Teacher Jail Break
Larry Sand, President, California Teacher Empowerment Network, comments on the new policy of keeping teachers on administrative leave for wrongdoing. Those teachers, instead of taking up space at schools, will be confined to their homes during their working hours. Forbidden to do any “work” by monopoly bargaining contracts, the so-called “rubber rooms” come at taxpayer expense. “House confinement” at least gives the taxpayer a break, a legal teacher jail break.
For years, teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District who have been accused of misconduct have been “housed” as they wait for investigators to figure out if they are really guilty. These so-called “teacher jails” or “rubber rooms” are district offices in which the accused sit, eat, talk to each other and text their friends Monday through Friday during school hours. The “prisoners” cannot be asked to do any office work – like filing or answering phones – which is “outside their regular duties.” Even more ridiculous, they can’t even contact subs to give them lesson plans while they are away.
In a change ordered by LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy, as of May 27th, the doors of the jails were thrown open and the inhabitants are now sentenced to what is tantamount to house arrest. They are required to stay at home during the work day, and are allowed to leave during that time only if they are summoned elsewhere as part of the investigation.