Teacher who earns $94K to do nothing suing New York City to put him to work
A teacher who has been spending his days at school doing nothing except napping is suing New York City to put him to work in order to earn the $94,000 salary he receives each year.
“I come to work every day, sit down and do nothing,” said David Suker, who has spent 15 years helping “at risk” teens in The Bronx earn their GEDs.
Suker is one of 1,304 teachers who have been “warehoused” in the Absent Teacher Reserve (ATR). This is a group of educators who have no permanent job. This group costs $100 million each year.
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Suker, 48, was at first fired for taking part in the Occupy Wall Street movement during which he clashed with police. When he appealed his firing, he won, having to pay only a $7000 fine.
The Department of Education did not give him his old job back, nor did they give him a similar one. Instead, they sent him to the ATR, where he is forced to move from school to school as a substitute.
The ATR was supposed to be for teachers who had lost their jobs from downsizing and the like, but instead, it is being used as a dumping ground for teachers and counselors that they can’t fire.
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While these teachers get full pay and benefits, they spend most of their time idle, with little to do when not teaching classes outside of their expertise. Sometimes, they get assigned lunch duty.
“The DOE is not legally permitted to discipline tenured teachers without giving them the right to a hearing,” said Suker’s lawyer, Maria Chickedantz.
She refers to the ATR a “drastic demotion,” because teachers in it are not able to earn overtime pay, and the label carries a stigma.
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