Jesus, how am I going to do this. I've had it planned out, changed it, planned out, and changed it a number of times. Now that I'm actually sitting in my favorite blogging spot, the screened in porch on the back of my house, I can't get started. It's not so much that I have writers block, it's a sequencing problem. What should I put first, second and eventually the grand finale. Oh well, here we go.
My part time editor, part time consultant, and full time spouse and I were invited to a wedding reception this past Saturday by a former teaching colleague of hers at the hoity toity voucher school. This former teacher was a blog reader who quit reading the blog. Paraphrasing this former teacher, "it's sad and depressing to read about the things that go on in your classroom so I stopped reading the blog." Knowing that I was going to be face to face with this former teacher at a wedding reception I was looking forward to speaking to him about the blog. When the timing was right I asked him about the blog. He responded just as I stated it a couple sentences ago but added this. "You need to turn your blog into a book so more people can see what your classroom was like." That took me off guard a little bit and then I said to him, "you're the fourth person to tell me to write a book." Maybe it's time to give that some serious thought.
From a sequencing standpoint I'm going to put this part next and will refer to it later in the blog. If you watch a fair amount of television I'm certain you've seen this commercial. It's a recruiting commercial for the United States Marine Corp. The setting for this commercial appears to be in a desert and out on the horizon a sand storm is going full force. The announcer comes on and says something like this. Most people that see something like this (sand storm) will turn and run away from it. Not the United States marines, they will run into it. Keep that in mind for later in the blog.
The text message poured in a few weeks ago. I was at home reading some of the e-version news websites that I frequent when relaxing. After I read the text message I stood up, walked over to my part time editor, part time consultant and full time spouse and showed her the text message. Her response was two words, "oh, no!" The first time this happened it was PhD(*)Sparty. The second time it happened it was BaseG. This time it was Gnu and now, like PhD(*)Sparty and BaseG before her, Gnu is gone.
Before I go any further let me say this to the naysayers who may relish the opportunity to pounce on my school corporation, that they say is in a downward spiral, about Gnu's leaving. Don't! Some of you are too many years removed from this school corporation and rely solely on comments from old acquaintances with bad attitudes. So, don't give me any of your I told you so nonsense.
Gnu's job interview took place several weeks ago. It was maybe a week or a week and a half after the interview that Gnu mentioned to me that she never heard back from the school she interviewed with and figured she didn't get the job. A couple of weeks later the school contacted her. Gnu ignored the call. The school called a second time and again Gnu ignored the call. The third call was from a family relative that works at the school where Gnu interviewed. The phone message said, "you need to call this school about this job offer." Gnu made the call from her car sitting in our school parking lot and took the job. Fifteen minutes later Gnu was walking through our school's administrative offices when the BigB2 approached her and asked for a couple minutes of her time. Gnu agreed and the BigB2 informed Gnu that there would be an inclusion teacher position opening and it she wanted the position she could have it. Fifteen minutes. Fifteen stinking minutes. If Gnu delayed the return call for a little later in the day there is a good likelihood that she would still be in our school for the next school year.
It's around 8:00am, Gnu and I are in the classroom alone. "Schultz, I'm thinking about calling my new school and telling them I don't want the job. I love this classroom, I love these kids. If I stay one more year, I'll see Grr!, S&T, and Tourette through the fourth grade and then I'll make a change." "No, don't call the school," I said. "You are thinking short term and you need to think what is best for you long term. If you turn down this opportunity, what are the chances that you will get a second opportunity. You told me yourself that this school provides free child care and that will save you thousands of dollars until you son enters pre-school. You told me yourself that the child care room your son will be in will be four doors down the hallway from your classroom. You told me yourself that the top salary for the position at your new school is twenty thousands dollars more a year than this school. You told me yourself that you think the special education department at our school corporation is disintegrating do to poor leadership. You need to think long term, not short term." On May 25th, Gnu walked out of the classroom, where we sat twenty-three feet apart for three years, for the last time.
