TEACHER DRUG RULES ARE DOPEY

Unless a judge releases her medical records, the Brooklyn substitute
teacher who admitted to an eight-bag-a-day heroin habit will not be
fired for drug abuse, but for incompetence and absenteeism. And,
astoundingly, that means she will be free to apply for another
teaching job next year — maybe in your kid's school.

The case will be heard in a closed session of Manhattan Supreme Court
tomorrow. The judge must not hide behind privacy statutes. The safety
of children is at stake. The records must be released.

The teacher's drug addiction, you'll recall, came to light only after
she checked herself into Manhattan's Gracie Square Hospital in the
throes of withdrawal. Doctors there were horrified to learn she was a
teacher, and the hospital petitioned the court to release her medical
records to the Board of Education.

If the records are released, the board can label the teacher, a
regular substitute specializing in bilingual special education, a risk
to students and bar her from ever again standing in front of a class.

But if the records remain secret, she can be removed from Public
School 134 only on the grounds of incompetence and her more than 20
absences. Board officials say that almost certainly is not enough to
have this junkie barred permanently from teaching. So she could apply
next year, perhaps at a school in Harlem or the South Bronx or some
other hard-to-staff area.

Of course, it's infuriating that the medical records are necessary at
all. PS 134 Principal Beverly Lynch has admitted she had plenty of
suspicions and was maintaining a dossier to support charges against
the teacher. But, she says, she didn't push the issue because
bilingual special-education teachers are hard to find.

It seems the Board of Ed should be taking a cold hard look at Lynch as
well. Her judgment is questionable, at best.

All this makes one wonder how many other druggies might be teaching in
our schools — and what steps the Board of Ed is taking to find out.
The board recently approved drug testing for all nonteaching
personnel, and officials say they plan to make drug testing of
teachers a contract issue.

United Federation of Teachers chief Randi Weingarten told this page
she would be willing to negotiate that. What's to negotiate? The
alternative is to allow junkies in the classroom. If the union truly
cared about children, it would do all in its power to prevent that.
But don't hold your breath.

In the meantime, it's up to the judge.