The Road Ahead

As most of you may know, I am the president of the teachers' union for our school system. It has been a leadership role that has had its ups and downs. The challenges have been numerous, and often times very intense. I have loved every minute of my time in this role.

Having said that, I struggle with the current situation in education...specifically in our school system.

We are currently facing a $4.5 million shortfall in next year's budget. The administration of our school system has painted a very grim picture of next year's possibilities. I am aware that in larger school systems $4.5 million may not be such a huge chunk of a school system's budget, but in our smaller city system it equates to about 5% of the school systems operating budget.

Even by cutting some of our most expensive programs, we will still be left with a shortfall of over $2.5 million. As anyone in a leadership role will tell you, the most expensive portion of any budget is personnel. As the president of the union, I get a seat at the table when discussing what/who will have to be cut.

Let me put it simply...it does not look good as all!

I was speaking with one of our secretaries today, and she informed me that our principal met with the office staff last week and said she would have to cut on of the secretarial positions for next year. Now there is a fear  and apprehension as they all try to figure out who is being cut. The principal is not talking when asked who is being cut in the office.

I am getting calls or emails every week asking me what I know about the future of our teachers and staff. The truth is...I simply don't know yet. Our administration is not totally sure either. We have asked our city commissioners to increase funding to our school system's operating budget. The sad realization is our city commission does not see the education of our students as top priority anymore. They are more interested in fulfilling their own personal agendas that putting our students first.

For example, our city commissioners voted this year to tear down our current football field (which is off the high school's campus) and to build a new field on the high school campus. The cost for this project...$5 million. Seems the city is taking the money to build the new field from some mysterious fund they have been saving. It is not coming from the school system's operating budget. They have the money to build a stadium, but the city commission declares they don't have the money to increase funding to our school system. The fact is that our commission has not increased funding to our school system in over 5 years. Every other funding source (the state, the county commission, etc.) has increased funding annually to meet the demands of education and our economy. Our city commission, however, doesn't feel the need to increase funding. They continue to demand we make do with what we are given. There is something seriously warped with that.

Despite the decreased funding, our school system ranks #3 in the state when it comes to student performance. That is #3 out of 135 school systems. Our school system's report card consistently shows A's across the board. All of our schools continue to meet the requirements under the federal government's No Child Left Behind Act. Our teachers hold each and every student to the highest of standards. Our middle school is ranked in the top 1% of all schools across the state, and has done so for the past 5 years or more.

Simply put...we have one of the most incredible school systems in the state!

The surprising part of this is that per pupil, we are one of the lowest funded school systems. That's right! We do what we do without the funds. We are innovative! We are driven! We are caring and compassionate! We are the best! Sadly, our city commission doesn't seem to care!

The point I am trying to make with this little rant and rave session is that we are in a desperate situation here!

Our quality of education is in jeopardy. If our commission does not realize the level of desperation we are in, and then choose not to help us out, we will be forced to make some serious personnel cuts.

There is an order to how this will play out. The first people to be cut are teaching assistants and non-essential staff. All of our teaching assistants (except for special education assistants...they are funded differently) will be gone. A number of our secretarial and custodial staffers will be gone. Next to be cut will be those teacher who are non-tenured. The situation is so dire that we have even had discussions of which tenured teachers would be cut if necessary. It is bad!

All of this has led to a great level of uncertainty and fear. As the president of the union, I have been given the task of (1) working with the school board and leadership of our school system to decide the best path to take while minimizing the damage to our quality of education, (2) keep the teachers and staffs informed of what the future holds, and (3) working to ease the minds of our teachers and parents. It is a huge task given to me by our membership, and I will do the best I can.

The simple truth is that no matter what happens with the budget crisis, I know our students and teachers will rise above and beyond as we always have. I have faith in our teachers and our administration. We will make the best of any situation and prove why we are the best!

This crisis is one of the reasons I believe that I have been sent here. I believe that I am needed here, and that is one reason the whole job situation has not worked out as planned.

Yes, I am trying to justify the happenings of the past weeks and months. Ugh!

So what does the future hold for me? Who knows.

All I know is that the road may be long...the road may even be winding...but I will persevere!

You Belong With Me (w/ a Twist)

Was reading blogs today and stumbled across this video.

I needed a good laugh and a smile today.

Quick Update

Thank You

Thank you to each of you sending out your support over the past 24 hours. Words cannot express how much your support has been needed and appreciated. 

