This LA Times story about a teacher who has been paid $68,000 a year for seven years — to do absolutely nothing while he is investigated for being unfit to teach — will leave you speechless. A judge wants him fired but the state Commission on Professional Competence simply refuses to do it. The teacher in question is Matthew Kim. From the Times: (emphasis is mine)
He was removed from the classroom in 2002 and required to report to a district office every workday as his case wound through the disciplinary system. Though he continued to receive up to $68,000 in annual pay plus benefits, he was given no duties.
He has been sidelined with pay longer than any other teacher disciplined by the district. L.A. Unified has spent more than $2 million on his salary and legal costs.
Kim was featured in a Times series last spring as an example of the district’s struggle to fire unfit teachers, even those accused of egregious or immoral acts. The newspaper found that about 160 employees had been “housed” in district offices — most of them fully paid — while investigations proceeded, sometimes for years.
