Tuesday, March 6, 2001
I know that I haven't written anything of substance in a while and I have a great reason. I had a nasty computer virus that shut down my machine and inhibited me from documenting the crazy things that have gone on in the last few weeks.

I will try to reconstruct things as best that I can…

First, some of my kids wrote essays for this African-American history contest. The department head had all of the information. My kids wrote the essays and when I asked her for the information on where to send it, she told me she would get me the information in five minutes. I asked her again two hours later and again she told me it would be five minutes. The next morning, still without the address and the deadline already passed for submission, she sees me and says, 'well, you know…' and I say to her, 'look, if you threw the paper away just tell me.' She can't find it she laments and never gets back to me.

So last week a rep came in from a book company and handed out a bunch of free sample books for us to preview. One book had a lot of court cases in it and I asked if anyone else wanted the book. I got the book and said that I would make some photocopies of some relevant pages for class.

When the session was over, the department head, who I'll simply refer to as 'The toothpick who could NEVER get a man' came to me and told me to give her back the book and sign it out from her later. I offered to just sign it out at once knowing that based on what had happened the week before, it was unlikely that I would ever see the book again. She came right into my face and waved her hand in front of me and said, 'give it to me now!' I then asked if anyone else wanted the book and if anyone minded me making the relevant photocopies. Since no one raised their hand, I said, to the bony bitch, 'I'll just sign my name on this paper now and submit it for copies and give it back to you by this afternoon.' She again stood in front of me and said, 'give it to me!' Then, I stood up and said, 'You are not getting this book back at this time…I'll give it to you after the copies are made so I will never have to ask you for it again.' I handed her the sheet of paper with my name on it showing that I had signed out the book and she tossed the paper on the floor saying, 'don't ever ask me for anything again.' I'm thinking that there is a greater chance of being struck by lightning then me asking that loser bitch for shit.

This afternoon, a girl was 'allegedly abducted' from the front of the school. The school was pretty much on lockdown after that and the police combed the building. A nice teacher, across the hall, was choked by another student who used a large chain. Another teacher was caught throwing a garbage can at another kid. The vibe at Sunnyland is changing a bit, but as far as my classroom goes, I really am without the many major problems that I had been previously used to.

I'm starting classes to become an administrator next week and I must say that I'm ready to get out of the classroom. The vibe is so crazy at times that it is like a circus.

Wednesday, March 14, 2001
We are smack dab in the middle of the dreaded competency testing and this week is totally flying by. I really love testing days because I get caught up on all of my essential reading and grading and the kids just bubble in answer sheets at a mind numbing rate.

The department head has not spoken to me in a week and it feels real fucking good not to walk on eggshells around that bitch anymore. She really is in need of maturity and until she finds it, I'm sure she will stay single too.

I am starting my classes this week to become an administrator and can hardly wait until this time next year. I think by that time, I will be real ready to leave the classroom and become an Assistant Principal, if everything goes well.

It seems like this year is flying by. It seems like just yesterday that I was nervous about starting the year at Sunnyland, but now I'm really looking forward to the future. My kids have worked pretty hard this year overall and it has given me great satisfaction to see these kids really earn their way into senior high school. Spending the last two years in the Shitter has really helped me focus on what I think is important in education. A real dose of reality that I lived for the last two years as a teacher has helped me in ways that I could never explain. Now, it seems that I have a much easier time relating to the kids and can get more teaching done in a more effective manner without half of the day care bullshit that I had been used to.