To say that it has been easy would be a lie. It has been extremely difficult over the past day. I went to work today and tried not to think about yesterday. I did send out an email to all my friends at work who knew about the job interview. I gave them the information, and then asked them to please not mention any of it to me today. I simply wanted to move on with the day. 

Kids were crazy...they have spring fever. Heck, so do I!

I Need Music

In normal form, I need music today. Below are my choices for the day. 

Got Some Explaining to Do

As you can guess by my previous post, today has not been the best of days. I thought I would take a few minutes to explain what has been happening.

I left Jenny's this morning so I could get home at a decent hour to get some work done at the school. About 20 minutes into my drive home I get a phone call from my friend who sits on the Board of Directors. She proceeded to gently tell me that no one was chosen for the position with the company. They wanted to find someone who had more experience in contract negotiations. There was not much more she could tell me. She said that someone on the Executive Committee should be calling me soon. (No such luck, yet.)

Once I got off the phone, I was driving down the road trying to make sense of why they would waste my time, have me drive 600 miles round trip, and waste an educational day with my kids if they did not plan on filling the position.

I decided to call my Aunt Sue and tell her what had happened. She became angry and had the same questions I did. Then I called my dad to fill him in on the news. He became really upset at what happened. He started to get loud and yell (not at me, of course). I asked him to calm down because I was trying not to get upset. However, he kept yelling and getting angry. I actually had to hang up on my dad to keep myself calmed down.

Well that didn't work. As I was driving down the highway I kept getting angrier. I was yelling in the car, cursing at everything (I am not perfect, world.), and was just shaking. I was extraordinarily ticked off. I felt like I needed to get off the road. I pulled off onto a scenic overlook to try and calm down. That is when I wrote the first post of the day.  I sat in that parking lot for about 25 minutes just trying to calm down.

I drove about another 20 minutes until I crossed the Virginia state line. I pulled into the Welcome Center, used the restroom, and decided to go for a walk around their scenic paths. I had to go for a walk. I was shaking so bad that I needed to do something to get this out of my system. I put on the iPod, turned it to my meditation/calming songs, and began to walk.

Why was I shaking??? I had scared myself just after leaving the scenic overpass.

What happened to scare me so bad?

As I left my first stop of the day, I looked up to the mountain pictured above and had some random thought pop in my head. I actually had the idea of what would it be like to go to the top of that mountain and just jump off. You got it right, I actually had a thought of what it would be like to end life. You have to understand something...I have never ONCE had this kind of thought. I love my life, and I am terrified of death. So, the idea of me having this random thought pop in my head send shivers all through me.

That is why I had to cease and desist the driving. I called my friend, Lynne, to talk to her for a few minutes. She tried to uplift my spirits, but I told her that I couldn't get there. I was having such a hard time trying to to get a grasp on the situation. Further, I was stuck a couple hundred miles from home with no shoulder to cry on. I felt lost, confused, pissed off, and had no where to go.

This is an awful feeling. I don't like it one bit.

Now I am left to wonder what the future hold. I don't know for sure. We will see what happens.

So, there you have it...the description of what transpired today. I am relieved to say I am finally home. My supposed 3 hour trip home turned into a 5 hour trip from H-E-#-#.

I am off to get some work done, and I nap a bit and try to sleep this off.

Later.
- JC

PS...When I got home, I found these wildflowers growing in my front yard. A thing of beauty is a joy. Who knew it would appear on such a horrid day. Can you say IRONY?

What the...

I am actually writing this while pulled into a rest area because I just need to calm down.

I just received a phone call from my friend to let me know that I was not chosen for the job. In fact, no one was!!! That's right, they did not choose anyone. Evidently they need someone with more experience in contract negotiations. Ironically they knew that I only have two years of contract negotiation experience...THEY KNOW THIS!

What the djfjcnff are they wasting my djfjcnfnf time if they know this beforehand? I am in a time crunch to get my students prepared for their state testing and I took another day off for these people just to find out that no one was chosen. I need to scream, kick, hit something, cry, etc.

I seriously had to pull off the road to calm down just so I would not have an accident.

I don't know what to do now. I have put my heart and soul into this organization for the past 4 - 5 years just to get shot down. And since I tend to take things personally, my heart is breaking.

What really sucks is that I am out here on this freaking highway ALONE and don't have a shoulder to cry on, and I really need that today.

Sorry for the downer message. Had to get it off my chest.

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