Philadelphia's 'Rubber Room' Schoolteacher Faces Off Against School Board
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The Philadelphia public school teacher who was once confined to a "rubber room" is going public again with her criticism of the School District of Philadelphia.
"I contend that my vocal opposition was the reason I was removed," said Hope Moffett, who continues to criticize the school district's plan to convert her school, Audenried High, to a charter.
She's back in her classroom now, but she spent several weeks in exile after she gave students transit tokens to attend a protest and talked to the media about her punishment (see previous stories).
She spoke again during the public portion of yesterday's School Reform Commission meeting.
"This is intimidation of the worst kind. When personnel disputes leave students without a teacher, how can we say that children come first?" she asked.
SRC chair Robert Archie declined to debate Moffett in public.
"No, ma'am. I don't think this is the proper forum by which we should address those issues now. They're all under arbitration. If you want to raise them in that forum, you're more than willing to do so."
The SRC votes on the charter plan for Audenried on April 27th.
Reported by Mike DeNardo, KYW Newsradio 1060
