Authorizing the Committee on Education to hold hearings on the existence, purpose, use and procedures surrounding the School District of Philadelphia's reassignment rooms - sometimes called the rubber room.

WHEREAS, The School District of Philadelphia maintains separate reassignment rooms for teachers, administrators, and paraprofessionals; and

WHEREAS, It appears that several hundred school district employees are sent to the reassignment rooms every year; and

WHEREAS, Despite the Department of Human Services generally reporting on the validity or not of filed complaints within 90 days some personnel have spent multiple years being paid to show up and not work; and

WHEREAS, Education funding in Philadelphia has been declared unconstitutional by the State courts and yet hundreds of staff are sitting in limbo; and

WHEREAS, A review of press coverage shows examples of the reassignment rooms and communications and transparency problems with them going back to at least 2010 and anecdotal discussions show it going back decades before that; and

WHEREAS, Continued opacity creates concerns about the proper use of the reassignment rooms, communications and process issues suggest that we may be short-changing our schools of needed personnel, and fiscal responsibility requires that we investigate any potential wasting of precious education dollars; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Hereby authorizes the Committee on Education to hold hearings with the goals of hearing from teachers sent to the reassignment room, DHS officials who investigate complaints, School District staff who manage the process and the Superintendent and teachers unions to determine the best way to manage cases and incidents in a way that ensures safety, manages taxpayer dollars effectively and is transparent to staff sent to the reassignment rooms.

End