Dr. W.A. Kritsonis, Doctoral Mentored Research In 2005, Dr. Kritsonis was an Invited Visiting Lecturer at the Oxford Round Table at Oriel College in the University of Oxford, Oxford, England. His lecture was entitled the Ways of Knowing Through the Realms of Meaning.

1. Ricochet in An American School District: A Tug-of-War between Educational Law
and Rubber Rooms in New York City
Sheri L. Miller-Williams
PhD Student in Educational Leadership
College of Education
Prairie View A&M University
Director of Leadership
Houston A+ Challenge
Houston, Texas
William Allan Kritsonis, PhD
Professor and Faculty Member
PhD Program in Educational Leadership
Prairie View A&M University
Member of the Texas A&M University System
Visiting Lecturer (2005)
Oxford Roundtable
University of Oxford, Oxford England
Distinguished Alumnus (2004)
Central Washington University
College of Education and Professional Studies
ABSTRACT
It’s a June morning, and there are fifteen people in the room; four of them fast asleep,
their heads lying on the card table. Three are playing a board game. Most of the others stand
around chatting. Two are arguing over one of the folding chairs. But there are no children there.
The inhabitants are all New York City school teachers who have been sent to what is officially
called a Temporary Reassignment Center also known as Rubber Rooms (Brill, 2009).

2. Introduction
Rubber Rooms are Department of Education facilities throughout the New York School
District that serve as a type of holding facility where teachers awaiting investigations or hearings
involving alleged mishaps are sent for an indefinite period of time (Williams, 2009). New York
State Education Law 3020 clearly defines how a tenured teacher may be disciplined, with the
provision that “no person enjoying the benefits of tenure shall be disciplined or removed during a
term of employment except for just cause.”
Purpose of the Research
The purpose of this research is to explore the teacher tenure laws and use the Rubber
Rooms in New York City as a means of exploring due process for teachers. This research paper
also seeks to expose many of the short and long term effects on the system as a whole; coupled
with the impact on teachers who often return to the classroom after up to three year stints in these
facilities.
New York State Education Law 3020
Education Law 3020 provides teachers a protected property interest in his or her position
which creates a requirement for due process when the offense could result in termination. The
tenure laws however do not provide a space whereby teachers have secure placement in a
particular school or classroom. During due process, teachers must retain their full salary and a
benefit until their case is resolved.
Joel Klein vs. New York and Education Law 3020
New York City is devoting more resources to efforts aimed at getting incompetent
teachers out of the classroom, with New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein introducing
the Teacher Performance Unit, a group dedicated to pushing through the long process for teacher

3. removal. Joel Klein noted:
"The disciplinary system for tenured teachers is so time-consuming and burdensome that what is
already a stressful task becomes so onerous that relatively few principals are willing to tackle
it," Klein told The New York Times for a November 15 story. "As a result, in a typical year only
about one-hundredth of 1 percent of tenured teachers are removed for ineffective performance.”
Only 10 to 15 tenured teachers a year are forced to leave the school system entirely
because of incompetence. But as of late 2007, more than 700 had been removed from classrooms
and required to report to "rubber rooms" where they are separated from students but continue to
receive full pay ( Bedford, 2008).
In the New York School District there are hundreds of teachers who are kept in rooms
under loose supervision, which often presents an atmosphere that is deemed as psychological
torture. “The Rubber Room” also known as reassignment centers are places where hundreds of
New York City school teachers presently sit, and are being paid full salary for doing absolutely
nothing. Each year in New York City hundreds of school teachers lose their teaching privileges.
These teachers are accused of a wide range of offenses ranging from insubordination to sexual
misconduct; and consequently are no longer allowed to be in the classroom. Instead, while
awaiting a lengthy adjudication process, they are compelled to report to an off-campus location
commonly referred to as “The Rubber Room.”
According to the New York City Department of Education the Rubber Room is estimated
to cost in excess of $65 million annually (Kolodner, 2009). In addition, there is general
consensus that this cost continues to rise steeply with each passing year. There exists, at any
given time, at least one Rubber Room in each of New York City’s five boroughs. The rooms are
often medium-sized, nondescript administrative spaces with chairs and sometimes tables.
Because almost no one in the New York City public education system is willing to discuss the
issue on record, it is difficult to obtain an exact figure regarding the total number of teachers

4. housed in these rooms, but educated guesses usually place it at a population of approximately
600 to 900 occupants; a population that, according to most is dramatically increasing.
The Origin of Rubber Rooms
The premise of the so- called Rubber Rooms is not new. Rubber Rooms have been in
existence for approximately 40 years. The ideology of the Rubber Room began in 1984 by
General Motors at which time they were referred to as Jobs Bank. The intent of these “Jobs
Bank” was to act as a holding a place for their current employees. Jobs Bank employees would
have otherwise been laid off for various reasons. These employees were also provided with
additional training during their assignments (McCracken, 2009). The Jobs Bank theory that was
developed with the intent to assist GM and its employees in a time of need, may very well have
contributed to their current financial deficit. According to McCracken, GM’s total cost, as a
result of these Jobs Banks, is “likely to range in the amount of $750 million to $900 million in
May 2006.
Matthews (2009) reported that approximately 700 public school teachers are fulfilling
their contractual obligations in what NYC education system refers to as “Rubber Rooms” or
“Reassignment Rooms”. Teachers housed in this capacity were given this assignment for
multiple reasons and “infractions”. During which time they are paid their full salary. This has
caused quite a bit of discourse and strife among colleagues, government officials and tax payers.
Major concerns are linked to the perception that these public school educators are being paid the
same salary, if not more, as their counterparts, yet are not doing the same work. Some argue that
they are not working at all. Controversy also stems between those who sit behind the walls of the
“Rubber Room”. The reason for each teacher’s assignment ranges in reasons from assault,
insubordination and possible personality conflicts. (Matthews 2009).

