Ain’t been done in over a decade.

They announced who will be the new principal at my school for next year.  There were several possibilities, a few of which I had worked with before.  The one they chose is not.

Thinking back I realized the last time I started a school year with a principal I had never worked with before was back in 2001.  Heck, when I came to this school I had already worked with the principal, vice-principal and one of the counselors.  I knew what to expect.

The good news is that they didn’t assign the one person I would not work with, so I won’t be putting in for summer transfer this year.  Figure I might as well give it at least a year and see how things go.

Well, c’est la vie.  And at least I do have the schedule I wanted next year – all 7th grade.

Bombshell Friday

Yesterday I found out my principal was re-retiring (she already retired once and came back). I've worked with her at 3 different schools for 11 of the 22 years I've been teaching (that's 50% of my career). I really can't blame her, but it's going to be weird getting used to a new principal. For the last 10 years, every principal I've worked with has been someone I'd worked with before and knew what to expect. Depending on who they assign to my school, I may be moving again.

On the positive side, lately I’ve been thinking about taking a 1 year leave-of-absence from my district and teaching in one of the many small towns in Utah.   I’ve got a friend that lives in Salt Lake but works in Price.  She’s got a 2 bedroom apartment there (they are cheap in Price) and she is willing to rent me the second bedroom if I decide to teach there.

It might be fun, and if nothing else, it’ll be an experience.

More proof?

Want more proof that the powers that be in the Utah Legislature are trying to ruin public education and get (more of) that money into the pockets of their cronies?

HB-197

11          This bill:
12          ▸     requires the State Board of Education to make certain rules regarding administrative
13     or supervisory licensing; and
14          ▸     makes technical changes

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26          (1) A local school board or charter school governing board may request, and the [State
27     Board of Education] board may grant, a letter of authorization permitting a person with
28     outstanding professional qualifications to serve in any position that requires a person to hold an
29     administrative/supervisory license or certificate, including principal, assistant principal,
30     associate principal, vice principal, assistant superintendent, administrative assistant, director,
31     specialist, or other district position.

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(c) The board may not require that an applicant described in Subsection (3)(a):
43          (i) have a particular graduate degree;
44          (ii) hold a teaching license;
45          (iii) complete an education leadership graduate program;
46          (iv) obtain a professional recommendation solely from a school with an approved
47     preparation program; or
48          (v) have experience in an education field.

So, if this bill passes, the person running your local school, making decisions that effect your children, identifying good teaching and bad teaching, allocating resources, implementing rewards and consequences, hiring, firing, approving and rejecting educational programs and the million other decisions that require an understand of how students think, act and learn will not need to have any educational experience at all.

Yup.  ‘Cause managing a business with a hundred adult employees that can be fired is exactly like running a Junior High School.  Yup.  Uh huh.

Why I became a teacher...

I was going to post this anyway, but decided on the title in direct response to Paperback Writer's post titled "Not Why I Became A Teacher";

It's midterms so we're having a catch-up day in my UBSCT prep class. One of the assignments I'd given them was a couple of Sudoku's, and I caught one of them copying off a paper. I called him on it and started a discussion about copying, noticed there was no name on the paper he was copying and asked him who he had gotten the paper from. Fully expecting a slew of deflecting answers, I was surprised when he said he had found it on the floor. OK, I wasn't expecting that. Then, figuring I'd caught him in a lie, I asked "Then why didn't you just write your name on the paper?" In what I still think was a totally honest response he answered "Uh, that would be dishonest!" Adolescent logic still baffles me, and once again they've proven I can still be surprised.

Looking out the window 4th period today I saw a couple of cop cars parked side-by-side on the street across from the school. Cars would drive up behind them and they would just wave them around. Then, occasionally, they would flip on the sirens and take off after a car. I figured it was a speed trap and after a small disruption we continued with class. They were still there when shcool got out, and I noticed a cop sitting on a chair in front of the Seminary* right across from the cross walk. I wondered what he was doing, and why he had a couple guys hanging around him. I get to talking to one of the guys with the cop, he just crossed the street in front of a car, and found out it was a crosswalk sting. Utah law says you to yeild the right of way to anyone in a cross walk, even if they are on the opposite side of the street of your travel. Which is a good thing, because at least twice a week I almost get run down crissing to or from the school. The principal comes out on her way out, finds out what's going on and decides she wants to catch a car. So she walks towards the curb and waits for a car, steps out into the crosswalk and, awwwww, bummer, they stop for her. She crosses the street, goes over to talk to the cops and when her secretary (and afterwards other staff members) come out, she yells across the road to them to wait for a car. It becomes some kind of game - which staff member will catch the car? I had to go back in and take care of some stuff, but from what I heard the game only lasted another couple minutes.

* In Utah every high school, and any Jr. High that has 9th grade, has an LDS Seminary building across the street from it. The LDS Church offers religion classes for their members that go to that school, and for the most part the LDS students take those classes. Public Schools are not allowed to support religious classes, but we do give the students "release time" to go to Seminary classes. They get no credit for theses classes, we are not responsible for taking roll and cannot reprimand them if they sluff seminary class. As far as the public school is concerned they are just released from being at school, and we're not responsible for whatever they do during that time. Seminary buildings are always across the street from the school, on private property, and completely funded by the LDS Church.