Fidgety: Digging for Dirt

April 12, 2010

Digging for Dirt

It is amazing the lengths that the DOE will go to terminate a teacher.
"And the Oscar for submitting the most incredibly bogus evidence goes to... "My principal". He gets the award for trying to dig up as much irrelevant information that he can get his dirty hands on...short of calling on my fourth grade teacher(god bless her) and finding out if I was ever in detention. If this isn't a witch hunt, then I don't know what is. As the countdown to my 3020a gets closer, my Principal seems to be desperately digging himself into a hole. Isn't it obvious that the more irrelevant the information he submits, the more heinous he appears? Why, oh why can't he stick to the specifications of my case? Could it be that he doesn't have enough evidence to support his accusations? Hmm. Could it be that he is trying to deflect from the real culprit--himself?? Well, it is obvious to anyone with half a brain that my principal dropped the ball on this one, but as we all know, we are dealing with the DOE here.
God only knows what an arbitrator will accept into evidence. I pray that my arbitrator has enough common sense to recognize that my old dental records and what my first boyfriend thinks of me have nothing to do with my charges. The most recent shenanigan my Principal pulled was trying to submit into evidence a document concerning a three year old incident that occurred on a day that I was clearly absent from work. My name wasn't even on it. This incident wasn't even found in my file, but that of a colleague's. Can I be responsible for everything that is wrong with my school? If the infraction was so terrible, why isn't the other teacher being brought up on charges? I know there is a limit as to how far back a Principal can scope into your past for information, but my Principal doesn't seem to have a clue.
Remember Mr. Principal, "A lie has speed, but truth has endurance". ~Edgar J. Mohn

2 comments:

FidgetyTeach said...: I accidentally deleted this comment received from Chaz... But I was able to recover it and paste it here. Sorry Chaz!
"You should be aware that many DOE lawyers like to throw "shit on the wall" and see what sticks. Therefore, the DOE lawyer probably worked with the Principal on supplying the dubious information that the Arbitrator usually sees through.
Stay calm and keep cool and keep eye contact when the principal testifies. Make him feel uncomfortable and smile when you catch him in a lie, which you will write down and give it to your lawyer in front of them".- Chaz; April 12, 2010 at 6:03 PM
FidgetyTeach said...: Thank you for your advice Chaz. I am definitely approaching foreign territory.; April 12, 2010 at 6:04 PM

Origin of The Rubber Room...(From Rubberroommovie.com)

Exact specifics as to when, why and how The Rubber Room came into being are next to impossible to come by, although wild speculation abounds. The likelihood is that, rather than being consciously created by any one person or group, The Rubber Room slowly but surely developed over a period of years through a process of trial and error, whereby teachers deemed unfit to remain in the classroom where "reassigned" to the nearest empty and available administrative space.
The term "The Rubber Room" appears nowhere in the formal legislative code governing New York City schools. When a New York City educator is sent to The Rubber Room, that educator is not openly or specifically told that he or she will be going to a place called "The Rubber Room". Moreover, if you telephoned an official in the New York City school system and asked for directions to "The Rubber Room", you may very well likely receive a response, possibly masked in faux confusion, telling you that there is no such place called "The Rubber Room". Nevertheless, "the room" undoubtedly exists and, because it has no official name, those three provocative and inflammatory words, "The Rubber Room", make up the default epithet by which it has come to be known, even by high-ranking school officials, many of whom find the phrase distasteful.
The exact meaning behind the words "The Rubber Room" is a topic of hot debate, particularly for occupants of The Rubber Room itself, some arguing that it is a reference to a padded room where mentally ill patients are placed, others proposing it is a room where once normal people are slowly and steadily driven crazy, still others believing it to be simply a generic allusion to a prison cell. There are even some -- more than one might initially suspect -- who claim to have been present during the exact moment when the phrase was coined, or even to have coined it themselves. Aside from etymological differences, however, almost everyone agrees that "The Rubber Room" is a pejorative term used to describe a room where New York City teachers are sent, usually involuntarily, to sit idle day after day while still collecting their salaries, often for months and sometimes for years at a time.
Over the years, many have made efforts to eradicate The Rubber Room entirely. For example, in March 2002, then Chancellor Harold Levy vowed to close The Rubber Room after becoming frustrated with a particular case, and in January 2004 Randi Weingarten, UFT President, called for an unconditional end to all of New York's Rubber Rooms. Despite best efforts, however, "the room" remains. http://www.rubberroommovie.com/

Do not believe...

Do not believe because you read it in a book,
Do not believe because you saw it on television,
Do not believe because science says so,
Do not believe because a famous person says so,
Do not believe because a wise person says so,
Do not believe because a wise person believes it,
Do not believe because your best friend believes it,
Do not believe because everyone else believes it,
Do not believe because others have believed it for a thousand years,
Do not believe because you've heard it many times before,
Do not believe because you are told you must,
Do not believe because others expect you to,
Do not believe because it gets you accepted
Do not believe because it will make your parents happy,
Do not believe because it will get you noticed,
Do not believe because you want to believe,
Do not believe because you can't afford not to,
Do not believe because it helps you cope,
Do not believe because you'd go mad if you didn't,
Do not believe because you must believe something
Do not believe because there's nothing else to believe,
Do not believe because it feels good to believe,
Do not believe because it makes sense,
Do not believe because your eyes tell you it is so,
Do not believe because it is your own experience,
Do not believe because it feels true,
Do not believe because you know it is true,
Do not believe any of this, Believe only that you are,
And do not even believe that,
For that is beyond belief.

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