Ways to Create Strife in School Districts

As a newly elected President, I've been privy to a few things in recent weeks that have really opened my eyes to the workings of my district. I'll preface all of this by saying that I'm sure that this is not how things are done in all districts, but I do believe that they happen in more than anyone should feel comfortable with. I will also say that in order to bring about a quality education by committed education professionals, please treat them as such.

1. Even though ed. code clearly states that laid-off teachers have 39 months to be rehired, my district is already pulling shenanigans. We have a dependent charter school. None of the teachers in this charter school received RIF notices, which as expected, created a rift because had teachers known that their jobs would have been protected had they worked at the charter, many (more than likely) would have worked there. That's not the end of it though. I discovered that my district is advertising two teaching positions at the charter school, in clear violation of ed. code. We still have 120 teachers who received final lay-off notices, yet, the district does not feel like they should have to offer any of these laid-off teachers these two positions.
   
   edited to add:The two positions were pulled and the District has agreed to contact the next two people on the rehire list. If those two decline, they will continue down the list. I need to monitor this to make sure it happens!
   
   
2. Fire a long-term teacher from his summer teaching position after receiving a complaint from a parent about the teaching being racist. This is a teacher who has been in the District for a decade and up until this incident, has never had any problems. Put this accusation in writing and tell the teacher that it's going in their personnel file and do not ask for the teacher's side of the story.
   
   edited to add: The teacher is being reinstated, however, the District wants to put a letter of reprimand in his file.
   
   
3. Tell a teacher who went through a harrowing battle with cancer that you are unwilling to let them work on a modified schedule because they "missed the deadline."
4. Close a popular program with a successful teacher at one high school because the principal has decided that sports is more important.
5. Increase class size by 8 students (20 students to 28 students in k-3) due to budget constraints, but be unwilling to reduce administration even though there are less teachers and less student enrollment.
   

These are just a few of the incidences that I have had to deal with since school let out. The capper to all of this is that the person I need to speak to regarding these issues is not returning my calls. I have talked to him briefly on the phone, but when he answers it, he tells me he is in a meeting and will call me back. Tomorrow, I think I may just camp outside his door.

It never ceases to amaze

I will confess that I was shocked by the death of Michael Jackson, however, I was not saddened by this news, not like I was to the news of Farrah Fawcett dying. To best express how I feel about Michael Jackson, the man, you need to read this, this, this, and this.

I do not mourn for Michael Jackson, the man, rather I mourn for the boy that he was and the potential of what could have been. That being said, even though he obviously had many demons from a tumultuous childhood, does not excuse his behavior as an adult.

In other news, I am appalled by this. Seriously? They cannot let this family grieve over the death of their mother, sister, aunt, simply because she "might be" an illegal immigrant? As a white woman, I wish white people wouldn't act so foolishly!

Happy Father's Day

To my dad who always believed that I could achieve anything that I set out to do and showed me by being such a good dad the qualities that I should look for in a man.

To my husband who is everything I could ever want - an all around good guy, who makes me laugh daily, who has instilled in me confidence by also believing in me when I have doubted myself.

I am truly blessed to have two terrific men in my life.

A victory of sorts

In our contract, we have two processes for evaluations, Process A for non-tenured/probationary teachers & Process B for tenured teachers. Process A is done for the first two years whereas Process B is done every other year. Most teachers when they have earned tenure fall under Process B, however, if a tenured teachers receives an unsatisfactory evaluation, they can be moved to Process A.

Under Process A, teachers have more objectives in which to be evaluated under and their admins are required to do more observations. They can also be assigned to work with a mentor teacher. This mentor teacher is required to also observe their colleague, in the hopes that these observations will move the veteran teacher back onto the Process B track. However, if they fail to make progress, they can also be on the track to losing their jobs. Evaluations are purely subjective and for that reason alone can be used for nefarious purposes.

Let me say right now that I do believe that some tenured teachers should be moved back onto Process A, if it will help with them become better teachers. I also believe that some people do not belong anywhere in a classroom. All that being said, some admins have been known to abuse this process in the hopes of getting rid of teachers they just do not like.

Such was the case of one of the teachers I'm helping right now. His administrator has a clear case of just not liking him and so he has done everything in his power for the past year to make this man's life miserable. He wanted to move this teacher from Process B to Process A and have him work with a mentor teacher in the upcoming year.

Unfortunately for the administrator he did not follow the timelines and the sole evaluation that counted was satisfactory. For this teacher it means that he will not fall under Process A for the upcoming school year and all evaluations and observations will be thrown out.

There is another huge piece to this that I can't divulge at this time. However, suffice to say, I think if we get this second piece, then it will be a huge first victory. For now I'll take the partial victory and know that one of the first things I need to work on for the upcoming school year is to thoroughly educate our administrators on following Process A & B and following the guidelines as set forth in our contract.

There are times . . .

when I strongly feel that parenting a twenty year old is way harder than parenting a toddler.

She wears me out.

I'm glad she's home, but seriously, when is she going to stop repeating the same patterns as before?

My biggest fear is that she will never have the ability to leave.

Friday Fill-Ins

1. All children alarm their parents, if only because you are forever expecting them to make the same stupid mistakes you did.

