Another Convoluted Year in the Public School System
by In spite of the increasing demand for teachers, especially for well-qualified teachers in math and science, academic administrators seem to do their best to thwart efforts to recruit and retain the educators that they need. In some cases, they hire teachers over the phone, invest time and money for orientation, then without reason, “let them go.”.
I have often measured my life in terms of school years, as I attended public school and college for 24 years straight, and have ever since worked for an academic institution. Plus, with six children, it has been a given.
The week following my last academic year, 2007-2008, gave me some time off. At that time, I was still a few weeks away from the start of my summer teaching assignment during the second summer session at a local Community College. But, I get ahead of myself.
I had elected to spend most of the first week after school ended “on vacation” and to do very little, besides relax, decompress, and ponder about the future. I went grocery shopping, made fabulous meals for my family, wrote e-mails, played with my kids and grandkids, and did a few chores. I even watched some T.V., but not more than normal. I don’t enjoy spending my time watching TV, although I may enjoy the programs themselves. I had some doctor appointments, took some afternoon naps, fed the cats, and installed roll-up shades on the balcony to give some respite from the hot afternoon sun.
But the time came for me to get off my relaxing derrière and get some other work and chores done. I began to prepare for my fall classes at the local community college. And I reflected on this past year – another “terror-filled” one.
So, now let’s review this past academic year.
My wife, 9-year-old son, and I left Florida on July 13, 2007 and drove our two cars (and a small trailer) across country and arrived in Tucson on July 27. We had decided to move to where some of our grown children, and some of our grandchildren, lived. Everyone had left Florida except for the three of us.
We moved into our new apartment on Saturday, July 28. I began my job as a full time chemistry teacher at a local high school two days later.
Before we had left Florida both my wife and I had applied to an internet list-serve of teaching jobs in Arizona. I was contacted by two high schools, and was hired by one immediately, sight unseen, over the phone. Of course, I had also been hired over the phone the year before at a high school in Miami, Florida, and that turned out okay.
My wife was also hired over the phone. She was offered jobs in two different school districts and picked one.
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