NYC to close 'rubber rooms' for teachers
Mayor Bloomberg and the city's teachers' union are set to announce today an agreement that will shutter the controversial teacher reassignment centers known as "rubber rooms," The Post has learned.
The centers won't close until the fall under the deal, sources said.
The centers house more than 600 teachers accused of misbehavior -- ranging from educational incompetence to sexual abuse -- who wait for hearings for months and years on end while doing nothing at full salary.
The Post has campaigned against rubber rooms for months. Columnist Andrea Peyser wrote in February, "Rubber rooms have become the symbol of everything in city government that makes one's head want to explode. These oases of waste and neglect exist in all five boroughs, playing host to a whopping 660 educators who've been accused of everything from sexual abuse and stealing to incompetence."
Under the deal, teachers accused of lesser charges will now report to Department of Education administrative offices or schools to perform clerical duties, sources said.
The city will also hire more arbitrators and set a strict time limit on the length of investigations in order clear up the logjam in disciplinary hearings.
The city's eight rubber rooms cost the city $40 million in salaries alone last year, according to the Department of Education.
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