what was he accused of ?

He got paid full salary during his two years in the rubber room. ( i.e. "teacher jail&quot . As per union contract.

The 10K is generally seen as a face-saving gesture by the arbitrator for the benefit of the ed bureaucracy here... which he challenged and which brought the charges. ( Arbitrator likes the gig: it pays 1,500 per day. DOE will can her if she doesn't give it *something* )

>>what was he accused of ?>>>

Whatever they could think of in the 1 and 1/2 years he was held in the rubber room before the ( 6 mos long) hearing. Including leaving the building at 5:57 when the principal had sent a memo saying people had to clear out no later than 530. ( Yes... he worked too HARD and stayed too late.)

What he ACTUALLY did was challenge the principal and assorted collaborators re. $$$ transparency ( Nooooo. They do not like that!) and then reported related financial impropriety to the in-house Dept. investigatory office.

They decided to investigate HIM instead of THEM.

He's a whistleblower, in short. And being punished as such.

If anything, it does the opposite.

Here's Portelos' story; the "SHORT" version:

>>My name is Francesco Alexander Portelos. I am a parent and educator of Staten Island’s North Shore. I was teaching technology at Berta Dreyfus IS 49 for 5 years after I left a successful 7 year career in the Environmental Engineering/Inspection field. My record, as a teacher and school community member, was stellar. After I became a new father in the community, my focus transcended past my praised classroom and I looked at the issues at the school as a whole. The school is currently ranked 939th out of 1,124 middle schools in NY State. I had a lot of work to do. It was a school that my son would be going to in just 10 short years. As I brought attention to matters, such as discipline, budget and school goals, a hostile work environment was suddenly created around me. Principal Linda Hill began calling me a “hindrance to the community” and questioning my classroom instruction that was previously praised. It did not stop me as I knew something was going on and I pushed forward starting investigations on potential financial misconduct and educational neglect. I submitted the allegations on January 26, 2012. Starting on January 30, 2012 30+ allegations were made against me, and 3 disciplinary letters were placed in my file in just 10 days, I received my first unsatisfactory classroom observation and I was ultimately removed from school on April 26, 2012. I was sent to a basement storage room with two small gated windows(Rubber Room). It was 20 miles, 6 districts and two boroughs away from my school and home. I was there for over a tear before I was moved again. Waiting…waiting for what? The investigations on the administrators back at Berta Dreyfus 49? The investigations on me? My Federal lawsuit? In the meantime, the students lose out the most.>>>
http://protectportelos.org/the-story/

Granted, it's HIS narrative, but the point is it was largely substantiated by the the arbitrator after a six-month hearing.

Also... see my post above, #2 in this thread.

Teachers, their unions and their contracts are the last line of defense to prevent the complete theft of public tax dollars that is going on by the school privatization wave. Teachers are being attacked so the corporations that want to privatize education can move quickly to steal our tax dollars. It is another part of the shock doctrine from the right wing of this country. They have no good ideas to create and sell products in the free market, the easy way is to privatize all public services then sell those previously public services back to the public while stealing our tax dollars, too.

In Ohio, the charter schools pass rate for high school students was 43.6%, while public schools pass rate was 71% Yet our state government throws more public tax dollars to the private charter schools while slashing public school funding.

Thanks for the post! We need to keep hammering home that teachers are on our side.

... the engagement of politicians in public education with the aim of "reforming" them.... whatever that means.

POLS... all of 'em... have to be seen as "fixing" the problem... even if they can't DEFINE the problem and have no direct experience w. the problem they're trying to reform. How many of these people have been NEAR a public school?

Ever. In their LIVES.

Obama?

Duncan?

Cuomo?

Christie?

But they "legislate" re. them like there's no tomorrow .( Ironically, they're right about that part. But they are the CAUSE; not the solution.) With catastrophic results.

I rest my case.

>> We need to keep hammering home that teachers are on our side.>>>

Only teachers can blow the whistle on malfeasance in the schools. Who else is even going to know what's actually going on?

ONLY teachers. AND THEY NEED *TENURE* TO DO IT.

You are only as safe as your local union and contract are strong. These "reforms" are just union busting gussied up with a different name. The unions are being busted to promote privatization.

You are so right in your post.