Can’t say that May was a fun month. In fact, it was the most emotional month I have had in quite a while. I spent most of the month on a fast moving roller coaster. It started out fine– pretty even and normal. But things became rough as the days passed on. Up to Mother’s Day things were fine. Had a wonderful time with the guys. We had bar-b-q and great food. 🙂 We spent the second week testing our kids–This was the “biggie” to see if we achieved our goal. It was much better than other testing periods, because we took more time to do it so that we were not rushed. We also spent quite a bit of time checking over our work to make sure we did not make any mistakes. We need to have all tests in shape for next year, because we will be monitored by the federal government. This ought to be real fun. We then spent several days checking to see which of our children benchmarked (just another way of saying passed the test.) Then we made our groups for next year.
Then on Thursday of the week Ms. Moss called a big meeting. We were informed that she would not be with us next year. She said it with great difficulty. Her emotions were very low and we listened in stunned silence and tears running down our faces. She had been informed on Monday that they were moving her to a different school and she had no say so. She protested vehemently and was told she could move or quit. She was also informed not to tell her teachers. It was to be kept quiet. Thursday was the day that they were to have a school board meeting to vote on the personnel change. She told us that they would be moving the high school principal to our school against her will. As usual, the school board was doing what it wanted and only for their personal benefit. She told us that she had broke the confidence, because someone was spreading the news all over Erath. After being stunned, we left in shock and begin to digest the news. I knew that I could not sit back and not say anything. But i was afraid that i could not speak without crying. I got with some and asked who could speak. We got a group together to go. We did appear at the school board meeting and lodged our complaints. David even came and assisted us. It turned out to be a travesty. No concern was shown toward our questions, they avoided to comment clearly, they were rude and truly did not want to acknowledge our concerns. Even the superintendent did not want to discuss it. It was quite obvious that we would not only receive no adequate response, but that they would proceed as if nothing was even said. I was able to express myself without crying, because they made me so angry.
So our end of the year was faced with depression on top of the usual problems.
We did find out that our fourth graders did very well on the LEAP test and that we are showing growth with our program. It is a shame that the core of our program will not be here to watch as the program progresses. Hopefully, the new principal will not cause too many problems that will interfere with the success that we have achieved. Hopefully, the school board will not throw new roadblocks in our way. That is a lot of hopefully’s, but we have a lot of concerns to face in the following year.
We did have a meeting at the end of the year to celebrate our successes in our program. But then as usual, a wrench is thrown in the machinery. We will be having a new prek. Who decides this. Of course, the powers that be. Therefore, we will have to give up one of our rooms and move the two interventionist into another room. The new principal thinks that my room is so nice and roomy that two of us can work in there. So I will be sharing my room next year.
This year has made me wish that I was walking out the door and never coming back. Somehow I need to find something positive to hang on to when the new year starts, or i may be looking for a new job.