Rubber-roomers $hell out for OK to teach again
By SUSAN EDELMAN
OK, FINE: Many formerly disciplined rubber-room teachers are back in city classrooms after merely paying an average $7,500 fine and maybe taking anger-management or substance-abuse classes.
Bad teachers are buying back their jobs.
Many teachers accused of incompetence or misconduct sidestep termination hearings and take city Department of Education deals in which they admit some wrongdoing, pay an average $7,500 fine and return to the classroom. Some also agree to take college classes, study how to handle stress or even undergo testing for substance abuse.
In some cases, the DOE gets rid of accused teachers in deals that change their ratings from "U" (unsatisfactory) to "S" (satisfactory) if they agree to quit -- thus helping them get jobs elsewhere, lawyers told The Post.
OK, FINE: Many formerly disciplined rubber-room teachers are back in city classrooms after merely paying an average $7,500 fine and maybe taking anger-management or substance-abuse classes.
The DOE recently returned 474 educators to schools in a push to clear out "rubber rooms," the dumping grounds where hundreds yanked for alleged wrongdoing sat idle while collecting full pay.
Of those back in class, 159 paid fines of up to $15,000 each -- including 80 ordered to get training and three subjected to drug or alcohol testing, the DOE said.
"It's like a parking ticket," a spokeswoman explained. "You do something wrong, and to encourage people not to do things wrong anymore, we charge them a fine."
Of 744 educators formerly in exile, only 33 have been fired after administrative hearings.
"Teachers who are guilty of wrongdoing or incompetent in the classroom can buy their way back," said Betsy Combier, a paralegal who helps teachers fight DOE charges. "Good teachers are being pushed out unfairly. The whole process is a joke."
A single hearing on incompetence can stretch over months and cost tens of thousands of dollars.
In one case, the DOE and a teacher at PS 160 Walt Disney in The Bronx sidestepped a trial by cosigning a "stipulation of settlement."
The teacher admitted she "rendered incompetent and inefficient service" for three years. She agreed to pay $1,000 and take six college courses in "classroom management."
Under the deal, she could be reassigned to the Absent Teacher Reserve, a pool of 1,200 teachers without permanent jobs who keep their salaries and work as substitutes.
The DOE said 94 of the rubber-roomies signed stipulations to leave the system, but a spokeswoman could not say whether their "U" ratings were upgraded.
Richard Krinsky, a lawyer who defends teachers, said some get singled out because of a "personality clash" or dispute with principals. One client agreed to pay the DOE a few thousand bucks and take a class in stress management after admitting "inappropriate comments" to students, such as calling one student's presentation "boring" and telling a another kid faking flatulence "to keep your gas to yourself."
It's much easier to later fire teachers who sign stipulations, which state that if they are ever brought up on charges again, their prior admissions can be used as evidence. "They have a huge target on their backs," Krinsky said.
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