From MSNBC (emphasis added):
It is sad that labor has made dismissing a bad employee so complicated and possibly frought with legal hassles and costs. On the flip side, it is scary that students can so easily falsely accuse teachers of misconduct. Is there no viable methodology for investigating such accusations, as well as accusations made by and against administrators?Where do problem teachers go? LA's 'rubber room'
LOS ANGELES -- It’s called the "rubber room" -- a popular name for a reassignment center many say is emblematic of what is wrong with public education.
The rubber room is where teachers accused of everything from drug abuse to sexual harassment are sent to do nothing, but still collect a salary, benefits and accrue time toward pensions.
"Several of the people I know in rubber rooms have been there two years, some people as long as five years," said Leonard Isenberg, a disciplined Los Angeles Unified School District teacher. "You don’t just sit there. You can’t do anything. Think of Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo, with a paycheck."
The LAUSD has 161 teachers assigned to various offices throughout the district. It’s a policy LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy is trying to change – as in the case with former Miramonte Elementary School teacher and accused child molester, Mark Berndt.
"Traditionally what the district has done is to say we put you in an office, we pay you, and we wait for all the stuff to happen," Deasy said. "I am not acting that way."
There are plenty of teachers who support efforts to get rid of reassignment centers, but for different reasons.
Leonard Isenberg, who taught in the district for 25 years, said he ended up in one after repeatedly complaining that his school, Central Continuation High School, was graduating students with second-grade reading levels.
He said that angered the principal, and that led to accusations of him yelling at students and watching pornography in class.
Isenberg used his time in the rubber room to create a web site, perdaily.com, which looks critically at the district, reassignment centers and its discipline procedure.
He was ultimately fired by the district, but still has an appeal hearing later this year. Isenberg said the district’s procedures make teachers guilty until proven innocent and fearful of false accusations.
"The students know they can get teachers in trouble by just saying anything," Isenberg said.
Retired teacher and California Teachers Empowerment Network president Larry Sand said rubber rooms are necessary and are not going away anytime soon.
"There’s arbitration and hearings and all sorts of things that have to take place before a teacher would actually lose his job," Sand said. "If he’s not in the classroom, they have to put him somewhere."
There is a movement afoot among the general public that is pushing to rid the education system of "tenure." Tenure is a part of the above problem; however, removing it is not so simple. When school districts have to make financial cutbacks due to the current economic downturn, we teachers get nervous. Having tenure in place allays some fears when "cuts" is the topic of conversation. Honestly, I work with some teachers who would be rather cutthroat if we did have to compete with one another.
On the other hand, it is infuriating to me to witness how, under the current tenure system of my school district, inept individuals are rehired each year, thus allowing them to gain tenure. Again, many times it is due to school districts fearing harassment from the fired teacher and his or her union, or simply due to the fact that there might not be other applicants for the position.
0 comments:
Post a Comment