Wednesday, May 22, 2002
The shit kind of hit the fan today on several levels. First, the school board after months of negotiation took away two days of our pay. I think it is a little late in the year to be doing this, but I guess they need to make up for their budget problems, so fucking the teachers is the solution. The shitty thing is that the teacher's union originally voted in favor of the motion without putting it up to union membership vote, cause they knew the union as a whole would tell them to fuck off. When thousands of people, including me, dropped out of the union, and the union got some bad press they changed their view. Too late, dumb-asses; the damage was already done.

So during the school day, they tell the teachers who teach gifted kids that they have filled out the wrong forms called IEPs. IEPs are individualized educational plans, which are really form letters detailing to the district and to the parents what the goals are for each kids. The idea is a good idea, but like many others, is wrapped up in a bureaucratic nightmare. Each form takes approximately one hour to fill out. Now imagine teaching a full load of gifted kids. How many man-hours would it take to redo the forms? And…to top it off, the head of the gifted program doesn't even teach any classes. When the teachers were told of the problem, they were told that failure to redo the forms would result in a denial of a pay increase for next year. Why not just fucking sit down and say you fucked up and ask for forgiveness and try to work together? Instead, after the teachers got fucked on their pay, they are told to do some extra shit or else… School teachers have got to be one of the least respected professions out there. Maybe there is a good reason for this. After all, many of us have fucked up the profession for others by being a part of a bureaucratic nightmare. But then again, 80% of all Americans do not have their kids in schools, so convincing them to invest in education is a really hard thing to do. Retirees don't give a fuck and I really can't blame them.

As a side note, thank god I don't teach gifted kids.

I thought that this would be my last year teaching, but it looks like the state will take a while to process my administrative application to become an AP. I guess things don't ever turn out like they need to be.

I took some seminar so I could be qualified to teach summer school. My AP told me to do it so that I could be hired. Now, I am waiting 2 weeks for my credits to be awarded so I can inform another branch of the bureaucracy that I need clearance to work summer school. Don't cha just love bureaucracy?

Friday, May 31, 2002
Sometimes it is best to write when angry. I'm not sure if I am angry, but I felt something close to it today. I sent my kid down the hall with my hall pass. It is a ruler with my name on it and on the other side it says 'hall pass.' Many teachers at my school use a similar pass. I have actually thought about getting a toilet seat with a string on it, but I think parents will complain.

Let me get back to the point.

So this total psycho bitch down the hallway from me takes the hallpass from one of my kids claiming he was hitting someone else with it. I asked for her to give it back to me and she said, 'It's locked up in my closet and you are not getting it back.' I replied that it was my personal property and that I would appreciate getting it back. She repeated her statement and told me to get out of her class.

I immediately went downstairs to the AP and informed her of the situation. I added that if I did not get my hallpass back then I would be forced to tickle the inside of the psycho bitch's esophagus from her rear end by my foot being shoved so far up her ass. The AP looked at me for a moment and replied that she would get it back to me by the end of the day.

This is the same teacher who was put on probation for throwing a garbage can at a kid and pouring a Coke over his head. No wonder she has been relegated to teaching the worst kids in the school.

On a positive note, the school year has only 8 more days. I cannot wait to be on vacation. I was informed that I will be teaching summer school this week. I could use the extra money, and the summer session is only 17 days. Can you believe it? A kid can fail for 180 days and somehow make up the class in 17!