May 4, 2008

DAILY NEWS RUBBER ROOM REHASH

The Sunday Daily News recently published an extensive article on the Rubber Rooms. Most of it seemed pieced together from varied articles on the internet. Even the stats were old. It mentioned around 700 teachers in the Rubber Rooms: there are about a thousand now.

The article had a few sympathetic things to say about the torturous atmosphere of the Rubber Rooms, but then filled the rest of the article with the same old foggy defenses the DOE and Randi Weingarten of the UFT have used since this whole sorry mess was dragged out into the open. The DOE spouted its lie that they only exile teachers "if evidence suggests they're a danger to kids." If this were true no teacher in the Rubber Rooms would, or should, be allowed to return to the school system. As it is, many do return, but only after the DOE has done everything to demoralize and intimidate them. To have to lie exposes the fact that the DOE has no actual defense. The Klein Laws are artificial laws; why shouldn't their defense be artificial as well?

Randi Weingarten, again said the right thing. Referring to the Rubber Rooms, she said, "They're demoralizing, horrible places." But, as usual, there was no statement of action. Why are teachers being forced to spend years in these demoralizing, horrible places without the UFT fighting aggressively to get them the same rights that every citizen in the United States is supposed to have. Why do the DOE and the UFT find it so hard to work out a fair and just system.? Klein and Weingarten are both lawyers, so they know the artificial legality of this system they've pieced together. It's not fair, it's not just, and both parties should be ashamed of themselves for letting it continue.

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