It is about time! Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein have finally gained control over the most frustrating and expensive issues in the city school system – the disciplinary process for teachers accused of wrongdoing.
As it exists today, good teachers, who were wrongly removed and bad teachers who are guilty of misconduct continue to collect their salaries and accrue pensions as they wait for as long as seven years in “Rubber Rooms” for their cases to be adjudicated.
The cost of this outrageous practice to taxpayers is $30 million a year.
That level of waste annually is absurd, obscene and outrageous!
The City Department of Education, the United Federation of Teachers and the city have finally come to an agreement to speed up the arbitration process for teachers accused of wrongdoing starting this fall.
Additionally, suspended teachers will no longer be sitting around and collecting a paycheck and pension for doing nothing. Instead, they will be put to work in administrative offices.
Bravo to all concerned. Now let us apply some of the savings to eliminating teacher layoffs and perhaps fully fund our libraries to keep them open at least five days a week.
Fantastic Future
We are pleased that the Flushing, Willets Point, Corona Local Development Corporation (LDC), headed by former Borough President Claire Shulman is setting its focus on the development of downtown Flushing to the river.
Two of the LDC’s forward looking projects, The Flushing Riverfront Esplanade and the Flushing L.I.R.R. Transit Oriented Development were unveiled last week at a fundraiser held by the LDC at Citi Field.
The renaissance of the riverfront will include an esplanade with a pedestrian bridge to Willets Point and Corona. The proposed re-invention of the Main Street L.I.R.R. station will make it handicapped accessible and includes an affordable housing component too.
In addition the LDC plans improvements to College Point Boulevard with the addition of medians that can be planted in the downtown area.
These improvements will strengthen Flushing’s position as the gateway to Queens.
