"I've been in Detention for years and I'm a Teacher"

David Pakter:

When I began teaching in New York City 37 years ago, if you were reported for serious misconduct, you were sent to a Board of Education office until the matter was resolved. But as the system grew, removing teachers from the classroom became standard for even the most trivial offence. The board's offices got so crowded they began leasing buildings around the city to use as "reassignment centres", nicknamed "rubber rooms".

As many as 800 to 1,000 teachers are in rubber rooms on any given day; it's an academic Guantánamo Bay. Many go stir-crazy. Brooklyn's Chapel Street rubber room is huge but so crowded that people are almost falling out of the windows.

Posted by jimz at January 2, 2010 5:55 AM
Subscribe to this site via RSS/Atom: Newsletter signup | Send us your ideas