Bad Job Stories (was The Neverending Bad Day)

[meboriqua at aol.com]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "Kristin" <Alyeskakc at a...> wrote:
 
> So now I have to wait until the end of August to find out whether or 
> not I'm going to still have a job. That's just the icing on the non-
> birthday cake. I can not wait for this week to end.>

I hear you!  This is my bad job story:  Here is NYC, getting excessed 
from a school is pretty common.  It doesn't mean you're fired; it 
usually means that the budget cannot accommodate everyone and teachers 
with less seniority in certain departments have to go.  You are 
guaranteed placement in another school.  It also often means that your 
principall doesn't like you.  It sucks.

I taught at my first school for two years.  In my second year we got 
rid of one principal and another one came in.  He put on a happy face 
at first, but he quickly showed us his true colors.  If anyone did not 
agree with him on anything, he went after that person (I swear it was 
like I was working for Giuliani).  I was one of the people who did not 
agree with his tactics.  Along with 4 other teachers, he excessed us 
(by leaving letters in our school mailboxes and leaving the building 
early on the last day of classes, mind you).  It was awful.  I knew 
that instead of having a relaxing summer, I'd have to find a new 
school (like hell I'd let the Board of Ed place me), and start all 
over again in September.

I found a new school very quickly, but once I started, I realized that 
what I had been told at my interview were many lies.  The kids ran 
wild in the halls.  The materials were scarce.  The administration 
never backed the teachers when kids misbehaved in class.  My assistant 
principal began walking into my room regularly while I was teaching to 
ask a favor of me, tell me I *had* to meet with her, or simply to 
criticize me.  She tried to give me a U rating for my classes.  I 
found out later that I was not her only target; she was harassing 
several other teachers as well, but we were kept isolated from one 
another and weren't often able to talk.  It was a nightmare and I 
hated every day I was there.

This sounds like a bad ending story, but it isn't.  A month into 
working at the new school, I knew I wouldn't stay there and knew I'd 
have to start looking for another school, again.  Coincidentally, the 
one school I had really wanted to work in (since before I started 
teaching at all) called me in October.  I rushed in for the interview, 
was hired on the spot and - my principal would not release me (in NYC 
you can't leave a school in the middle of the semester without 
permission).  I was crushed.

However, I found out in December that the school was holding the 
position for me.  In January, I was released by my principal and have 
been a happy camper ever since.  At my school now, I like all the 
administrators, I have plenty of freedom about what and how I teach, 
and the school is well run with few discipline problems.

Here's my point:  even though I was shocked and upset when I was first 
excessed, it turned into a good thing because the teachers that school 
have continued to have problems with the administration and the 
turnover is hefty.  Here, at my school, I am now tenured, I do the 
yearbook, I have (well, had, as we may lose it) the best classroom, 
and I have a great time with the kids.  I wouldn't go back to my old 
school even if they doubled my salary.

Leaving your job may be the best thing to happen to you.  Who knows?  
You may even end up being the supervisor for the mean woman who 
supervised you!

--jenny from ravenclaw**