This morning’s New York Post features an editorial on New York City’s “rubber rooms” for teachers and school administrators who are too wretched to work but too unionized to be fired. We covered the “rubber-room teachers need respect, too” campaign last week, but the Post has since turned up some examples of the remarkable union-defended teachers that the district hasn’t yet been able to fire:
- Yvonne Challom has been, ahem, “reassigned” since April 2004. The tenured teacher was caught making “Columbine-like threats” to her school. Even after her conviction for aggressive harassment, a court ruling says that the Department of Education can’t fire her until all her appeals are exhausted.
- Allen Rosenfeld is a tenured teacher “reassigned” for perpetually leering at girls as they exited the bathroom. He’s been in his room since September 2003.
- Francisco Olivares is a tenured teacher with multiple sex charges filed against him since 1989. He’s been “reassigned” since at least January 2003 (a change in computer records makes it hard to assess exactly how long he’s been “rubberized”).