VivirLatino

I was dumbstruck after listening to last week’s episode of Chicago Public Radio’s This American Life program this morning. The episode featured a story so Kafkaesque I first doubted its veracity and then just sat shocked. It’s simple enough to sum up in just a few words: the New York City Public School system sends teachers who “misbehave” or are suspected of having done something wrong to what amounts to detention hall for teachers. Teachers are told they will be going to a “reassignment center” and when they arrive, wait to meet with district authorities.

But there will never be a meeting. The teachers sit in rooms for hours doing nothing. Those hours turn in to weeks. Weeks into months for most. And for some into a year or more than one year. Doing nothing.

A culture emerges within this confinement. It is reported by those who have been in what is called “the rubber room” – the informal name for the facility — that the overwhelming boredom and depression felt by the teachers translates into childlike behavior, violent fights and territorial squabbles. In effect, they become a lot like children in detention.

Teachers awaiting their fate — a decision by the NYC school system on whether they will be reinstated and return to teaching or terminated — continue to earn their full salary, even though they are doing absolutely nothing in the rubber room day in and day out. The estimated cost to NYC taxpayers? Some 35 million dollars per year. Read more…