A reassignment center (also known as a rubber room) is a type of holding facility administered by the New York City Department of Education for teachers accused of misconduct while awaiting resolution of their misconduct cases.[1][2] As of 2007, the city had thirteen reassignment centers.[3] The teachers are not required to do anything, and they may be assigned to the center for months or years.

The 2010 documentary film The Rubber Room claimed that the city's teacher union, the United Federation of Teachers, neglects to provide proper representation to teachers assigned to reassignment centers.[4] Exonerated teachers often become absent teacher reserve teachers.

Uses

In June 2009 The Department of Education blamed union rules that made it difficult to fire teachers.[5] Some teachers assert that they have been sent to reassignment centers because they are whistleblowers against administrators for falsifying student test results or publicly challenging Joel Klein, the Schools Chancellor from 2002 to 2011.[1] Three Department of Education employees speaking to the UFT's "New York Teacher" confirmed teachers' allegations that Fordham High School for the Arts Principal Iris Blige filed allegations against the school's UFT chapter leader, to place her in a reassignment center, in order to intimidate her and to set an example to the school's staff.

Reassignment centers arose as a budgetary concern in bureaucratic studies and press coverage in the spring of 2008, and cost the city more than $65 million per year in labor expenses.[1] In April 2010, the city and teachers' union reached an agreement to end the practice.[1] This agreement came in the midst of the first public presentation of a documentary on the centers.

Since the rubber room agreement, the only substantive change has been that there are no longer large rooms filled with reassigned teachers. Teachers are typically reassigned within their own schools, or to other Department of Education buildings throughout the city. Although teachers are now being charged more quickly, it still takes several years to complete the hearing process and for the arbitrator to render a decision. Many teachers are subsequently brought up on "3020-a" charges, which refer to the section of the New York State education law dealing with the discipline of tenured teachers. Unlike any other school district in New York State, no independent panel must vote to prefer charges against a tenured teacher in New York City. The 3020-a trial is held before an independent arbitrator, who is paid by the New York State Education Department but is selected jointly by the New York City Department of Education and the United Federation of Teachers.

In June 2012, it was revealed that the New York State Education Department had not paid its arbitrators for several years, and collectively owed them millions of dollars for cases they had completed, or were in the process of hearing. In frustration, ten of the 24 arbitrators on the New York City panel have quit, while the remaining 14 refuse to hear any testimony or issue any decisions until their back wages have been paid in full. This could take several more years to negotiate, further exacerbating the backlog of reassigned teachers.

Many teachers assigned to rubber rooms actively stall their reassignment in order to collect their salary without any actual work. Aryeh Eller, who was a music teacher accused of sexual misconduct in 1999, has remained in reassignment ever since and has received at least $1.7 million in salary with full health and pension benefits as of 2019.[6]

Documentary

Filmmakers Jeremy Garrett and Justin Cegnar of Five Boroughs Productions produced an independent documentary on the centers, called The Rubber Room,[7][8] which was the basis for a segment on the radio program This American Life.[8]

In the 2015 Netflix series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, the protagonist Kimmy's GED class is being taught by an uninterested teacher who is purposely bad at his job in hopes of being sent to a reassignment center.[9][10] [11] In the May 2011 episode of The Simpsons titled The Ned-Liest Catch, school teacher Edna Krabappel is sent to a reassignment room after striking Bart in the back of the head twice for pulling a prank.[12]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Kugler, Sara (April 15, 2010). "NYC to stop paying teachers to do nothing". Associated Press. Archived from the original on November 2, 2014. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  2. ↑ Freedman, Samuel (October 10, 2007). "Where Teachers Sit, Awaiting Their Fates". The New York Times.
  3. ↑ Altman, Mara (April 17, 2007). "Class Dismissed". The Village Voice. The Village Voice. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
  4. ↑ Andreatta, David (March 12, 2007). "'Rubber-Room' Teachers Demand Rights". New York Post. Archived from the original on August 29, 2008. Retrieved May 5, 2008.
  5. ↑ "700 NYC teachers paid to do nothing". NBC News. June 22, 2009. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
  6. ↑ Edelman, Susan (November 2, 2019). "NYC pays 'rubber room' teacher $1.7M over 20 years after sex abuse claims". New York Post.
  7. ↑ "RubberRoomMovie.com". www.rubberroommovie.com. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
  8. 1 2 "Human Resources". This American Life. February 29, 2008. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
  9. ↑ Smith, Kyle (March 22, 2015). "'Kimmy Schmidt' shows the irrelevance of NBC". New York Post. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
  10. ↑ Bunch, Sonny (March 16, 2015). "'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt' Versus Teachers Unions". Washington Free Beacon. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
  11. ↑ Solomon, Ali (April 27, 2015). "Et Tu, Kimmy Schmidt? The Unbreakable Attack on Teachers". HuffPost. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
  12. ↑ Loewus, Liana (May 23, 2011). "'The Simpsons' Take On Rubber Rooms". Education Week. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
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