2 Days...No Sleep!

It has been a very interesting couple of days. As I mentioned in the title of this posting, I have not slept in two days. Yes, I am exhausted.

Yesterday was a pretty good day at work. My students were actually well behaved, which is a far cry from most days. (It is a tough year with some very challenging students.) So I thought that my evening was going to be nice and relaxing...WRONG! I left the school around 5 pm. As I was leaving I got a phone call from another teacher at one of our elementary schools.

Without giving out too many details, in short we received a document that was very questionable in its wording. We are currently negotiating our teaching contract with our school system. Here we are at the end of the first quarter of the school year, and we still do not have a negotiated contract. It is becoming more and more difficult to keep the morale up when we are getting the runaround.

Anyway, once I learned of this questionable contract document I went to meet with this teacher that called. I ended up calling our regional coordinator, and ultimately had to send the document to the state union office. They agreed to look it over and send us an opinion on Tuesday. In the meantime I was sorting through phone calls and emails until some time after 11 pm last night. (The reason I have been getting so many phone calls and emails is that I am the leader of our teacher's union.) Representatives from a number of our schools were calling me and asking for advice on what to tell our members. After I conference called with our executive committee, it was decided that we instruct members to not sign the contract until we get advice back from the legal department.

After all of the excitement, I just could not sleep. I was up all night. I may have gotten about 15 minutes of rest during the night. I hate when that happens.

Well, this fiasco continued through today.  Teachers from across the district were emailing me or coming to my classroom to ask for advice. I have spent the day shelling out all sorts of advice and taking all sorts of concerns/questions.

We are still working out all of the details. Sadly, this type of excitement could have easily been avoided if the powers-that-be (the school system's administration) would simply have communicated what was going on and giving us a heads up. Instead they choose to just spring this document on us and expect us not to question it. It makes them look highly suspicious.

It looks like I am now going to need to meet with our school system's superintendent to discuss our questions, comments, and concerns. I wish the administration knew how low morale has become over the past year or so. They seem oblivious to it. I see it everyday. We are all stressed beyond belief and hardworking overachievers. We work this hard to be one of the top school districts in our state.

All we really want is some appreciation.  A simple "thank you" goes a long, long way.


Moving on...

I am also in the middle of packing up my condo before I move next week. I have found me a pretty nice house (3 bed 1.5 bath) with an unbelievable price. So I have decided to move. The money I will save will be almost $4000 each year. It seems like a no-brainer. More room + less money = A NEW PLACE!

Packing always sucks. I hate having to go through all the "stuff" I have accumulated through the past 4 years. However, it is nice to purge all the junk I don't use. I find that it is more fun to unpack the boxes. It is like opening presents at Christmas. I am excited to move next week. I am also going to love the new amount of privacy I will get. YEAH!



Next topic...

My students have become obsessed with my personal life. They are constantly asking me why I am not married, was I ever married, do I have a girlfriend, etc. This is not surprising to me. My students do this every year.

I have explained to my students that I was almost married once. I was engaged a about 8 or 9 years ago to this awesome girl I met during undergrad. When I met her, which was in US History, the first thing I noticed about her was that she had no hair. You heard me...no hair. She was recovering from ovarian cancer. We instantly hit it off. She became one of my best friends. She would let me copy her homework if I had forgotten it. We would sit in class and crack jokes about what was going on around us. We just had a good time. From there we decided to try dating. We dated for almost 2 years. It was an awesome time in my life. I loved her. For those who will ask, her beautiful red hair grew back after her treatments ended.

We did get engaged, but it did not last. Long story short, she moved to another country to get her doctorate degree. I suck at long distance relationships, so it was doomed. An ocean is just too much of an expanse.

My students are always asking why I am not married. My response is always the same...I am terrified to get married. I explain that in my family every one has gotten a divorce: my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. My parents' divorce scarred me beyond belief. It took a decade for me to even be able to talk about it. The idea of getting married and possibly getting divorced has always been a great fear.

And when my students ask me why I don't have a girlfriend I have to think quick on my feet. I don't just come out and say "well I don't date women." That would not go over very well given the part of the Bible belt in which I live. I just say that I don't have time to date. That is the honest truth. My life is crammed full of teaching, grading, planning, meetings, etc. I seldom have much downtime for very long.


Well, it seems I have just been rambling for a while now. There really was no definite topic for this posting, but I felt the need to just get some of this out of my system today. Thanks for taking the time to read and listen.

I am off to finish reading "The Meaning of Matthew." I bought this book on Sunday and have not been able to put it down. I will finish it tonight. The best thing I can think to say about this book is WOW! Judy Shepard is very open about her thoughts and feelings on her son, Matthew Shepard, and his murder in Laramie, Wyoming. Check it out.

Hope everyone is doing well. Have a good night.
- JC

Side Note:
Below is a video of Joss Stone singing "Son of a Preacher Man." What a talent!