In the Pink
It's that time of year again. The time when school districts across California lay off teachers in an effort to save money. You may have seen something on the news last Thursday when protesters shut down a major freeway near Oakland in an effort to raise awareness of the educational crisis. I'm sure their actions raised a lot of sympathy with the commuters who were stuck in gridlocked traffic for hours as a result. *sigh* Anyway, traditionally, we get our pink slips on the "Ides of March" (March 15th for the less Shakespearean of my readers). This year they came a week early.
On Friday afternoon I received a call from the secretary asking me to meet with our principal in her office. I immediately stopped what I was doing and headed out (it's rarely a good thing to be called to the principal's office). As I was leaving my class, one of the women who works at our after school daycare, said, "Are you going to the office?" At my affirmative answer she warned, "Well watch out! Jenna's mom is down there and she's FURIOUS!" To provide a little background, Jenna (name has been changed) is an extremely bright student of mine who has the misfortune of having a mother who is less-than-pleasant, thinks of school as free daycare, and rarely gets her daughter to class on time. Oh, and she's got a major chip on her shoulder. Like a Rock-of-Gibraltar-sized-chip. But back to my story.... In alarm I asked, "What's she mad about?" Apparently Jenna had an accident (pooped) in her pants at daycare, and mom was mad that she had to take time out of her day to deal with it.
In growing dread, I walked down to the office, ready to fend off any attack this woman might throw at me. Past history has shown that she's the type of person who believes a good defense is an offense and will try to blame anyone else but herself for failures on her daughter's part.
As I approached the office, I saw my friend, T, another temporary teacher, heading there as well. She mimed something about signing papers, but I still expected a confrontation with Jenna's mom. When T explained that we were probably getting our pink slips, I felt tremendous relief! As the principal asked me to sign for my lay-off letter, I said, "Oh good! I thought I was going to have to deal with Jenna's angry mom and poop pants!" We all laughed and then T and I merrily went on our way.
That's the way things are now. We've been laid-off so much that we've become desensitized to losing our jobs! And this year is even more dire than last year was, with class sizes increasing across the board and all prep classes going away. Unless there is a huge wave of retirement (which some people think is likely), there simply won't be positions available for the laid-off teachers to fill in the Fall. It's the same old story. But after three years, it's getting less interesting.
On Friday afternoon I received a call from the secretary asking me to meet with our principal in her office. I immediately stopped what I was doing and headed out (it's rarely a good thing to be called to the principal's office). As I was leaving my class, one of the women who works at our after school daycare, said, "Are you going to the office?" At my affirmative answer she warned, "Well watch out! Jenna's mom is down there and she's FURIOUS!" To provide a little background, Jenna (name has been changed) is an extremely bright student of mine who has the misfortune of having a mother who is less-than-pleasant, thinks of school as free daycare, and rarely gets her daughter to class on time. Oh, and she's got a major chip on her shoulder. Like a Rock-of-Gibraltar-sized-chip. But back to my story.... In alarm I asked, "What's she mad about?" Apparently Jenna had an accident (pooped) in her pants at daycare, and mom was mad that she had to take time out of her day to deal with it.
In growing dread, I walked down to the office, ready to fend off any attack this woman might throw at me. Past history has shown that she's the type of person who believes a good defense is an offense and will try to blame anyone else but herself for failures on her daughter's part.
As I approached the office, I saw my friend, T, another temporary teacher, heading there as well. She mimed something about signing papers, but I still expected a confrontation with Jenna's mom. When T explained that we were probably getting our pink slips, I felt tremendous relief! As the principal asked me to sign for my lay-off letter, I said, "Oh good! I thought I was going to have to deal with Jenna's angry mom and poop pants!" We all laughed and then T and I merrily went on our way.
That's the way things are now. We've been laid-off so much that we've become desensitized to losing our jobs! And this year is even more dire than last year was, with class sizes increasing across the board and all prep classes going away. Unless there is a huge wave of retirement (which some people think is likely), there simply won't be positions available for the laid-off teachers to fill in the Fall. It's the same old story. But after three years, it's getting less interesting.
Losing a job is never easy....no matter what the reason or frequency. In fact, it pretty much always sucks! My sympathies!! California is not an easy place to live! :)
Fingers crossed for you it all works out well for next school year. It must really suck not being able to plan ahead though! Kudos to you for keeping it all in perspective! (lol)
Best of luck, Jenni. It may be routine at this point, but it has to be stressful regardless.
We've still got a fifth grade position open...
Pink slips suck - period. But, as for the poopy pants. Your aunt was rather odiferous in kindergarten and when someone asked her about the mess in her pants, she said, "I didn't do it!!" Still a fun family story.