Saturday, April 25, 2009

The whole Job Saga

It's official - I have a job and now I think I can tell the whole story. If you read the previous blogs you know about non-continuing contracts. At the end of the year principals can ask the school board to convert contracts to a preliminary contract. They rarely do so in the middle of the year because it's not necessary. In January my principal told me she was going to recommend converting my contract. Of course as the state budget saga began, I just assumed that wouldn't happen at the end of the year because they were going to end up laying off teachers. Last week we had a faculty meeting where my principal went over the process of what would happen as layoff notices went out and how recall procedures would happen. As part of the meeting she asked us all to stand up and then called out different scenarios and if it applied to us we had to sit down. The school is only 5 years old and has a very young staff. By the time she reached what she thought would be school board's decision more than half the staff was seated and losing their job. I sat down at the very first when she asked those with non-continuing contracts to sit down. After the shock of the meeting I sent a request to my principal for a letter of recommendation.

Monday morning I was met at the office door by my principal, who never beats me to work, with a request to talk with me. I figured I had made a parent mad or messed up something. She told me she had been trying to get a hold of me all weekend (she had the wrong phone number) and proceeded to tell me this story:

After getting my request for a letter of recommendation and wondering why I had sat down at the meeting, she called personnel and asked why I thought I was losing my job. Their reply: She has a non-continuing contract. Her response: she shouldn't. I asked for her to be converted in January. Personnel: No you didn't. Principal: Check the minutes. Sure enough she had asked for it to go to the board in January and personnel messed up. Personnel: Well we can't do it now, the board is going to layoff people at the meeting on Wednesday. Principal: Yes you will. She called in her favors with several directors who agreed that I should be converted. Wednesday night the school board approved my conversion to a provisional contract. My seniority number due to my previous experience is high enough that no matter where the school board drew the line - I was not going to lose my position.

It's been a crazy week. I feel elated because I have a job, but sad because some of the people I really like at work are either being laid off or have a non-continuing contract. The School Board didn't lay off as many as we thought, but it's still a significant number of people at my school and my friends still fit in that section that have been laid off. Now it's just hoping the legislature will pass a budget this week so that the school district can make their budget, decide who gets their job back and then maybe my friends without contracts will be able to retain their job too!

And thank you Dana for helping me keep my job!

Monday, April 20, 2009

I think you can disregard the previous blog

I have received some information today that may allow everyone to disregard the previous blog. I can't share details at this point until I receive a formal confirmation, but I probably still have a job. If you want details now and can call me - you may. I should be able to update by Sunday.

Thanks for all your prayers and concern!

mel

Friday, April 17, 2009

No Budget, No Job

Yesterday I was finally convinced that I don't have a job next year. The state of Washington hasn't passed a budget and until they do at least 200-300 teachers in my district will be laid off and only those with real contracts will be recalled. In Washington your first-third year of teaching, they only issue you a non-continuing contract - which gives you no guarantee of a job next year or any right of return in case of layoffs. Principals can ask for the district to convert your contract, but you'd be hard pressed to find a district where they are doing that this year. Once a budget is passed and schools are told how many staff positions they have, they will then be required to fill those positions with any teachers that were laid off with real contracts. After that positions will be open for interviews. So even though I've taught here this year, there is no guarantee that I will get interviews for open positions in the district. The thing that sucks about all of this is that my seniority number if I wasn't on a non-continuing contract is high enough (due to my years of teaching experience) that I most likely wouldn't have lost my job. Another thing that stinks is that every district in the state is in the same boat so tons of teachers will be looking for positions. The biggest problem is that none of the rehiring/hiring can happen until the state passes a budget - so it may be the day before school starts that schools know how many positions they have available. If you know that teachers are not being laid off in your state let me know - I'm taking all suggestions and possibilities - even if the pay stinks. All kinds of jobs are scarce in Washington with all the recent layoffs at major employers in the area - so if I have to move again, then so be it.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

One of those embarrassing teaching moments

When I arrived home yesterday I was in pain.
It was a hard day at work - but it wasn't my brain that hurt or even my lower back -
no it was my bum.
That's right my bottom was in pain. Why you ask? I missed my chair and fell on the floor. Not in that nice easy way - you realize the chair is missing and sit down just on your rear - no I totally surrendered to the floor and landed flat on my back. I didn't even realized I missed the chair until I hit the floor. My students were in shock even though I was laughing. I'm not laughing now. Not only is my rear sore, but my legs and one of my arms. It's almost as good as the time I had just started teaching at Sierra High School and tripped over the overhead projector cord and slid about 8 feet on my knees, got up and continued with my lesson while my knees bled for two periods.

There is no room for embarrassment as a High school teacher!