2 thoughts on “Policy Options Brief on NYC Public School Rubber Rooms”
Rubber rooms are an unfortunate reality that still exist in our public school systems. This is certainly an important problem because public schools, especially in low- income communities, are constantly underfunded. Yet, we irresponsibly waste millions on rubber rooms. I believe that rubber rooms should be eliminated entirely. Some of the savings from eliminating rubber rooms can be invested towards more personnel to ensure that teachers have an investigation, hearing and decision completed in a timely manner (certainly should not be longer than a month). Investigations should be conducted within weeks to be sure that witnesses to the case do not forget any important facts. Every school should have DOE employees or contractors that are on site or nearby to immediately investigate allegations of teacher misconduct or incompetence. Additional information on this policy memo could include the entire process of a teacher’s hearing so that we can better understand what/ who is causing these delays.
Response Panel on Rubber Rooms
November 16, 2016
Panel: Atara Frank, Norrisa Noel, Rozaan Daniel and Leslie Polanco
Your presentation was delivered very well and you presented a very important issue. You brought great examples and stories to demonstrate the magnitude of the problem and you really captured the heat of the issue. The fact that 15- 22 million dollars is spent on teachers that are not even teaching is money that can be better spent elsewhere in our education system.
We question the seriousness and prevalence of the issue. While it seems to definitely cost a lot of money, it is supporting a judicial process (flawed though it may be) which is what is taking place as these teachers wait in the rubber rooms. Furthermore, the extreme examples you cited, such as the teacher who spent 11 years in a rubber room, seem to be anomalies or outliers, not the norm. If for instance, you had discovered and said, that the average stay in a rubber room was 5 years, or that 75% of teachers spend at least 2 years there, that would have given more credence to the extent of the issue. We would want to know more about how many teachers are in rubber rooms at any given moment and the average length of time they spend there. How big is this issue that it would be worth funding a whole new program or can the few teachers that are there just be relocated?
We think the best option would be administrative tasks for pay, but we think it should be at a reduced salary. These teachers are out of the classroom because of misconduct, so it stands to reason that they should not be making the same salary as their colleagues who are still teaching. We believe that these administrative tasks should be mandatory and not optional. Additionally, there must be more oversight in these rubber rooms to ensure that teachers are completing the work that has been assigned. We cannot continue to let teachers collect a salary while they sit in the rubber rooms for months or years and do nothing. The Board of Education is very large and there is always work that needs to be done. If these teachers are still technically “coming to work” then they should be doing something with their time that promotes the goals of the Department of Education. If a teacher chooses not to do these tasks, they can choose to resign. Essentially, this will ensure that the millions of dollars that we spend on rubber rooms will no longer be carelessly wasted.
Regardless of whether the status quo remains or another policy option is adopted, we strongly believe that hearings for teachers should be pushed earlier and dealt with as soon as possible. Attempts to ameliorate this issue have failed. The addition of arbitrators has not been able to hasten the hearing process. Further research is necessary to inquire on what is causing these extensive delays. We just don’t know how realistic it would be to quicken these hearings with simply hiring someone to oversee it. There seems to be a lot of red tape and bureaucracy involved with the whole process and while some time can definitely be shaved off, we don’t think it would be all that significant.
Rubber rooms are an unfortunate reality that still exist in our public school systems. This is certainly an important problem because public schools, especially in low- income communities, are constantly underfunded. Yet, we irresponsibly waste millions on rubber rooms. I believe that rubber rooms should be eliminated entirely. Some of the savings from eliminating rubber rooms can be invested towards more personnel to ensure that teachers have an investigation, hearing and decision completed in a timely manner (certainly should not be longer than a month). Investigations should be conducted within weeks to be sure that witnesses to the case do not forget any important facts. Every school should have DOE employees or contractors that are on site or nearby to immediately investigate allegations of teacher misconduct or incompetence. Additional information on this policy memo could include the entire process of a teacher’s hearing so that we can better understand what/ who is causing these delays.
Response Panel on Rubber Rooms
November 16, 2016
Panel: Atara Frank, Norrisa Noel, Rozaan Daniel and Leslie Polanco
Your presentation was delivered very well and you presented a very important issue. You brought great examples and stories to demonstrate the magnitude of the problem and you really captured the heat of the issue. The fact that 15- 22 million dollars is spent on teachers that are not even teaching is money that can be better spent elsewhere in our education system.
We question the seriousness and prevalence of the issue. While it seems to definitely cost a lot of money, it is supporting a judicial process (flawed though it may be) which is what is taking place as these teachers wait in the rubber rooms. Furthermore, the extreme examples you cited, such as the teacher who spent 11 years in a rubber room, seem to be anomalies or outliers, not the norm. If for instance, you had discovered and said, that the average stay in a rubber room was 5 years, or that 75% of teachers spend at least 2 years there, that would have given more credence to the extent of the issue. We would want to know more about how many teachers are in rubber rooms at any given moment and the average length of time they spend there. How big is this issue that it would be worth funding a whole new program or can the few teachers that are there just be relocated?
We think the best option would be administrative tasks for pay, but we think it should be at a reduced salary. These teachers are out of the classroom because of misconduct, so it stands to reason that they should not be making the same salary as their colleagues who are still teaching. We believe that these administrative tasks should be mandatory and not optional. Additionally, there must be more oversight in these rubber rooms to ensure that teachers are completing the work that has been assigned. We cannot continue to let teachers collect a salary while they sit in the rubber rooms for months or years and do nothing. The Board of Education is very large and there is always work that needs to be done. If these teachers are still technically “coming to work” then they should be doing something with their time that promotes the goals of the Department of Education. If a teacher chooses not to do these tasks, they can choose to resign. Essentially, this will ensure that the millions of dollars that we spend on rubber rooms will no longer be carelessly wasted.
Regardless of whether the status quo remains or another policy option is adopted, we strongly believe that hearings for teachers should be pushed earlier and dealt with as soon as possible. Attempts to ameliorate this issue have failed. The addition of arbitrators has not been able to hasten the hearing process. Further research is necessary to inquire on what is causing these extensive delays. We just don’t know how realistic it would be to quicken these hearings with simply hiring someone to oversee it. There seems to be a lot of red tape and bureaucracy involved with the whole process and while some time can definitely be shaved off, we don’t think it would be all that significant.