From the AP via Yahoo! News:
700 NYC Teachers are Paid to do Nothing
By KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK – Hundreds of New York City public school teachers accused of offenses ranging from insubordination to sexual misconduct are being paid their full salaries to sit around all day playing Scrabble, surfing the Internet or just staring at the wall, if that's what they want to do. Because their union contract makes it extremely difficult to fire them, the teachers have been banished by the school system to its "rubber rooms" — off-campus office space where they wait months, even years, for their disciplinary hearings.
The 700 or so teachers can practice yoga, work on their novels, paint portraits of their colleagues — pretty much anything but school work. They have summer vacation just like their classroom colleagues and enjoy weekends and holidays through the school year.
Because the teachers collect their full salaries of $70,000 or more, the city Department of Education estimates the practice costs the taxpayers $65 million a year. The department blames union rules.
"It is extremely difficult to fire a tenured teacher because of the protections afforded to them in their contract," spokeswoman Ann Forte said.
So let that be a lesson to all my not-so-hard working friends out there (um... you know why you are). If you want to hang out and still get paid, just teach for 3 years in NYC (that's the minimum length of time needed to acquire tenured status), then start verbally assaulting your students. You'll be in the rubber room in no time! Man, who needs a fat corporate banking severance package when you can exploit this little loophole for all it's worth?
The best quote from the article? Probably this one:
"Most people in that room are depressed," said Jennifer Saunders, a high school teacher who was in a reassignment center from 2005 to 2008. Saunders said she was charged with petty infractions in an effort to get rid of her: "I was charged with having a student sit in my class with a hat on, singing."
Singing in class? Ok, that's reasonable. But with a hat on? My god. What kind of monsters are our school systems creating? Let's give this teacher a paid vacation... that'll show 'em.
1 comment:
Reading this article seriously angers me. Thousands of people have lost their jobs in this s**thole economy and yet these "teachers" are paid to do NOTHING. ALL of these 700 teachers need to be given the pink slip pronto. There are more QUALIFIED individuals than these 700 teachers that can DO the job and make a difference in kids lives.
These 700 "teachers" are NOTHING but a WASTE of taxpayers money. I'm surprised there's not a lynch mob organizing in New York. These teachers give others a bad name. They give the whole education/school system concept a bad name. Nobody needs to wonder why education in general is a "joke".
This article is just sickening beyond belief.
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