An Easing Up

I can finally start to fall asleep at night.

No, it's still not guaranteed that I'm not going to get cut from my job due to budget cuts, but small events have transpired over the week that have settled my fears.

After the early-week meetings shook me up, I just decided to tell myself to calm down a bit. If it happens, it happens. I'll live. Financially, it'll be tough, but I usually do manage myself pretty well.

Even now, Friday night, I can really feel the effects of the stress upon myself -- tired as all-get-out, short tempered, loss of appetite.

Yesterday, my day brightened. The head varsity baseball coach talked to me a little bit after the school day ended. There is the possibility of a baseball coaching offer. At first, it seemed like I would be taking over the 7th grade team, but now, I've been upgraded to 9th grade -- which means more dinero.

The varsity coach and myself have got along quite well over the course of the school year. Even though he's an elementary teacher, he's sort of like a mentor to me.

During our little baseball talks, I slipped in the fact that I'm pretty worried that there was the possibility of losing my job. Being the guy he is, he's pretty knowledgable in the goings-on in the district. Like he says, it's a bummer that a person cannot get a straight answer regarding what exactly is going on -- but according to him -- there is a slight possibility that they are going to keep me on.

Shocking, yes. He tells me that the school district is pro-technology (although I think they still love their paper-based reports and such) and getting rid of my position would be disastrous. Then there are my frustrations once again -- why does this school district only require 1 semester for the students to take a computer class? Word processing/spreadsheet is "recommended," but the students could easily bypass this, taking another elective like database, web page design, or programming. I'm just afraid that students are going to graduate from this school to go to college and get a huge wake-up call. It just seems like the only knowledge these kids are instant messaging and e-mail.

If I had it my way, I'd require one full year of computers -- the computer applications, like the regular Microsoft Office suite. Then the elective would include web page design, programming, and I'd add a hardware/networking class. But, of course, due to budget cuts, it's all a dream world. With the cuts, there go certain programs. Students don't have the opportunity to expand their knowledge, especially in a "pro-technology environment."

In the Business Education department at our school, it's just two of us. With myself being the rookie, the other teacher has been at the district since '89. She bascially teaches the accounting classes, a "before-on-the-job training" class, and social studies. Except for the social studies classes, the other classes (like mine), are electives -- easily chopping block material.

That's why I said in the previous post that there is that possibility of getting rid of the whole Business Education department all together!

Overall, the coach gave me a glitter of hope. Not much, but there's something to cling to and something that'll help me sleep at night. No matter what, the coach says, they're going to have to raise taxes. Also, he agrees with me -- how can a district with a surplus at the beginning of the year and then all of a sudden, be $1.4 million in the hole? Hmmm....

The district can operate in debt -- but for some reason, the school board wants a huge surplus in the bank, like something close to $800,000. With the low tax base and the loss of enrollment, there is no way that can happen. Eventually, the state will probably step in and help out -- but that could also be a bad thing...

Hopefully we'll know sooner than later. Hopefully people on the board can see the importance of education and the positions that we hold.