Thursday, June 11, 2009

School's out for summer

I have officially been on summer break since noon(ish) today.

My excitement, however, is somewhat muted by the fact that a few of my good friends were let go today. I knew there were going to be cuts but didn't know exactly who.

We (teachers) still don't know how many were not invited back or exactly who all of them were, but word is starting to spread. And the atmosphere at school today was just...weird. Very solemn. Someone would stop by your room and whisper, "Hey, did you hear about so-and-so?" and your heart would just sink a little bit more. Sure, there are some people who didn't deserve to return, but some of the them are truly good teachers who just had "personality conflicts" with administration. No one was cut for budgetary reasons, mind you. As a charter school, we're run like a corporation, and some of the employees were not "invited to return."

So...yeah. I'm on summer vacation.

But we lost some good people today. And some of them happen to be my very close friends.

10 comments:

Fred said...

Enjoy your summer, Jen.

I wish we could let teachers go who weren't cutting it. The tenure thing in public schools allows some really poor teachers to remain on the payroll.

Some of those dismissed may have been really good teachers, and I hope your administration will back them up with excellent references.

Renee said...

Well, congrats on being done for the summer. I'm sorry to hear about the (good) teachers who got let go :-( I hope they are able to find something for the upcoming school year! And as Fred said-- I REALLY hope your school gives them good references!

Are you going to do a part-time job this summer?

Jen said...

I wanted a part time job but it's not possible the way my summer is shaping up, I don't think. I'll be gone for a week in June for a conference, then Missy and the boys are here for a week right after that, then I'll be leaving for Michigan like two weeks after THAT, and I won't be back til August 1, and then school starts a few weeks after that. LOL. "Sure, I'd love to work here, but I am only available for a week in June, 2 weeks in July and 2 or 3 weeks in August."

Jen said...

PS--I'm having lunch with one of my friends today--her husband is the one who works for corporate now and was there for a lot of these firings, so maybe I'll find out more about what was behind everything.

Anonymous said...

That sucks. Sorry. But I'm glad you weren't one of them.

Anonymous said...

you can't be back Aug. That's the wedding.

Jen said...

Yeah, yeah. I remember.

Jen said...

And you don't have to worry about me--thanks to Shawn, I'm in pretty good with the boss these days. (How ironic is THAT? See, and you guys told me not to keep him around. He may be a lying, cheating bastard but he's been oddly helpful to my career.)

Renee said...

Fools gold.

Renee said...

Plus, YOU have been helpful to your career. You've rocked hard, and THAT has been helpful to your career. Yeah, he may have been able to get some inside info and whatnot, but do you think HE would matter if she didn't like YOU?