#4 We Are Treated As A Group, Not As Individuals

The building that we were in was not only dedicated to the Rubber Room, but to other student services as well.   A Rubber Room colleague told me that she overheard a conversation between a staff member and a parent.

"Do you see all of these people walking out the door?  They are teachers from the Rubber Room.  You know what that is, don't you.  Bad teachers are sent here and they sit around all day getting paid for doing nothing."

Another RR teacher told me that she overheard a group of people in the hallway who were headed to a workshop that was taking place on the same floor as the Rubber Room.  They were commenting that all the teachers in the Rubber Room were lazy good-for-nothings.

And if you have any doubt at all, go check out the comments to the article by Jennifer Medina titled, " Last Day of 'Rubber Rooms' for Teachers".   Each negative comment is a stone thrown at all of us, because we are all "rubberized".

Here's a taste of what some of these ignorant assholes have to say about us.  I've included replies that probably would not have made it onto the NY Times website.  

Tokyobound from San Francisco:  "can't wait for my taxes in new york city to go up again so that these lazy ingrates can get their pensions"

Ms Untamed replies:   Do so hope your plane doesn't crash in deep water, tokyobound.

Scarlett from Miami:  "Were any of them reading, or learning new employable skills?"

Ms Untamed replies:  Look at the picture, stupid.  Would you be able to read in that room with a person sitting in every chair while a novice guitar player tries to "learn an employable skill"?

Nat from Wilmington:  "The very concept of a "Rubber Room" is a shame on the entire teaching establishment and the teacher unions."

Ms Untamed replies:  Do your homework, Know-Nothing Nat.  Mayor Bloomberg established the Rubber Room, to get rid of teachers based on salary.   He can't do that legally--hence the bogus charges of incompetence and misbehavior.

Tenured Teacher from Los Angeles:  "It is embarrassing that these teachers were kept on with full pay."

 Ms Untamed replies:  Embarrassing to whom, Judas?   One of the tenured teachers in my rubber room was there because he patted a student on the shoulder and told her he was proud of her in front of a room of 30 other students.  When he was sent to the rubber room for sexual harrassment, his school's scores plummeted and a college level course that only he could teach had to be cancelled, never to be reopened.  I'm embarrassed by sanctimonious teachers like you.

I could go on and on, but it's really not worth it.  Nothing's sure but death, taxes, and idiots.

You know the old saying about shooting fish in a barrel?  Well we're the fish, and the barrel is the Rubber Room.  I don't know what's waiting for us in September, but I'm glad to be out of the Rubber Room barrel.

Moriah Untamed

#3 The Rubber Room Sets Teacher Against Teacher

I will never forget the first welcoming words I heard in the Rubber Room.

  "Are you normal"?

What she really meant to say is, "Do you belong here"?

 Since I have been in the RR I have read these words from people who are criticizing the BloomKlein Department of Education:
 
"Of course SOME teachers should NOT be in the classroom, but..."
"Of course SOME teachers SHOULD be in the Rubber Room, but..."

It is scapegoating pure and simple.  Teachers are setting themselves against other teachers and constructing an US vs THEM divide within the profession.  This just makes it easier for BloomKlein to destroy the our union and the public education system.

But what I have found to be even sadder, is that Rubber Room detainees themselves do it to each other.

"She belongs here".
"That behavior is what got him here".

Why shouldn't they when the union leadership does the same thing.

"Everyone in the Rubber Room has done something.  Maybe not what they are accused of, but something".  These are words of a high-ranking Union official.

The notion that we are considered guilty by virtue of being accused of something, creates an atmosphere of shame and distrust that engenders a Rubber Room culture of fear, anger, and loathing.

The social norm in the Rubber Room is not the norm of the polite middle class society that we come from.  As soon as we come here, we make a few friends, then stake out our territory and defend it.  Why?  Because everybody else is doing the same thing.    I am told that this is how people in prison behave.  That makes sense, because, like prisoners, we are accused of wrongdoing, and we are no longer productive and respected members of society. 

We are OTHER. 

Wherever they send me in the fall, I will probably be treated as OTHER by those who are not under investigation, but that will be preferable to being treated as OTHER by those who are.  Up until now I have not written about the misbehavior of my Rubber Room colleagues because the only thing that would achieve would be for people to say,

"You see, that's why they belong in the Rubber Room and not in a classroom".

Why help BloomKlein destroy our reputations?  Why blame the victims?

But now that they are closing the Rubber Room, it is necessary to reveal how cruel and destructive it really was. 

Caged monkeys don't cooperate very well, but who can blame them?