Free Republic

New York City and its teachers' unions have reached a deal to put an end to a bizarre and Kafkaesque system in which suspended teachers are placed in holding centres, dubbed "rubber rooms", doing nothing on full pay in some cases for as long as 10 years. The rubber rooms — so nicknamed after the padded cells of old-style mental hospitals — have become a symbol of the unacceptable face of the city's education system, which is the largest in the US. Around 600 teachers are currently occupying the temporary reassignment centres, as they are officially known, in locations across...

House Intel Chief Fires Democratic Staffer Over Intel Leaks! ** The democratic leaker of the intelligence document last month to the New York Times has been identified! A democratic staffer for House Intelligence Committee Chairman Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) leaked the documents to the NY Times: The Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee has suspended a Democratic staff member pending an investigation into whether he leaked a high-level intelligence assessment to the news media. The staff member, who was not identified, was suspended this week by Chairman Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., his spokesman said Thursday evening. The aide is being...