Skip to main content

Contract up in the air


All over the nation, education budgets are being cut. Teachers and other staff members are losing their jobs. Books and supplies necessary to educate no longer available to teachers. Classroom populations grow close to 40 students to start the year. It does not paint a pretty picture for the education of our next generation. Closer to home, I am unsure of where or if I will be teaching next year.

I knew it was coming - the meeting with the principal that reminds me that I am a first year teacher in the county without tenure. (It was only four years ago I had one in Orland, Maine because I was the teacher with the least seniority. OCS is closing its doors to students for good at the end of this school year.) Teachers are being cut across the county. A teacher with tenure with a position cut at the school s/he is currently at has first dibs at my job. She expressed to me her desire to keep me and the other teachers in the same position as me. I will know more on Tuesday.

I am at peace with the unknown of what next year will bring. Something inside of me has changed in the last year. I don’t feel the anxiety of wondering if we will be a household with no employment. I am confident that I will be working next year. Whether it will be in Benson or not remains to be seen.

Comments

  1. DawnJune 2, 2011 at 9:37 PM

    Mandie I can so appreciate your situation. My job comes to an end June 24 the and I have no idea where I will be working next year or even if it will be in education. I only know that I won't spend my summer worrying about what will happen I know something will. I hope that your situation turns out successfully.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJune 3, 2011 at 8:49 PM

    Mandie--I have conferdence in you. You will be working next year. That is the person that you are. Take care. Love you. Marguerite

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Next Chapter Begins...

The first round of tears happened during the 8 th grade promotion. It has been such a wonderful year with all of them – 7 th and 8 th graders alike. The second round of tears came when I learned I do not have a contract for next year. I will not be returning to Benson Middle School unless the displaced teachers do not jump at the chance for my classroom.   Right after she told me, I did my best to remain professional and keep the tears at bay. Unfortunately, they came anyway. About the time the tears hit my eyes, an email a dear friend sent me when I first wrote about the contract situation came to mind: “There is always a reason for things. Maybe God wants you to move on and inspire other students.” I love what she says. I feel that with my whole being. However, it did not make hearing that I have no job any easier. So now what? I am floating off the edge again. My family began the year in two different states. We are reunited again in North Carolina. Both Tony and I with
7 comments
Read more

WABDR: Preparations

PREPARATIONS AND PACKING I know you are ready to hear about this epic adventure of ours. Believe me, I was ready to hop on my bike (I named her Hanaa, meaning “happiness, joy, and peace”) and go. But before one is ready to go into the Wild, preparations need to be made. Before I get into the preparations, let’s talk about the importance of naming your bike. My Shadow back home is named, Layla. I can hear you singing along to the song right now. That is exactly where her name came from, she eases my worried mind. Therefore, it was important for me to find the perfect name for the machine I would be spending the next couple of weeks with. Jennifer, my sister, had been calling it Lil Ripper. That name was not going to work for me. I saw the peace sign on the key chain and immediately started researching names meaning “peace, love, and happiness” - all necessary for life in my opinion. And I didn’t want to die on this trip. My thinking was a bit of peace, love and happiness would
2 comments
Read more

The Hardest One Yet

 From the time I began this blog, I made the conscious choice that I would be honest and open in the moment – whatever is going on. For the most part, I have done that.  After struggling about whether to write about this particular challenge (let alone share it), I chose to do the uncomfortable and do both – write and share. “Your certification has not even been processed yet. Probably won’t happen until at least the middle of January.”  I took a deep breath as I heard those words a couple weeks ago and I realized what that meant. Christmas would look very different than originally planned. The retroactive pay that Santa was counting on to make the holiday something special for our family would not be coming. I took a deep breath as I hung up the phone and walked out of my classroom, despair bombarding the hope and excitement of the upcoming holiday. A tornado of thoughts began whirling in my head as I walked to the guidance office. Playing with our budget in my head trying to
7 comments
Read more