Backtracking. It's awards day, June 8th, the last day of school. With the exception of me, the classroom sits empty. It's approximately 3:20pm when I decided to walk down to one of the kindergarten classes that I visited several times during the school year, to deal with an unruly five year old, and talk to the teacher. When I arrived at the classroom the teacher was in the hallway outside of her classroom talking to a parental unit so I stepped around her and walked into her classroom. The room was a disaster. There was stuff every where. I was standing in the middle of her classroom when she walked up to me. I looked at her and said, "one of two things is happening. Either you've been asked by the BigB2 to change classrooms over the summer or you are leaving." She looked at me and said, "I'm leaving," and you could feel the emotions building in both of us. This is my friend, a teacher that had kindergarten scholars from hell, she had little if any help, she had enough, and she is leaving. This is the teacher that coordinated the Veteran's Day program since I arrived at the school five years ago. I met her father, a fellow Vietnam Veteran, who was a helicopter pilot that flew helicopters into locations he had no business flying into. The proof that he did so was on his chest, just above his heart. He had medals. Lots of them. Medals for Valor with oak leaf clusters. This man, I once told a classroom full of six grade scholars, is a true American hero and now, like his daughter, the chances of seeing either of them again is slim.
It's now 3:35pm and our administrative czar came on the overhead speaker system. "There are no final announcements for today, car riders, you are dismissed." Knowing that bus riders will be dismissed next I headed toward the bus boarding point. FBG was already there and informed me that our scholars are on the bus. FBG then looked at me and said, "Mr. Schultz, for as long as I've known you, I've never seen you with your shirt untucked." Mr. FBG," I responded, "in a matter of minutes I will no long be a paid employee of this school." "You're leaving," he asked me. "Yes, as a paid employee," I said. Before I could continue my conversation with FBG someone called my name. I turned toward a bus and BigHouse was in the bus window. "Good bye Mr. Schultz, have a good summer." I waved at him and then turned back towards FBG to continue our conversation. In just a few seconds later you could hear the pounding coming from inside the bus. Someone went into an anger eruption and this person was fist pounding or foot kicking either the seat in front of him or the exterior walls of the bus. When I looked back at the bus FBG was boarding it and despite the fact that I've been trained to deal with anger eruptions, and have done so countless times over the past five years, instead of moving toward the eruption like a member of the United States Marine Corp, I turned my back and walked away.
And now you know. Gnu is leaving and I told you, moment by moment, how I spent the last twenty minutes as a paid employee of my school corporation. With that said, here is the rest of the story.
It's June7th, the penultimate day of the school year. "Mr. Schultz," came the voice of the BigB2 over the intercom in the classroom. "When you have a chance, stop by my office." I knew exactly what she wanted, so, with the form in my hand, I walked into her office. "I need to know what you are going to do about the next school year," she said. "I'm really struggling with that, I haven't signed the form," I said. "I can tell you this much," I continued. "I'll be in the school next year as either a paid employee or a volunteer if you will have me." "Mr. Schultz, no matter which one you choose, you will be welcomed in this school but I need to know your decision tomorrow."
June 8th. I arrived at the school around 8:00am and headed directly to the BigB2's office. When I sat down I informed her of my plan. "If you allow it, I'd like to return to this school next year as a volunteer. I will arrive, five days a week, at the start of the school day and enter my old classroom to be as much help as possible to your first year teacher in the classroom. I will stay in the classroom until lunch time and then depart for the day. My goal, one that Mrs. Gnu is aware of, is to do everything I can to make sure that our returning scholars don't regress to bad behavior and bad academic practices. Once your first year teacher is comfortable with the classroom atmosphere I will slowly step away. From there I'd like to volunteer in the general education classrooms. So far, there are three teachers that will gladly welcome me into their classroom so it appears we could have a win, win situation." "Mr. Schultz, we have a deal." I checked the box on the form that said, not returning, retiring, signed it, and handed it to the BigB2. She shook my hand, I stood, turned and I walked out of her office.
