Letters to the Editor
Rubber Rooms' Classroom Toll

To the Editor:

I was very perturbed by the unfortunate situation that my fellow colleague, Ms. Blythe, has been victimized by (April 13 story). It is so disheartening that many innocent teaching professionals (regardless of length of service) are always under the threat of having both their personal and professional lives thrown into turmoil under the fallacious guise of "justice" being meted out by those in charge.

I'd like to share my own personal experience of being unjustifiably put into one of the Department of Education's "Rubber Rooms" in May 2006 by a then-Region 5 Superintendent, Mr. Varleton MacDonald, who no longer has that position. To this day, I am wondering under what false pretense he was able to callously destroy my guardianship over the students in the program that I once coordinated at Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn. I'm not writing this letter out of bitterness or to receive any sort of pity, but to highlight this growing "Rubber Room" internment of innocent Teachers who are not being treated as the professionals that they are and the chaos that treatment causes in students' lives. This is ultimately affecting students who are left without a Teacher, without a leader, without a reason and without an educational experience that has continuity and stability.

I know that the general public feels that Teachers have it "so easy" being in union-protected jobs, having every holiday under the sun, having the summers off, and an "early afternoon" daily dismissal. It seems like the "dream job" to most who have not experienced its nightmarish underbelly.

First and foremost, Teachers (like Ms. Blythe), who remain in their positions through the years are not there to make money; what she and others like her are attempting to do is to make a difference in the lives of children and midwife them into society as respectable, responsible, contributing members. Nowadays amid the social ills of society (drugs, poverty, gang-violence, pregnancy, illness, etc.), our duty as Teachers ensuring the next generation's existence has become exponentially more difficult and demanding. In our careers, we have no choice but to wear many hats: advocate, counselor, drill sergeant, parent, police, preacher, reporter, witness, zeitgeist-protectors - yes, everything from "A" through "Z".

What those in the general public need to know about "the Rubber Rooms" is the following: They are places where a Teacher is "assigned" when simply accused of wrongdoing or maybe (like in my case) of nothing at all. It is a netherworld where Teachers' careers become anemic, their training and degrees fester like sores on their brains from disuse, and to end this affliction of embarrassment, calamity, and eternal red tape, they are often offered "a fine" to pay as a penalty once the validity of the charges against them is at an impasse and cannot be proven or disproved beyond a reasonable doubt. In any case, the Teacher is the loser financially, spiritually, socially, and morally with his/her students lying impotent as casualties of a senseless course of action.

This is my description. This was my experience and journey. This is my story.

1. The UFT (United Federation of Teachers) cannot protect Teachers from being thrown into "the Rubber Room" at any time.

The UFT can only fight for its members' jobs while they're in "the Rubber Room" being paid at base salary. The being-paid-at-base-salary part of this horrific scenario makes this action "legal" and can be done to any Teacher at any time.

However, the financial implosion begins when the Teacher is "black-balled" from working overtime. Since city Teachers are not being paid a livable base wage, we often don't take summers off (I've worked night school, summer school, home instruction, and prep courses non-stop in my career) and one of the consequences of being put in "the Rubber Room" was that all of my overtime that my family depended on was absolutely wiped out and immediately stopped (How's that for union protection?).

2. A Teacher can sit in "the Rubber Room" for years without being charged while still being humiliated.

When my Superintendent, Varleton MacDonald, summoned two uniformed police officers to escort me from my office, leading me through and out of the school building in front of students and staff alike in a "perp-walk," I was not charged with any wrong-doing whatsoever.

Once I arrived at "the Rubber Room" in Queens, I was asked, "What were you charged with?" and my response was, "I was hoping you'd tell me so that I can tell my lawyer."

In those waking days, I tried to put together the pieces of my life, to field the many phone calls from colleagues who needed an explanation and from students and parents who sent messages. I was completely powerless to answer with words or lead with instruction since I was in "the Rubber Room," a black hole of nothingness replete with fog. (How's that for a vacation?)

3. These "Rubber Rooms" (located in every borough) are often inconvenient for travel.

They are championed as "a new assignment" where a sane Teacher would never normally have chosen to work because of location, parking issues, or allergy-ridden rooms, etc. Once assigned, my daily commute changed from 20 minutes to almost two hours. My allocation for gas, traffic tickets/fines, babysitting, child pick-up/drop-off schedules, paid parking, etc. also had to change - all within 24-hours' notice. This is part of the havoc that "Rubber Rooms" wreak in the lives of Teachers. (My days were lengthened by almost four stressful unpaid commute hours; how's that for early-afternoon dismissals?)

The list is longer but the devastation was complete. The above examples are just highlights of what has unfortunately become part and parcel of "those in charge" who abuse their authority in instances like: (1) Edging a Teacher out of a position they'd rather open for a crony; (2) Ridding themselves of an abiding-by-the-contract union delegate; (3) fulfilling a personal vendetta against a subordinate who is a personality clash or just too outspoken; (4) Humiliating a subordinate who deserves to be "taught a lesson," (5) Getting rid of higher-paid veteran Teachers and in turn hiring more lower-paid newer Teachers who can be easily controlled; (6) Vanquishing the competition by record-blemishing.

In the end, my days of internment in "the Rubber Room" were over when I was told, after about one week, that there were no charges against me and "good-bye and good luck." Once I returned to my school, my program was in shambles and my students were in turmoil. I was never reinstated as their coordinator.

Just last week a graduate from the program asked me why he didn't receive his high school credits for participating in the program, and I couldn't answer him at first. I later instructed him in some strategies that might bring some accreditation for all of the hard work he did in the program I coordinated up until May 2006, but I couldn't help but wonder how other students like him who had their educational experience disrupted when their coordinator became "Rubberized" were faring. Who's there to give them back that year, or their credits, or their memories?

Whatever Mr. MacDonald's reasons against me were, real or imagined, they didn't make me suffer as much as his abuse of power made effective, domino-laden tragedies in the lives of students who mattered the most but were regarded the least.

ETHEL F. RICHARDS, High School English Teacher