A New Brunswick elementary school teacher will be suspended without pay but not fired for chronically reporting late to class 110 times over the past two school years.

Roosevelt Elementary School in New Brunswick
Roosevelt Elementary School in New Brunswick (Google Street View)
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Arbitrator David Gregory ruled that the New Brunswick Board of Education could not fire Arnold Anderson, a tenured math teacher at the Roosevelt Elementary School — who defended himself by saying he delivered a "superb educational experience to his grateful students" once he did arrive.

Gregory did not excuse Anderson's "unbecoming tardiness,"  however, and said that he offered only "micro-quibbles of a few unpersuasive explanations" why he was late 46 times after 8:40 a.m in the last school year alone, including 16 times he punched in more than 5 minutes late during the 2014-15 school year.

"(Anderson's) self-serving inflated characterization of his substantive abilities misses the essential point," wrote Gregory in his ruling. "His students are fully entitled to receive (Anderson's) very best efforts for the entire period, and not merely for that remaining portion of the period following Anderson's chronically late arrivals."

The district has denied Anderson raises and wanted to fire him. Gregory instead ordered Anderson suspended without pay until Jan. 1 in part because the district did not give Anderson a required 90 day period to modify his behavior.

According to public records, Anderson has an annual salary of $90,000.

Read the arbitrator's full ruling below:

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