Unions vs. students: Teachers get paid not to work
About 160 teachers and other staff sit idly in buildings scattered around the sprawling district, waiting for allegations of misconduct to be resolved.The housed are accused, among other things, of sexual contact with students, harassment, theft or drug possession. Nearly all are being paid. All told, they collect about $10 million in salaries per year â'€ even as the district is contemplating widespread layoffs of teachers because of a financial shortfall.Some of these teachers have been on the dole for years. That's teacher unions for you: Make sure alleged misbehavers keep getting a paycheck so the union can keep collecting its union dues.
And why aren't the former teachers doing something, anything?
Former union leaders say teachers in the Los Angeles district used to be assigned non-teaching jobs when they were housed. "They should not just sit there like zombies," said Hank Springer, United Teachers Los Angeles president from 1975 to 1980.Just another example of teacher unions putting their own interests before everyone else's.
But the practice has changed in the last dozen years or so. Now, district officials say, they are prohibited from assigning chores under the contract with the teachers' union. Although there is no specific reference in the contract to housed employees, an attorney for L.A. Unified pointed to Article 9, Section 4.0, which defines the "professional duties" of a teacher, such as instructional planning and evaluating the work of pupils.
With no mention of photocopying, stuffing envelopes or answering telephones in the contract, the district and union have interpreted this provision as prohibiting clerical duties.
(h/t Michelle Malkin)
