Back to Purgatory

School begins September 8 and as many of you will agree, it is not a day most teachers in the "BloomKlein Era" are looking forward to with anticipation. As a reassigned teacher, beginning the school year in the rubber room for the second time following a stress-free summer is like having to return to death row. The same appending "3020" hangs over my head, just as though I never left.
As I have stated before, there is no purpose or gain achieved in this senseless practice that the DOE continues to support. Having to sit in a bare room day after day with no assignment or duties is a shameful waste of talent and education. There is none of the usual shopping for supplies, 'setting up' of the classroom, hanging borders, arranging seats, writing schedules or lesson plans. Teachers assigned to the rubber room simply just need to report there. Clearly there is no positive opportunity for growth, remediation, development or educational gain for ANYONE. There is nothing to look foward to; and no reason for to believe that anything will be any different if you are returned to your school. Void of sense or logic, the rubber room just "is".
Where is the sanity in sending teachers to a room for an indefinite amount of time while paying them their full salary and benefits just to sit and stare at the wall? However serious or trivial the accusation against a teacher is, how is it beneficial to toy with teacher's lives, careers and mental health? The endless waiting game is an inhumane method of discipling teachers accused of 'alledged' wrongdoing. The rubber room is a lose-lose situation for the tax payers, the teachers and the students.
Stay tuned for more of my ranting and raving...