Wednesday June 7, 2000
Tomorrow final exams begin. It is almost an anti-climactic time at school because for all purposes, the school year is already over and done. The kids are totally out of control, the administrators are focused on the next year, and the teachers look forward to having 10 weeks off of work. I know I can't fucking wait. On the other hand, next Friday seems like a long way off.

There were three things that struck me today as I reflected on things. First, I was informed that Ms. Suck the Juice out of my Ass is going to be the 8th grade AP next year. There is no fucking way I will teach at this school with her as my primary administrator. Having to deal with her part time is painful enough.

Second, there was a 7th grade awards assembly today. Guess who the AP was who was in charge of things? Yep, you guessed it; Mama Bitchy. As it turns out, I was not even asked to give any awards to my 7th grade students. Moreover, my class was not even invited to their own ceremony. Some of the kids in my class had their names called to get awards, but did not attend because no one even invited them. I can understand the Fucking Vampire not inviting me personally, but to slight my kids is a total disgrace. She should be the recipient of a royal assfucking by whomever is in charge of such things. I'm sure there is someone in the school district with that job description.

Third, the principal decided today that he was going to conduct formal evaluations on his staff. I think that after 174 days of school, it's a little too late to be just getting around to the classrooms that you were scheduled to monitor in November. What a total fucking slacker. I also think that it is basically unfair to monitor a teacher this late in the year for one basic reason. The kids are totally off the chain and act as though they know school is out. They have already attended their graduation and haven't even taken final exams yet. The organization at this school is pathetic.

I went on the interview on Monday morning and it went pretty well. The people that I spoke to were the most human of anyone I had talked to. The only downer was that they told me up front that they would not be making a decision until the end of July. This kind of sucks, however, this school has higher reading and writing marks than the other two schools I had interviewed with.

For now, it appears as though the school year will end and I will not know my situation for next year. It is becoming increasingly apparent that under no circumstances will I return to Shitsville. There is no future for me there. It is kind of a bittersweet realization, because I am essentially taking a leap of faith in hoping that another school hires me. This is kind of comforting in a way, because the payoff could be a great one. On the other hand it will be hard to walk away from guaranteed job security at the Shits. In the end, I have faith that everything will work out alright.

Friday June 9, 2000
There is only 3 more school days left and 5 more work days. The best thing about this job is the summertime, without question. The benefit of being off work for 9 weeks with pay is indescribable. This is the time of the year teachers live for.

I started to give my final exams this week and the kids did pretty well for the most part. I only reviewed the questions and answers on 5 different occasions, so I'm pretty sure that they were able to retain something. I went around to each one of my students and privately told them that I am expecting great things from them in the future. I encouraged each of them to work on their strengths and weaknesses and to try to reinvent themselves next school year. This is the best part about being a teacher, because I feel that after a year or two with some of these kids, they have actually looked to me in times of need to help them sort out life's problems.

I know that one thing I have most done throughout this journal is constantly bitch and complain about the work environment, but it is truly the kids that I go back to Shitsville for each and every day. Some of these kids are so funny and do so many unbelievable things, that I get a big belly laugh and a warm heart just thinking about them.
On Thursday, we had a student - faculty basketball game and the kids really seemed to enjoy it. The teachers won by one point and the students insisted we cheated. It was a lot of fun and seemed to allow some of the kids to see their faculty members in a different light. The Three Toed Sloth herself was the coach of the students' team and we encouraged the referee to call technical fouls on her whenever she opened her big mouth.

Monday June 12, 2000
The first day of the last week of school. Yippie! Woo! I'm almost at the end. It's easy to forget that teaching is a lot like running a marathon. You have to pace yourself and take your time plodding through the course. At the end of the year, you are kind of out of gas, but you have that same look on your face that marathoner's have when they have just run 26 miles. Pale, crusty, and cruising on endorphins, it is almost anti-climactic to cross the finish line. But finish I must.

I only have one more exam to grade and then I need to fill in the bubble sheets and turn them in. My room is pretty much cleaned up and is ready to be closed for the summer. The roaches and rats will come crawling out of the walls for a while and feast away until someone opens up that door in late August. Hopefully that person will not be me. I can not wait to hear those words of a job offer from another school, and patience will hopefully pay off for me.

Only a few more days and the last flush of the year awaits the Shitsville cesspool.

Thursday June 15, 2000
School ended yesterday and today I'm going to get paid for playing basketball all day. Almost 10 weeks off of work with pay and then back to the grind again. I'm so glad that the kids are out of school. Yesterday, I was real nervous about going to school because I was hoping that some unfortunate incidents would not occur, given the culture of school violence that is upon us. As it turns out, there were less than half of the normal daily enrollment in school. It turned out to be the easiest day of the year.

Friday June 16, 2000
Waiting for school to end is kind of like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but someone is holding you back from embracing the light. In this case, the principal did his best to hold us until 2 p.m. Every other school was released early, so I'm not sure why he held us this late, unless it was just to flex his muscles one last time on a power trip.

As I suspected, the principal did his best to strip me of my rewards at Shitsville. He told me that he was moving me to the 6th grade, out of my room and into the auditorium where 3 other classes meet at the same time. Then he tells me that I am no longer a team leader. When I hear this news, my response was, 'Terrific, that's wonderful.' There is no way I would give him the satisfaction of a negative reaction. This is clearly my punishment for speaking up. He then added, 'this is, of course if you are here next year.' I replied that we both knew I was looking to transfer but that if it didn't work out, I could (gulp) always come back to the Shits. He agreed. I pray that I am never faced with the choice of coming back to the toilet. I told him that if I did come back to Shitsville, I would not be silent in the corner, but that I would continue to press him to make significant and meaningful changes at this school. He nodded and said that was what he expected. Then he asks me to sign an evaluation that he did back in December. We both knew damn well he never fucking once evaluated me, so I turned to him and said, 'I'll only sign it if it is favorable.' He said that it was and I signed quickly.

In all, I tried to leave on a good note, even though the Bitchy AP would not give me a copy of my annual evaluation. She started to run her mouth and I just cut her off and clapped my hands and said 'whatever' and walked out of her office. I got my paystub and hopefully have said goodbye to Shitsville forever..