2. Show me a good loser and I will show you someone who can roll with the punches.

3. I have no idea what it is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs at one time and I have no intention of finding out!

4. Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy making behind the door deals and not listening to their constituents.

5. I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine being firm andwithout being considered a bitch.

6. It is impossible to think of any good meal, no matter how plain or elegant, without good conversation or a nice alcoholic beverage with it.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to relaxing, tomorrow my plans include a visit with my parents and Sunday, I want to stay home I will be forced to visit my in-laws!

Teaching Responsibility

Last year, Wrestling Fan's big ticket item for his birthday was an I-Pod. We bought him one, which he promptly neglected and within about a month, it went through the washing machine and dryer. Miraculously, it was still functioning.

Now, you'd think that he would have taken better care of this item. Alas, he did not.

Last Thanksgiving we went on a family trip. One of the items that Wrestling Fan brought along with him was his I-Pod. He lost it. Since then he has been without an I-Pod.

About two weeks ago, he started asking us if he could get another one. Our response was that sure he could, but he would have to pay for a new one out of his own money. He has a pretty substantial savings account, so today, I took him to the bank to withdraw some money and then we headed over to Best Buy. He purchased a new I-Pod.

I'm guessing that because he had to use his own money (he HATES having to take money out of his savings), he will more than likely take much better care of this replacement.

Why I'm Not a Farmer

A few weeks ago, I received my Kraft recipe magazine in the mail. While looking at the recipes which I'll probably never, ever make because that's how I roll, I came upon a page that had a picture of a head of lettuce. On this page was a card that had lettuce seeds embedded in it.

Fast forward to a week ago in which I play like I'm a farmer by planting the card, per the instructions, into the pot filled with dark rich soil. I watered the soil, put the pot onto our deck and waited for Mother Nature to do the rest.

Imagine my surprise when Thursday morning, I look out on our deck and see a beautiful head of lettuce sitting in the pot. I rush outside, pick up the head of lettuce and see a solid bundle of roots. I'm thinking to myself that I'm pretty good at this whole farmer thing. Sheesh, if I can make lettuce grow in a few days, imagine what I can do to help world hunger!

I scoop the head of lettuce up, come downstairs, and proceed to take pictures. It's like I've just given birth but not Adam Lambert's lovechild and I'm thinking about what to say on Facebook and/or Twitter because this amazing news just has to be shared.

Later, I drive to work to pack up my stuff. My darling husband is supposed to meet me later to help move some of the big stuff. He finally arrives when he asks me about the dirt on the table.

"Dirt on the table?" I asked.

I notice the twinkle in his eye and the mischievous grin.

It dawns on me that he GOT me big time. Yes, my "darling" husband decided to play a trick on me and because I'm gullible at times optimistic and chose to believe that I was the best farmer ever, I fell for it.

Friday funny

Abbie's had a hard week. She is enjoying a mini-margarita (please note the drowsy eyes - she only had one as far as I know). Her boyfriend Alfie is two-timing her with Artist Girl's kittie, Frenchie.

Note the evidence below.Alfie & Frenchie

(Because I don't want to be responsible for any more kitties in this household hitting the bottle, please do not tell Frenchie that I saw Alfie and Abbie cuddling on our bed earlier today.)

bummed

Today was the last day with students. On the last day of school, the past few years we have had a field day in which the 6th graders get to participate in various field activities. I have always participated and have found it to be a lot of fun. It gives my students the chance to see me in a whole new light because I have no problem making a fool of myself when the right opportunity presents itself.

Yesterday, I had a meeting to go to which prevented me from going to our 6th grade meeting set-up to go over the last minute details of field day. The original plan was that two teachers would keep the students who had not earned the privilege of attending field day. I agreed to be one of the teachers to keep students. The majority of students I would keep were from my first period class - seriously 15 of the 22 students could not go. It was also agreed that if these students could do what they needed to do today, then they would have about an hour to be on the field thus giving me the opportunity to be foolish.

Well, silly me, I should have known that since I wasn't at yesterday's 6th grade meeting that I would have something very undesirable foisted upon me. The other teacher was no longer going to take her half, instead I was going to get ALL of the students. So my original 15? It doubled in size.

Needless to say that my colleagues got to see a whole new side of Ms_Teacher. It wasn't pretty. After my severe gnashing of teeth reasonable conversation with another co-worker, the 30 was whittled back down. However, I ended up with a majority of students who were not my students. Since this change of plans, I was also prevented from enjoying any field time. This also prevented me from seeing MY students and being able to say good-bye.

That's the bummer in all of this.

Friday Fill-Ins

1. I am glad I'm home.

2. My favorite thing for dinner lately has been anything I don't have to cook or think about cooking!

3. My damn dog likes to bark! bark! bark!

4. A nice long walk on the beach with my honeybuns would be nice.

5. Announcing the rescission of the 136 teachers laid off in my District would be some good news.

6. When all is said and done, I think my kids will know that I did the best I could.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to eating pizza and drinking Jose Cuevas mini margaritas (done), tomorrow my plans include relaxing and working on union stuff and Sunday, I want to have all three of my kids eating Sunday dinner with us !

Why Grammar Counts!

Seriously, it could cost you millions of dollars!

(h/t to Silbey from "The Edge of the American West.")