On March 12, 2011, Michael Goodwin became the latest Post columnist to spread misinformation about our schools' Absent Teacher Reserve. Goodwin wrote that most ATRs escaped 'rubber rooms' only to suck up salary and benefits somewhere else.
Mr. Goodwin, I am an ATR. I have never sat in a rubber room and I do not "suck up" salary and benefits. I earn my salary and benefits--by teaching.
Yes, Mr. Goodwin, every day I report to a school where I am assigned classes to teach. That is what ATRs do--because they are teachers.
Rubber rooms were for teachers accused of wrongdoing. The unemployment line is for teachers whose work has been shown to be grossly incompetent. The Absent Teacher Reserve is for teachers whose original schools needed fewer teachers than previously. These teachers become ATRs and continue to teach in a different school.
Believe me, I would prefer to have a "regular" teaching job, but the deck has been stacked against me. In the meantime, I fulfill my duties as an ATR, which is also a teaching job.
