Schools in New York are paying some Teachers for doing Nothing

Many Teachers in New York accused of offenses ranging from insubordination to Sexual Misconduct are enjoying full pay for spending the whole eight hours in the "Rubber Rooms" (off-campus office space where they wait months, even years, for their disciplinary hearings). They can do whatever they want to. Usually teachers spend their time staring at the wall, making portraits of their colleagues or playing scrabble. These teachers can practice yoga, work on their novels, paint — pretty much anything but school work. They have summer vacation just like their classroom colleagues and enjoy weekends and holidays through the school year. This is happening because of the union contracts which make it extremely difficult to fire them.