There you have it. There is a little bit more to say about why both of us are not returning but to keep this blog from getting real long I'll save it until the next blog posting. Thank you again for following along. School will reconvene around the last week of July but instead of having a view from the back of a the room I'll probably be sitting off to the side of the room.
Monday, June 12, 2017
Friday, June 9, 2017
Finally!
It's 1:00am, give or take a few minutes, he arrived five days late, and weighed in at eight pounds and thirteen ounces. Mom, dad, and son are doing fine. I felt privileged to receive a text picture of Baby Gnu just minutes after the delivery. My return text said, "big fella." That was followed by, "a fatty." Her words not mine. Shortly after, "but I already love him so much."
Jumping back in time, pre-maternity leave, and this falls into the I don't make this stuff up category. Gnu is at the front table with our second and third grade scholars, Whale, Huey, S&T, and Blank. I have the fourth grade scholars, Uh-Uh-Uh, BigHouse, Knapper, and MiniJ, with me in the back of the room. Just before time expired and the scholars would rotate to their next work station I looked up at the front table. Gnu was sitting there with a scarf she was wearing pulled up over her nose and I knew exactly why. Huey has been off of his medication now for three days and, true to form, he pooped his pants. No longer able to stand the smell, she takes Huey out of the classroom, down to our first aid room, locates a clean pair of pants, sends him into the bathroom to change his pants, and then returns to the classroom with Huey holding a tightly secured trash bag that contains his pants.
Ok, back to academics. It wasn't even fifteen minutes later when Gnu walks over to me and quietly says, "is there some place I can take him so he can take a bath or shower?" "Yes, in the first aid room," I responded. Off they go again. Right after leaving the room, S&T stood up, walked over to the chair that Huey was sitting on, picked up the chair and moved it to the other side of the classroom. When I asked S&T what he was doing he responded, "Mr. Schultz, this chair smells real bad." Now I'm up and walking toward the chair. When I'm about two feet short of the chair I stopped, turned around, and walked over to our first aid cabinet. I reached into the cabinet, pulled out a pair of vinyl gloves and put them on. I then grabbed our disinfectant and a trash bag and headed back to the chair on the other side of the classroom. I picked up Huey's jacket that was hanging on the back of the chair and carefully placed it into the trash bag, tightly secured the trash bag and put it in Huey's cubby with his other soiled clothes. I then returned to the chair, hosed it down with disinfectant, let it sit for a while and then wiped the chair clean. With the chair returned to a safe to sit on condition, I headed back to our first aid station, removed the vinyl gloves, tossed them into the trash can, thoroughly was my hands with soap and water, and as an extra precaution, put some hand sanitizer on my hands.
Huey was the first to arrive back in the classroom. He had on a clean shirt and clean pants and his hair was still wet. Gnu was right behind him with another trash bag of soiled clothes that she put into Huey's cubby and then sat down next to me. Ok, get ready. Remember, I don't make this stuff up. During the first trip to the first aid room to change his clothes, Huey didn't clean himself, he just put on the clean clothes. Obviously, as soon as he sat down in the classroom with his butt still soiled, he started to stink. At the second visit to the first aid room Gnu told Huey that he needed to take a shower and clean himself. He promptly informed Gnu that he didn't know how to take a shower. So Gnu gave him a step by step lesson on how to take a shower, handed him some soap and shampoo and sent him into the restroom to take a shower. Gnu remained outside of the restroom protecting the door so no one would walk in on him. She also could hear the water running from the shower head so she felt comfortable that he was actually taking a shower. After a few minutes Huey yells, "Mrs. Gnu, what did you say was in this tube you gave me?" "It's shampoo so you can wash your hair." The response back was, "you mean you're supposed to wash your hair."
