union

so i'm now a union member. having grown up in a republican household in west texas, it wasn't really something i had foreseen in my future. sadly, i've found myself in a position that requires i have some protection.

you see, our admin team (the principals) is not what one might call ideal. there have been blaring inconsistencies in discipline for children and this has caused a great strain between the faculty and the admin. for example, a child made a shank in class (a homemade knife for those of you not in the know when it comes to prison-speak) and that child was given half a day of in school suspension. half of a day sitting in a room. for making a deadly weapon. in class. in a school that had a stabbing in february of this year. two weeks ago there was an incident that is even worse (a child was intentionally cut with scissors on the eyebrow by another student) and as far as i can find out, nothing was done about it. it's like teaching in oz. you can see how this might create some hostility.

part of the issue is that two of our assistant principals are new. and by that i mean it's their first year as admin. personally, i would have picked some tenured individuals to come into a school like mine - academically low-performing for three years with major discipline issues. however, our head principal picked them for his own reasons. and that's where the real concern lies.

our head principal is new to my school this year as well. at the beginning of the year he told us about an article in the austin chronicle that addressed issues he'd had at his previous school. to sum it up very simply, the article said he was a total jerk and that half of his staff resigned or got transfers because he ran the school like a tyrant. of course, we all gave him the benefit of the doubt after reading that and it is appearing that that might have been a mistake.

he spent the first month of school making everyone in the front office cry. he regularly emerges from his office screaming at the top of his lungs at our secretaries. they've all lined up other jobs already. he has harrassed teachers to whom he has granted leave and one that was sick with pneumonia.

what appears to have been the final straw, however, is something that he wrote on an observation form for me. he and a superintendent did a "walkthrough" in my classroom, meaning they came in for about 5 minutes to briefly observe how i was doing. they were there at the beginning of class and so my students were finishing up their "warm-up" vocabulary activity. they were using context clues and inferential skills to determine the meanings of words like "countenance" and "tirade." these are not words that are even remotely close to being in my student's vocabulary. it was challenging for them and i had to give most of them assistance.

unfortunately, when i picked up my observation form that afternoon, my principal had written "today's idiot sheet was not rigorous. a total waste of time." i was stunned and had to read it several times to make sure that he had actually written something so unprofessional. needless to say, it was infuriating to me and it ended up being the first day i cried at school. i spoke to our union reps and they suggested i would need protection now that i'm on his bad list.

word spreads fast in a school and by the end of the day i had a lot of coworkers stop by my room to tell me what a good job i've been doing and that i'm completely supported by them. their kind words helped to offset all of the doubt that my principal had created. as a newer teacher, i constantly question the job i'm doing even though i'm working harder than i ever have in my life. it feels really good to have teachers with 9 or more years of experience telling you that you're one of the best new teachers they've seen at my school.

all this time i thought the most difficult part of my job would be dealing with the children. it never occurred to me that the adults might be this challenging.