until you’ve lived with it.” So says the Chancellor of the New York City School system.
The article it’s from, The Rubber Room (New Yorker, 8/31/09), is causing quite a stir.
We learn that in New York City, there are seven rooms, at least one in each borough, where over 600 teachers spend their time doing nothing, all day long, at full pay. They are here because they’re awaiting hearings on their fitness to teach, having been charged with incompetence or misconduct. Their average stay is three years.
The article is worth a full read, to hear both “sides” and to get a look into the difficulty of changing a complicated, hide-bound system.
(And if your “take away” from this article is “Boy, those folks in NYC sure are crazy!” you’ve missed something.)
The education world is riddled with absurdities, absurdities that keep teachers from doing their jobs, leaders from leading, and children receiving a good education.