying degrees of misconduct, these teachers are no longer allowed 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.
Annual Costs in Excess of $25 Million
Teachers assigned to a Rubber Room can spend months and often years there. Though they continue to collect their full salaries, they are not asked or allowed to perform work of any kind, instead sitting idle day after day.
The annual cost of the New York City Department of Education's Rubber Room is estimated to be in excess of $25 million, with some estimates ranging as high as $40 million. In addition, there is a general consensus that this cost is rising steeply with each passing year.
The Rooms
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, non-descript 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 a figure regarding the total number of teachers 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 steadily and even dramatically increasing.
Psychological Impact and Taboo
Rubber Room occupants often report feelings of being deprived of their dignity and sense of self worth. Forced to languish in a state of silent, inactive limbo day after day, they describe being treated like prison inmates in the face of what they feel are baseless charges or complaints. They often recount an almost Kafkaesque set of procedures, whereby they are transferred to a Rubber Room without being told what they are accused of, who their accusers are, or even, in many instances, that they have been accused of anything at all.
Once assigned to a Rubber Room, teachers are often shunned by their peers and former school administrators. A general atmosphere of taboo will in many cases follow them for the remainder of their careers, long after they have returned to regular teaching and even, in many cases, after having been fully acquitted of their accusations.
A Dangerous Topic
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. Put another way, 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 moderately well.
The Documentary
The Rubber Room, a Five Boroughs Productions documentary film,
is an in-depth, unbiased exploration of the New York City Department of Education's teacher suspension process.
The Rubber Room asks the tough questions about "the room" itself, but also relates those questions to larger trends in both New York City and national education. It closely examines the lives of teachers, students, parents and administrators; and glimpses the future of one of society's most important institutions, that of our public education system.
Five Boroughs Productions is still in the process of conducting formal interviews for The Rubber Room. If you are someone who would like to tell your story, please contact us in complete confidentiality.
I heard about it on This American Life's episode 350: Human Resources. Facinating stuff.
What is The Rubber Room?
Simply put, "The Rubber Room" is a room where hundreds and hundreds of New York City schoolteachers presently sit, being paid full salary to do absolutely nothing.
But, like so many things, it's not quite so simple...
What Happens?
Each year in New York City hundreds of schoolteachers are suspended. Their teaching privileges are temporarily, but indefinitely, revoked.
Accused of a wide range and varying degrees of misconduct, these teachers are no longer allowed 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.
Annual Costs in Excess of $25 Million
Teachers assigned to a Rubber Room can spend months and often years there. Though they continue to collect their full salaries, they are not asked or allowed to perform work of any kind, instead sitting idle day after day.
The annual cost of the New York City Department of Education's Rubber Room is estimated to be in excess of $25 million, with some estimates ranging as high as $40 million. In addition, there is a general consensus that this cost is rising steeply with each passing year.
The Rooms
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, non-descript 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 a figure regarding the total number of teachers 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 steadily and even dramatically increasing.
Psychological Impact and Taboo
Rubber Room occupants often report feelings of being deprived of their dignity and sense of self worth. Forced to languish in a state of silent, inactive limbo day after day, they describe being treated like prison inmates in the face of what they feel are baseless charges or complaints. They often recount an almost Kafkaesque set of procedures, whereby they are transferred to a Rubber Room without being told what they are accused of, who their accusers are, or even, in many instances, that they have been accused of anything at all.
Once assigned to a Rubber Room, teachers are often shunned by their peers and former school administrators. A general atmosphere of taboo will in many cases follow them for the remainder of their careers, long after they have returned to regular teaching and even, in many cases, after having been fully acquitted of their accusations.
A Dangerous Topic
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. Put another way, 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 moderately well.
The Documentary
The Rubber Room, a Five Boroughs Productions documentary film,
is an in-depth, unbiased exploration of the New York City Department of Education's teacher suspension process.
The Rubber Room asks the tough questions about "the room" itself, but also relates those questions to larger trends in both New York City and national education. It closely examines the lives of teachers, students, parents and administrators; and glimpses the future of one of society's most important institutions, that of our public education system.
Five Boroughs Productions is still in the process of conducting formal interviews for The Rubber Room. If you are someone who would like to tell your story, please contact us in complete confidentiality.
I heard about it on This American Life's episode 350: Human Resources. Facinating stuff.