The City and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT ) the union representing the New York City's more than 80.000 members, reached an agreement today to close the city's notorious Rubber Rooms, where teachers awaiting disposition of charges against them languish while the system stalls. Under the agreement, the teachers will now be assigned to clerical duty, either in central offices or schools.

The new agreement includes other key changes:

  • More arbitrators hired to expedite the hearing process, which now can take years to play out.
  • Formal charges of misconduct must be made within 60 days, or teachers will return to classrooms.
  • Formal charges of incompetence must be made within 10 days.

The city has agreed to clear up backlogged cases by the end of the year.

Teachers in rubber rooms receive full salary while waiting for their case to come to a hearing. Assigning accused teachers to work in offices is a return to former practice where they were usually assigned to district offices to perform non-teaching assignments.

For details, see the Department of Education website.

And let us know what you think of the plan in comments below. Do you know any teachers who have been spending time in rubber rooms?