NYC to close teacher rubber rooms

They sit for hours in trailers separated from the rest of the classrooms on campus, watching the clock for the time when their punishment will end. Sometimes there are up to 20 in a trailer, all with assigned seats. One would assume these are misbehaved students in detention, but they are actually some of the 550 New York City tenured teachers being held in ‘rubber rooms’ while they away disciplinary action. Some have waited for years in these trailers, all the while getting the same salary as if they had been teaching all along. This has cost the City more than $30 million a year, and is testament to a failing education system that cares little about our children.


Mayor Bloomberg and the teacher’s union have agreed to phase out these rubber rooms over the remainder of the year. The overall plan with this is to increase the speed of disciplinary proceedings to either get teachers back to the classroom or out of the classroom for good.

Charges for these teachers range from incompetence to corporal punishment against students. It is astounding that the system has had to discipline 550 tenured teachers. This reveals not only negligence on the part of the education department, but also an endemic culture of impunity for those entrusted with the development of our youth. While personal professionalism is certainly a factor, the main blame has to fall on the teacher’s union. They have obviously placed greater emphasis on making sure the pockets of these teachers were lined than on education itself.