I'm in the car driving to school on the first day that Gnu will be on maternity leave. When I arrived at school and walked into the main office LittleBigB was standing there so I asked her if there would be a substitute teacher in the classroom during Gnu's maternity leave. To my surprise, she said, "yes, for the full eight days." Although I didn't say it out loud I thought to my self, will this be a good eight days or a bad eight days. At around 8:45am one of the inclusion teachers walked into the classroom immediately followed by TheSub. I stood up, introduced myself to TheSub, handed her a copy of our seating chart and then asked as politely as I could, "are you aware that this classroom is for scholars with emotional handicaps?" "No, I was not and if I had know that earlier I would not have taken this assignment," she said to me. "Well, if you are not comfortable in this environment you can leave. It can be a tough place to work and if you choose to leave that is fine," I said. She stayed.
TheSub actually made it through the eight days. She got involved immediately. She asked if she could put name tags on the front of each scholars desk so it would be easier to remember their names. Each day we went through the lesson plan, she deferred to me on the timing, and academics were accomplished. There were a few rough edges with the scholars and their behavior, particularly MiniJ and Tourette, but we worked out a hand signal system so she could silently let me know that she was not comfortable with a situation. If there was a key moment that occurred in the classroom that put me at ease with TheSub it was on her second day in the classroom. S&T is a huge World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) fan. He practically idolizes a wrestler named John Cena. On this particular morning S&T and a couple of the other scholars started to play a role play game to see if someone could guess who they were imitating. There were two categories, WWE and Super Heros. S&T went first. He went through a few gyrations that were total foreign to me and ended his role play by going down on one knee and imitated pounding his fist on the mat of the wrestling ring. The room was silent as no one knew who this character was until TheSub said, "can I play?" The scholars agreed and TheSub said, "that was an imitation of John Cena." Correct, and that is all it took. The scholars, with the exception of MiniJ, liked her. Later in the day I asked TheSub about WWE. She told me that a while back she was addicted to watching it for almost a year and S&T's imitation was one that you saw every time John Cena was wrestling.
The final day of school was our awards day. I informed the scholars that if their parental units came to the awards day program they could leave school right after the program. For our scholars that would be around 11:45am. Knapper had missed the previous two days of school so I was real concerned that he would not be at the awards program but he showed up and did so in style. When he walked into the classroom he was wearing a pinstriped suit coat with matching black pants and a pair of raggedly looking basketball shoes. On his head he wore a hat, not his usual baseball style hat but a real adult looking hat. I immediately complimented him a how dapper he looked. Note, I had to explain what dapper meant. As the other adults that tend to come and go in our classroom saw him they also complimented him on his looks. Throughout the day you could tell that Knapper was real pleased about all of the positive compliments that he received about his appearance.
It's now just a few minutes short of 11:00am. FBG walked into the classroom and told everyone to line up at the door as he was going to fill in for Gnu at the awards program. FBG went through his little speech about appropriate behavior and then led the scholars down the hallway to the gym where we would join the three fourth grade classrooms for the awards program. For reasons unknown to me, FBG had the scholars sitting in the front row and that made me a little nervous. Usually we'd sit towards the back of the gym in case something went wrong and a scholar started acting up. That way we could remove the scholar from the gym through the back door and not disrupt the assembly. I also noticed when the scholars were sitting in the front row that Knapper brought his hat with him. Hats are a no, no outside of the classroom so I quietly told him to keep his hat off his head and he agreed.
The LittleBigB was the emcee at this time slot for the awards day. When she made the announcement to start the presentation of awards for Mrs. Gnu's class I thought it was agreed that FBG would walk up on stage and do the honors. Nope! "Mr. Schultz would you please come up on stage and pass out the awards as I read them," the LittleBigB said. One by one the LittleBigB read the scholars name and award they received. At one point, as I turned to the LittleBigB to get a few more awards to hand to the scholars I quietly said to her, "Mr. FBG is a bit more generous with handing out awards that Mrs. Gnu would have been." She looked at me, smiled, and read the next name. The LittleBigB is speaking, "and the next award goes to Knapper." As soon as Knapper stood up to walk onto the stage the LittleBigB said, "Knapper, don't you look handsome today." That was all it took, as Knapper, who was holding his hat in his hand as directed, put it on his head and walked onto the stage to get his awards. Although I might not have painted the best visual of Knapper on that stage with his pinstriped suit coat, matching pants, ragged looking basketball shoes, his hat on his head, and with that big smile on his face, I was there and I saw how proud he looked and it is a visual that will stay with me for a long time.
