"The Rubber Room" - An example of systemic dysfunction in NYC Schools

I don't want to veer too far from the topic of concern - this is a blog about social work, not schools. But it is about social work in New York City; a lot of social workers work with kids, and if we're working with kids we're going to be involved with NYC school system.

The day after writing my last post on the educational system, I read this article in the New Yorker about what happens to teachers deemed too bad to be in a classroom.

Essentially, teachers who work for the NYC school system get tenure after three years. Once they have tenure, they can't be fired because the United Federation of Teachers, through intensive lobbying, has a stranglehold on the state legislatures ability to reform the system.

What do they do with a really terrible or possibly dangerous teachers who can't get fired? (as well as to innocent teachers who are accused of being terrible or dangerous) They these teachers to a sort of purgatory called the "Rubber Room," where they do nothing, get paid (one person getting $100,000 a year), and wait for arbitration of their case, which can take years. Some will get to retire and collect their pensions (which can be 50% of salary) before their case is ever resolved.

Are these teachers really terrible? Most of the ones interviewed claim to be victims of administrative wrath - written up for speaking their mind. Others point to race as a factor. I'm sure those sitting in the Rubber room are a mix of terrible teachers who screwed up and good-decent oneswho got falsely accused of something.

Frankly, most of the teachers quoted in this article sound like they have some serious personality disorders that they should be dealing with (I know that's not "strength-based," but this is my blog so I can engage in a little armchair diagnosis).

The sympathies of the author, Steven Brill, are clearly with the administrators, and not with the problem teachers and the U.F.T., which comes across quite badly.

Still, even if we accept that in many cases the teachers are the victims, we can agree, can't we, that this is a prime example of how screwed up the educational system is? We are talking about billions of dollars, and a teachers union that has the power to keep people getting paid not to teach. The system of arbitration is endless and byzantine.

This article demonstrates clearly how a system can morph develop a life of its own and become malignant- eventually it exists to perpetuate itself, not to fulfill its original intent.

It doesn't even resemble what it purports to be. And amid that mess, some kids still manage to learn things, and (most) teachers manage to teach them.