Three of the city’s longest-running “rubber room” teachers have raked in more than $1 million each for a decade of not working in classrooms, and a fourth is paid a top salary — $100,049 a year — not to teach.
The Foul Four — who beat sexual-misconduct charges — can’t be fired by the Department of Education because they are entitled to job protections under state tenure laws, which require “due process.” Educators are entitled to a trial with an independent hearing officer who decides whether any misconduct warrants termination.
A group of New York City parents filed a lawsuit this month seeking to loosen the restrictions after a California judge ruled teacher tenure in that state unconstitutional.
The four banned teachers collect a total of $363,271 a year, plus pension and health benefits.
“If we don’t have trust for someone to be around students, they shouldn’t be a teacher,” said Timothy Daly, president of The New Teacher Project, a nonprofit that works with schools. “Thank God we’re not putting them back with students, but we’re forced to keep paying them indefinitely.”
The DOE said the teachers work in offices on various tasks.
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