Bouncing the “Rubber Rooms”

The Temporary Reassignment Centers, commonly called “rubber rooms,” have ignited a great fire of outrage because they have systematically abusive in ways so dire that they strike at the heart of core democratic values that are essential to our “way of life.”

Stark disclosures and commentaries have proliferated and focused on legal and other issues. This post will not revisit the arguments and investigative reports but rather cite a historic agreement reached recently between the UFT and the DOE. Monumental as it is, it remains a work in progress.

A summary of details can be found on the home page of the UFT’s website. As is clear, there has been substantial progress in the union’s quest to bust up the rubber rooms as they currently dysfunction. Some of it has been quite revolutionary:

The Office of Special Investigations (OSI) will adhere to a 90-day time frame to conduct an investigation. Transferring a criminal case to the Administrative Trials Unit will not exceed 30 days. The DOE will draft 3020A charges within 40 days.

This goes a long way in effectively addressing the exasperation expressed by TRC members who feel that they have been thrown into a time warp without any sense of structure or direction in the resolution of their cases.

The 40 percent increase in the number of arbitration panel members will break the logjam and facilitate cases that were grossly delayed in the past. There has also been a 25% percent increase in the number of arbitration dates.

Members will now receive the “evidence” against them reasonably in advance of their Pre-Hearing conference.

In situations when a principal is testifying under oath by phone, a UFT representative will be present in the room to observe that the principal is not consulting documents or otherwise being assisted.

In most cases, members will now not be removed from their schools, as had been often the case, when the allegations against them are being investigated by their principal. Some TRC members have already been returned to their schools.

The DOE has conceded that members must never be reassigned because they were whistleblowers or for capricious reasons such as personal vendettas. Any employee, including a principal, who knowingly makes a false allegation against a member, will be disciplined. For improperly reassigning a member, a principal may be forced to bear the budgetary cost of that member’s salary.

A central review process for reassignments has been instituted by the DOE and the UFT will receive weekly updates and submit objections to the Office of Labor Relations.

Other improvements include the opportunity to voluntarily perform meaningful work while under reassignment, upgrade reassigned members’ workplaces to an acceptable standard, and assign them to a site in the borough where they work.

It would be premature, indeed ridiculous, to conclude that the TRC abomination is over.

But there has been serious movement that if sustained will lead to the triumph of justice.

Even if the DOE and their backscratchers at the tabloid editorial boards support the TRC agreement for just 1 of the many deserving reasons (the burden to the taxpayer of having teachers rot), it’s still a notable if inadvertent boost to the pursuit of honor.

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