Catching up part III

As I mentioned at the end of my last post. Changes. We can has them. Rather unfortunately. (And yes, laundry is dried and put away. go me).

Last school year, K announced his retirement. And much sadness fell upon the land...well, for many of us at School A--some of whom had worked with him for years and basically followed him from school to school. (Had I known how much I'd enjoy working with him, I might've tried that sooner!). So, he didn't officially retire until the end of June, but his replacement was found and announced early that month. We knew of people who were applying/might apply. My friend, PD's VP was one of them. I'll refer to her as PHP II (to differentiate her from PHP whom I had at Sham for four or so years, which was six too many). There was a guy who'd been VP at School A before and everyone at the school whom I respected wanted him to get the job.

So, the day of the announcment arrives; normally the principal tells the staff, but K was out for minor sugery, so it fell on our VP S, to do so. It was in the morning before classes...we gathered in the staff room and waited for her to tell us.

"I'm pleased to announce that our new principal is PHP II". You could've heard a pin drop, it was so quiet in that room. We all knew we were screwed. (PHP II had also been VP at school A a few years ago....) Poor S, she rambled on and said she'd email PHP  II welcoming her to our school. See I knew we were screwed because I'd listened to PD tell exactly how the PHP II had treated her, the support staff and some of the teaching staff for the last six years as the VP at her school. She only let up on PD when PD's son ended up needing a heart transplant.

So, after the initial shock wore off, I went to the phone in the book room (more private) to call PD at home and tell her (her school goes in an hour later than ours); her hubby answered and asked if everything was alright. I said it was...then told PD the good news. Good for her, not for us. She told me later that she was so happy she'd been singing int he shower, but her hubby told her to stop it as she was scaring their children.

I will say things have been going along okay so far--PHP II is being nice to me (I almost hate it, I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop) and she hasn't really done anything to really piss anyone off. She did schedule me for end of the day stairwell duty but I went to the VP about it because a)I'm not a teacher and that's teacher supe time b)I've had my hours cut back and you're adding something to it and c) I wasn't asked OR told, I read it in the emailed sched that came out. Anyhow, rather surprisingly to me, PHP II didn't have a hissy or get angry at me; one of the resource teachers will do it--though I did offer to cover for her if need be, which PHP II seemed to appreciate.

It's a good thing I'm a woman and used to/good at faking it.... or I'd be in big trouble....lol

Catching up, part deux

Whilst I wait for the washer to finish so that I can lug a couple loads of laundry to the laundromat to dry...I'll talk a bit about School A.

This is my fourth year at this school--I'd been at my previous school....we'll call it Sham, for 9 years. having started there when it opened in 2000--and I'd only left because with declining enrollment, my hours had gone from 6/day to 4/day (and I was working p/t at a call centre--horrible work but I met some awesome people). School A became available when the LT there decided to retire. I put in for the transfer and because I was the most senior to apply for it, I got the job. (Yes, we are unionised.)

The principal at School A, K, was a man I'd known from my High School--he'd taught English and then after I'd graduated, became a VP. So, once it was confirmed the position was mine, I was asked to call him as a courtesy--which I did. Amazingly enough he remembered me from HS, though he'd never taught me nor had me in his class for a spare. (My last name is unique for the area--ie my family are the only ones around with it, plus my parents had owned a convenience store nearby--everyone knew that. I swear I wasn't a bad kid.) Anyhow, talked with K, then went to visit the school for their end of year staff meeting. That allowed me to talk to the retiring LT about things, too.

A few days after school ended, I was at my house/pet sitting gig (an EA I worked with at Sham and her hubby who happens to be the CFO for the school board; they're lovely folks, both of them), when K called to say he was thinking of rearranging the library but figured I might want some input. I laughed, said yes and we arranged for a day for me to come up and look around, then talk to K (he and the VP, S, were doing interviews).

The previous LT had had shelves blocking her into her desk, you couldn't see the kids if you turned around. Even though she could've been automated, she still did book card sign out, and kept a huge desk in the middle of the floor for that...and a few other things. Anyhow, whilst K & S did their interviews, I looked around, noted what I would change. When K came over, turns out what I wanted to do was pretty much what he'd planned on doing--even a bit more. So, both of us were happy. I told him I planned to be fully automated--I'd been so at Sham, wasn't going to change here. He liked that idea; in fact, when S came over, he looked at her and said, "Good news! We're moving into the 21st century, no more book cards!"

Oh, the work to be done in that library. In weeding the collection on the shelves, I took ~6000 books out of circulation (my favourite example: a book, ©1957 about the Malasite INDIANS of NB. Yeah.) Plus there were two magazine racks (big metal ones with slanting slide down shelves, 5 shelves per) that were packed full of donated books. Didn't track how many thousands I got rid of there. By my second year, I ended up with a great volunteer and between us, by the end of last year, I'd gotten through the worst of the mess and moved even more stuff around to make the library nice and open looking. I've only gotten compliments on what I've done with it. K LOVED it. I even had one of the regular subs (PD's former principal--he retired), comment on it "The library looks SO much nicer now, so open."

Anyhow, I came to adore K--not everyone, esp parents did. But that's because he thought he was right most of the time (and he was--and if he was wrong, he'd own up to it) and had no trouble telling students OR parents what was what. When kids were sent to the office, they didn't get a treat if they'd misbehaved (as they had at Sham). I think what sold me on him initially, was the day that first oct/nov; I was working away in my library, when K came over the PA, announcing that a small blue plastic hockey stick had been lost upstairs--could teachers check students' bags and if it was found, to send the perpetrator to the office. I literally stared, open mouthed at the PA in my room--the word perpatrator would never have been used at Sham.

Okay, wash is finished... this will be con't ... later. Cus we've had some ch-ch-changes.