For the Presidents' Day holidays, some schools take a four day weekend, others take two Mondays. Us, we take the two days off together in one week, then take the rest of the week off for kicks (some might refer to it as the "Ski Week" that private schools take, but we discourage people from calling it that--especially when skiing). And while we've been away it seems that imaginations have run wild.
Our HS principal had to leave the country suddenly to tend to her ailing mother (leaving the MS principal in charge of the whole she-bang, and losing his mind amidst the chaos); in her absence, certain staff members seem to be under the impression that she's not returning (now, she's not been well liked by some, but her reputation has improved over time; apparently, though, it's not improved enough). I don't know where this even started, since it has--to my knowledge--no basis in fact. I'm chalking this one up to "wishful thinking."
The students in our AP Language classes, on the other hand, just seem to be playing with whatever Play-Doh we put in front of them. They haven't liked their teacher since September, and over time we've slowly joined them. The teacher left under very amicable circumstances (I might blog about this more later), and we found a very competent substitute to hold the fort while we get the new teacher out of her current contract and through the district paperwork queue. The students think this is the replacement teacher. They were told this was a sub, but apparently that didn't take. The irony? They like this teacher immensely. This one is now classified as "AP Cluelessness."
Finally, a statement was made by a teacher union rep that seemed to slip under the radar and stay there, for I seem to be one of only two people worried about it: during a monthly "shop talk" meeting at lunch, a staff member voiced a concern about the relationship between me, an assistant principal, and one of the English teachers (note: we've been dating for two and a half years and are engaged to be married this summer--this isn't a breach of Ed. Code or anything, since I'm not her evaluator and have little, if any, dealings with her grade levels).* The union rep's response was "Well, they won't be working together much longer." Now I'd like to think that I'd be involved in discussions--or at least questioned--about this topic, and I'm more than blindsided by the voiced concern, especially since it's from a staff member with whom I thought I got along. I'm filing this under "union rep blows smoke"--for now, anyway.
I can't wait until school starts again so that we can deal with the usual the-sky-is-falling routine. Nothing seems to get the rumor mill going more than a week off.
* I guess it's also worth noting that several years ago a married principal here was having an affair with the English Department chair (to whom he is now married, I believe), and that went down very badly for everyone, professionally speaking. This probably has something to do with the current complaint (and I use the term "complaint" loosely).
Helpful hints, position essays, and useless blather from the Assistant Principal of a high school in Southern California. Posts here do not necessarily reflect the positions or views of the school or district with which he is employed.
So there.
So there.
