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There was an article recently in the news that stated there are thousands of teachers, NATIONWIDE who are being paid, with full benefits, including medical, vacation and holiday pay, for literally sitting around in a room during school hours doing nothing. This new kind of Rubber Room, is a holding tank for teachers or administrators who are waiting for their disciplinary hearings. Some of these teachers have been accused of major infractions lik esexual conduct to minor infractions like insubordination and everything in between. While I certainly wouldn’t want to have a teacher suspected of sexual misconduct to be allowed to teach in class, this idea of paying someone a full salary to sit around, for months, is just plain silly.
If you had read this blog before, you know that I had lost a job that I loved working with kids, because the new administrator didn’t like me. But I didn’t take it personally. She singlehandedly got rid of at least 8 other people. And because of her dirt, the Non Profit organization lost the contract with the San Diego Juvenile Probation Department to do Teen Drug and Alcohol Counseling. I guess you could call that Karma! And in reading this article, some of the excuses used to get rid of these teachers seemed pretty flimsy. Using the term “insubordination” is another way of saying “no reason at all, it just sounds good.” That was the excuse that was used to fire me. But when pressed by the Employment Development Department, my boss gave some many contradictory reasons that the Mediator sided in my favor. So listening to some of the reasons these teachers are in “purgatory” sounded familiar. One teacher is in the “room” because she allegedly allowed a student to sing in class while wearing a hat. Another teacher was there because he pushed another student while breaking up a fight. Another teacher is there because he blew the whistle on an Assistant Principal who was fudging test scores.
Continue reading “A new Kind of Rubber Room” »
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Let me say this first. I have always loved school and loved, and still love, to learn new things. I’ve been fortunate in my life to have the ability to learn things fairly easily and the subjects that didn’t come naturally to me, the brains to figure it out. Why I am certainly no genius, I could have done whatever I wanted to do. While my father was DEFINITELY one of the biggest assholes god ever created, he was no dummy. Any my mother was one of the first African American women that I knew personally, who refused to “play dumb” to make anyone feel better about themselves. The second was a teacher that I had at Lemon Grove Junior High, named Mrs. Coleman, who was my English teacher. She would always tell me that I was being very “loquacious” today. Not knowing what that meant, she told me to look it up. It meant that I was talking to much. Go figure. Me talking too much! LOL The confidence that I acquired from these two women is immeasurable and I thank them both! While I certainly had teachers who had “been on the job too long“, I have been blessed to have sat in classrooms with teachers/professors who loved what they did and it showed. That, beginning in elementary and up through college, is the reason I have love school and respect teachers. So it pissed me off to no end that THREE IDIOT JUDGES in Washington State said that it was OK for a teacher to have sex with a student if that student is over 18 years old!! WTF!!
The teacher, Matthew Hirschfelder, YUP I have no problem calling his sorry, triflin ass out, was initially charged with First Degree Sexual Misconduct with a graduating senior in 2006. What was his explanations for his actions? Not that as a teacher, he had NO RIGHT to even go there. Not that he was in a position of power whether expressed or implied over her. Not that what he did was UNETHICAL and IMMORAL. His defense? She was over 18. At the time, he was 33 years old. Yeah, OK. What a loser! Oh, and did I mention that one of the judges is a woman????
My former high school, Helix High School in La Mesa, CA, has had at least four incidences of teachers or coaches who have had sexual relationships with students in the last two years alone! A kid who lives on my block and attended Helix in the last two years, a neighbor, and I were talking and he said that those four were just the “tip of the iceberg.” That many other teachers quit or moved before they could be charged for their actions. YIKES!! At Lemon Grove Junior High, a teacher was arrested for having Child Porn on his computer. My high school basketball coach was alleged to have had “relationships” with many of his players. While I have no proof of this, I did hang out with him and other teammates where alcohol was around. And he did eventually marry a former player after she graduated from high school. So how far of a leap does anyone need to take???