5. Education Law 3020: Justification for the Rubber Room
One such justification by the New York Department of Education is that the union contract
requires that teachers be allowed to continue in their jobs in some fashion while their cases are
being heard. The union in sharp contrast reports that they entered into an agreement with the
Department of Education on reducing the amount of time educators spend in these centers,
however, progress is slow and a teacher’s stay could last up to five years. The research on the
topic revealed that each side is blaming the other for the often extended period of time teachers
remain in these centers. Worse than that is that often after receiving full salaries for up to five
years, many of these teachers protected by tenure law and unions, return to the classrooms to
teach students due to a lack o evidence of their egregious behavior.
Differing Opinions: Contrasting Views on Rubber Rooms
The Rubber Room is an extremely controversial subject, with many involved in New York
education regarding it as simply too dangerous a topic to discuss. Some complain that the Rubber
Room allows teachers guilty of atrocious and even criminal misconduct to remain on the public
payroll, being paid a full salary to sit and do nothing. On the other side, there are those that claim
the entire process, although initially created as an instrument to protect child safety, has now
been expanded into a lethal weapon, used by principals and other administrators to remove
teachers from their classrooms based on minor insubordination, personality conflicts, or even for
budgetary reasons such as making way for a new replacement teacher who will be paid a far
lesser salary. Although opinions vary widely with respect to The Rubber Room, they do seem to
share one common denominator: they are impassioned, sometimes inflammatory, and never
positive. In fact, it would be extremely difficult to find an individual, either working in New
York City education or not, who thinks The Rubber Room is a system that works even

6. moderately well. The Department of Education, naturally, says that teachers end up for long
periods in Rubber Rooms because their union—the United Federation of Teachers—has made it
so difficult to fire lousy teachers.
Significance of the Rubber Room on the Mental Health of its Inhabitants
In New York City the structures that house the “Rubber Rooms” are “low-ceiling and
over-heated rooms” (Einhorn, 2008). Teachers here may be seen playing cards, practicing yoga,
participating in a book club or any other activity, except educating children. Once a teacher has
been assigned to the “rubber room” their reputation has been tainted. It does not matter whether
their accusations have been proven or not, “these are demoralizing, horrible places” (Weingarten,
2008). Many of the rubber room’s occupants find this to be a hard place to be.
Rubber Rooms: The Concept Expands
Many school systems across the nation have incorporated such methodologies as New
York City for holding teachers whom are up for investigation or possible termination. Los
Angeles district refers to their employees who are given a “Rubber Room” type assignment as
being “housed”. Philadelphia has teachers in their “cluster office”. In a time of economic crisis,
with millions of people without jobs and millions of students who are not being properly
educated, the significance of these Rubber Rooms is being debated.
Significance of Rubber Rooms to the Economy
It has been said the New York City spends an estimated cost to tax payers of $65 million
a year (Matthews, 2009). A recent Education Department study found teachers who lost their
permanent posts - including some who haven’t even looked for other jobs - will cost another $81
million over two years (Klein, 2009). Nothing upsets citizens more than the misappropriate use
of funding most taxpayers’ want to see their money being spent wisely and fairly. School

7. systems around the nation are experiencing financial deficits, programs are not financially sound
for implementation, programs are successful yet will not continue due to lack of funds.
Conclusion
In conclusion, with increasing accountability standards being implemented as a result of
the federal No Child Left Behind act and state accountability systems, it should not be of any
surprise that administrators will by any means necessary terminate those who compromise their
schools and the education of the children within those schools. Thus, the Rubber Room has been
born. In an attempt to staff schools with qualified, compassionate, and effective teachers;
administrators have been forced to send the others to “Rubber Rooms”. The unfortunate reality is
that it is difficult to dismiss ineffective teachers from their positions, which is also unfortunate to
the taxpayers who must foot the bill and the innocent students who missing their opportunity to
be properly and effectively educated.

8. REFERENCES
Bedford, R. (2008). New york city beefs up efforts to get poor teachers out of class. School
Reform News. The Heartland Institute.
Einhorn, E. (2008). Teacher in trouble spending years in ‘rubber room’ limbo that cost $65m.
Retrieved November 15, 2009.
http://www.nydailynews.com/nylocal/education/2008/05/04/2008-05-04teachersin
troublespendingyearsinru.htm
Klein, J., Weeingarten, R. (2008). Joel Klein, Randi Weingarten blame each other for Education
cuts. Retrieved November 5, 2009
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2008/05/07/2008-05-
07_joel_klein_randi_weingarten_blame_each_o-1.html
Kolodner, M. (2009). Despite pledge to fix $61M problem, troubled teachers spending longer in
‘rubber room’. Retrieved November 5, 2009.
https://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2009/04/30/2009-04-
30_despite_pledge_to_fix_61m_problem_troubled_teachers_spending_longer_in_rubber
_ro.html
Matthews, K. (2009). 700 NYC teachers are paid to do nothing. Retrieved November 15, 2009.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090622/ap_on_re_us/us_rubber_rooms
McCracken, J. (2006). Money for Nothing. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved
November 5, 2009. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090622/ap_on_re_us/us_rubber_rooms
Wiliams, B. (2009). New york city rubber rooms: The legality of temporary reassignment
centers
in the context of tenured teachers’ due process rights.