Rubber Rooms in the Privacy of Your Own Home
In a time when the ranks of newspaper education reporters are thinning faster than waistlines on The Biggest Loser, Jason Song of the Los Angeles Times seems to have come out of nowhere with two major stories in less than a week.
First there was Sunday’s piece on teacher tenure, which led to follow-up reaction stories when the school board, the mayor, and 842 web site commenters weighed in.
This morning, Song has a riveting piece on what happens to teachers accused of wrongdoing. In New York City, they are assigned to so-called “rubber rooms.” In Los Angeles, many of them are simply sent home with full pay.
Highlights:
* Watch the video about Thom Shelden (and read the account of his day) and remember that sometimes teachers are removed from schools for the protection of other teachers.
* “Former union leaders say teachers in the Los Angeles district used to be assigned non-teaching jobs when they were housed. ‘They should not just sit there like zombies,’ said Hank Springer, United Teachers Los Angeles president from 1975 to 1980.” In their defense, zombies are actually quite active.
* The current interpretation of the teachers’ contract is that “housed” teachers cannot be assigned clerical, or even busy work. “Why would we denigrate [teachers] by forcing them to do something they’re not supposed to do?” said A. J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles. Of course, doing something they’re not supposed to do is what landed them in the situation in the first place.
* “Prisoners in Guantanamo Bay have more rights than I do,” said Jeffrey Brown, a ninth-grade teacher at Fulton College Preparatory School in Van Nuys. Well, if you don’t count the salary, benefits, and THE FREEDOM TO LEAVE!
One more note, not mentioned by Song, but interesting nonetheless. The Los Angeles Unified School District has a peer assistance and review program. This is the normal union counter to talk of tenure reform. Where were the peers?
