Tuesday night was fun. So much so that I couldn't get to sleep until after midnight. Which means Wednesday was a lot of fun, running on 4 hours of sleep. I faked it pretty well until half way through the last period of the day. We were reviewing for the CRTs (end of year tests mandated by No Child Left Behind) and I wasn't keeping track of things too well. I was making blunder after blunder, the students kept correcting me when I decided this was ridiculous, I was doing more un-teaching than teaching. Fortunately the students understood why, a bunch of them were down at the board meeting, and were sympathetic. So I said I'm done and we just looked up make up work for students that were concerned about their grade. That night I got home from my university class right around 8:30 and went straight to bed. Head, meet pillow, zzzzzzzzz. Got a full 8 hours of sleep that night and last night, but I'm still drained from this emotional roller coaster I'm on. We've heard from many different people across the district that our presentation was exceptional (up), somebody heard one of the board members say that we're just trying to save our jobs (down), kids are planning march on the district offices the afternoon before the public meeting (up), board is just going through the motions because legally they have to do all this (down), gut feeling they're going to keep us open (up), gut feeling they're going to close us down (down). The board won't vote on it until a week from Tuesday, Cinco de Mayo. I'm prepared for either decision right now, I'm just not very good at the not knowing.
Oh, and did I mention I have to be prepared to defend my Master's Capstone Project next week. Yeah. I truly hope I survive the next 2 weeks.......
Oh, and did I mention I have to be prepared to defend my Master's Capstone Project next week. Yeah. I truly hope I survive the next 2 weeks.......
6 comments:
Wow, that is one roller coaster I don't want to ride anytime soon.
As for a four-hour sleep, if you do it enough, you do (sort of) get used to it. But, try not to!!!
The majority of the outspoken people in our faculty are hoping for the closure of your school. I remain undecided: it seems like such a waste of a building, but I think boundary adjustments and more students would be necessary to make it worthwhile keeping it open. However, I can think of a few other schools that should have closed....
You have not mentioned the potential loss of elementary school music programs. We've heard from our principal that the elementary principals are in favor of this. I can see their point, but it seems such a shame to cut the arts. It always seems to the be the arts that get cut. And people ignore all the studies that kids who study music are better at math than kids who don't. No one at my school voiced an opinion on this yesterday, but that may be out of fear of the instrumental music teacher, who would surely have raised Cain about this issue if given any sort of opposition.
We've got all the rumors about who's been surplused at our school: so far the victims are mostly the ones I think needed to go anyway -- except for that one math teacher that you and I both know should never have gone into teaching -- but he's stuck with us, I think. When your current principal was doing her "cleansing" of our school and all people she didn't like, I cannot imagine how he escaped her wrath.
Anyway, I'm sorry you're going to be emotionally drained for a bit here. Did you get the little thing I sent you in district mail?
There is this common belief that $1.3 million is being spent to keep a building open for our mere 300 or so students. Although we have proposed that the district make better use of our facility, we are not the only group using it. We house the Newcomers Academy (60-80 students brand new to the country), the now defunct Elementary Music program, Youth in Custody and Pre School services. Added to that Judge Memorial High School rents our pool building and football field on a regular basis (they actually maintain the football field) and Harley Davidson rents our back parking lot every summer for a Motorcycle Workshop. These may or may not justify keeping the school open, but I do want to say that it is not just 300 hundred students and 17 teachers in a building made for 2,000.
I agree 100% with your feelings about the Elementary Music Program, it is sad that the arts are seen by so many as nothing more than fluff. It's sad that we're so focused on one dimension of our students that we're neglecting the others. But that's what we get when we keep electing the same morons to the state legislature.
Did you see the idiot who just got selected as GOP head for SL county? I've known him since he was 5 and he's an absolute A-hole. And now he's got the power he's been brown-nosing for for years. Scary. Chris Butthead just gained another friend in a high place.
No I didn't, and I even tried to get some info off the web and couldn't find out anything. Who is he? And if he's anything like Chris Butt-errs, well, I try to keep this at least "R" rated so I'll stop there......
Thomas Wright. It's in the tribune.
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