A New York City speech and language teacher showed up late 101 times in a single school year and left early 47 others. Though she never bothered to clock in some days, she successfully fought off the Department of Education's attempt to fire her for 18 months and paid a fine before she returned to the classroom.
There are few professions where you could miss so much work, unexcused, and still keep your pay and benefits. But the woman in the example above, cited from state Education Department records, is not alone. She's just one of hundreds of tenured teachers across the state who have kept their jobs despite poor performance and offenses that in many workplaces would be grounds for firing. (Other examples from state Education Department records appear throughout this story in italic type.)
In fact, according to a state Education Department database obtained by the Times Union through a Freedom of Information request, it appears to be nearly impossible for a school district to fire a tenured public school teacher. The reason is twofold: job protection for unionized teachers is strong and the process for firing bad teachers -- called a 3020-a hearing -- is so drawn out and costly that most districts can't afford it.
Because it is so expensive and difficult, school districts outside of New York City are far less likely to even attempt to fire troubled educators although they enroll almost twice as many students, according to the comprehensive database of 2,087 3020-a hearings filed from 2006 to June 2011.
"It's cheaper to pay them a salary and stick them in a corner somewhere than go through the 3020-a process," said Sharon Sweeney, executive director of the Four County School Boards Association, based in Wayne County. She said the 27 small districts she represents have only tried to fire about a dozen educators in 15 years, a number that does not reflect the reality of workplaces with thousands of employees.
In 2006, a Troy elementary school teacher was arrested in the Macy's bathroom at Colonie Center for masturbating in front of an undercover officer. After fighting the district's attempt to fire him for almost a year, a hearing officer allowed the teacher to return to the classroom, without any penalty, because of his otherwise unblemished employment history.
Though it has been well-documented that the cases drag on for years and can cost a district hundreds of thousands of dollars -- they last an average of 502 days and cost $216,588 -- the database shows that 3020-a hearings rarely result in termination. Of the more than 2,000 cases brought in the last five years, just 167 teachers were fired, the vast majority in New York City. Only 38 cases brought by schools districts upstate and on Long Island ended in termination, though a number are still undecided because it takes so long for a case to be completed. Statewide, 593 cases were simply settled and another 164 were withdrawn or consolidated.
Even though the New York City Department of Education employs about half as many teachers as the rest of the districts in the state, it brought twice as many 3020-a cases. The NYCDOE employs 70,000 full-time teachers and brought 1,356 such cases in the last five years, according to the database. On Long Island and in upstate, where there are a combined 132,000 teachers, districts brought just 731 cases.
The burden of dealing with problem teachers only stands to increase for districts outside of New York City because the number of cases filed is growing while the number closed remains stubbornly low. In 2010, New York City closed 300 cases and brought about 275. In the rest of the state, 150 3020-a cases were bought and just 75 were closed. That means more costs and lost classroom time for schools upstate and on Long Island.
Smaller districts don't try to fire problematic teachers as often because they can't afford to, and that will only continue as funds dwindle, said Jay Worona, general counsel at the New York State School Boards Association. For years, the association has called for a reform of the 3020-a laws, including an equal burden of evidence imposed on both sides and hiring hearing officers more willing to issue stronger penalties. The state school superintendent's association and the state Education Department, which has a projected $10 million deficit for the program this school year, have called for changes for years. Though recent reforms have helped New York City speed up its 3020-a cases, districts elsewhere have seen no relief.
"It's a big deal for us," Worona said. "We have to examine the cost of not being able to do business."
A high school math teacher in the Phelps-Clifton Springs school district, just outside Rochester, downloaded porn on to his school computer for three years while at work. After almost two years of fighting the case, he was allowed to return to the classroom after serving a penalty of six months without pay, though the district was ordered to pay his health insurance.
Those critical of the teachers unions, a formidable presence in state politics because of their 600,000 members and massive financial war chests, say this is an indication that the hearings are in desperate need of reform and a symbol of the unions' unchecked power. Union leaders say the results show that the system is working because employees are afforded their due process rights.
By the accounting of New York State United Teachers, the state's largest teachers union, the 700 districts outside of New York City bring about 100 new cases a year and settle 85 percent. The union, which argues a majority of cases settle before they reach the 3020-a process, uses a different measurement for the length of cases and blames delays on the school district or state Education Department. Superintendents and students have made up stories to fire teachers and the 3020-a system ensures that educators don't fall prey to personal vendettas, NYSUT spokesman Carl Korn said.
"Due process means both sides of a story must be heard by an arbitrator," Korn said. "I'm not sure education would be better off if superintendents and principals could fire employees at will."
A high school English teacher in the Greenburgh district, in Westchester County, hit students hard enough to cause bruises, shoved one into a chalkboard and cursed them out on a regular basis. A hearing officer found him guilty of the charges, and suggested he might have reached the "burn out" phase of his career. The teacher was allowed to return to the classroom following a yearlong unpaid suspension.
A new teacher evaluation system, which was partially developed with union support, was introduced this year and is designed to make it easier to fire ineffective educators. It is uncertain if that will have any effect on the 3020-a proceedings, the best tool districts have to eliminate people accused of more serious infractions such as inappropriately touching a student or downloading porn during school hours.
Sweeney said the one glimmer of hope for reform, after years of trying, is tight finances could push more people to anger when they see the financial burden placed on districts by 3020-a cases.
"The tighter the resources become," she said. "The more concern there should be on the part of the public."
Reach Scott Waldman at 454-5080 or swaldman@timesunion.com. Twitter: @518Schools