It's now 2:20pm. Grr!, Uh-Uh-Uh, Tourette, Whale, Huey, and Knapper had left for home. FBG picked up BigHouse, S&T, and MiniJ and took them to his office to play some games as their parental units were not going to pick them up early. TheSub was gone and I had the classroom to myself. All of the stuff that was hung or taped on walls and windows was taken down. All of the information that was required to be on the front white boards was removed. All of the safety related material that was required to be on the wall by the classroom door was removed. All of the textbooks had been returned to the library for summer inventory. All the tables and desks were cleaned out. The table that sat twenty three feet in front of me all year sat empty. I was sitting at my table in the back of the room and it was quiet, real quiet. In about and hour the school year will be over and I'll get up and walk out the door and start summer vacation.
That's it. My part time editor, part time consultant and full time spouse and I have vacation plans that will have us traveling soon. I hoping to write one more blog before our travels start so I guess you better hope that I get motivated to actually write it so that you will know the rest of the story.
Jumping back in time, pre-maternity leave, and this falls into the I don't make this stuff up category. Gnu is at the front table with our second and third grade scholars, Whale, Huey, S&T, and Blank. I have the fourth grade scholars, Uh-Uh-Uh, BigHouse, Knapper, and MiniJ, with me in the back of the room. Just before time expired and the scholars would rotate to their next work station I looked up at the front table. Gnu was sitting there with a scarf she was wearing pulled up over her nose and I knew exactly why. Huey has been off of his medication now for three days and, true to form, he pooped his pants. No longer able to stand the smell, she takes Huey out of the classroom, down to our first aid room, locates a clean pair of pants, sends him into the bathroom to change his pants, and then returns to the classroom with Huey holding a tightly secured trash bag that contains his pants.
Ok, back to academics. It wasn't even fifteen minutes later when Gnu walks over to me and quietly says, "is there some place I can take him so he can take a bath or shower?" "Yes, in the first aid room," I responded. Off they go again. Right after leaving the room, S&T stood up, walked over to the chair that Huey was sitting on, picked up the chair and moved it to the other side of the classroom. When I asked S&T what he was doing he responded, "Mr. Schultz, this chair smells real bad." Now I'm up and walking toward the chair. When I'm about two feet short of the chair I stopped, turned around, and walked over to our first aid cabinet. I reached into the cabinet, pulled out a pair of vinyl gloves and put them on. I then grabbed our disinfectant and a trash bag and headed back to the chair on the other side of the classroom. I picked up Huey's jacket that was hanging on the back of the chair and carefully placed it into the trash bag, tightly secured the trash bag and put it in Huey's cubby with his other soiled clothes. I then returned to the chair, hosed it down with disinfectant, let it sit for a while and then wiped the chair clean. With the chair returned to a safe to sit on condition, I headed back to our first aid station, removed the vinyl gloves, tossed them into the trash can, thoroughly was my hands with soap and water, and as an extra precaution, put some hand sanitizer on my hands.
Huey was the first to arrive back in the classroom. He had on a clean shirt and clean pants and his hair was still wet. Gnu was right behind him with another trash bag of soiled clothes that she put into Huey's cubby and then sat down next to me. Ok, get ready. Remember, I don't make this stuff up. During the first trip to the first aid room to change his clothes, Huey didn't clean himself, he just put on the clean clothes. Obviously, as soon as he sat down in the classroom with his butt still soiled, he started to stink. At the second visit to the first aid room Gnu told Huey that he needed to take a shower and clean himself. He promptly informed Gnu that he didn't know how to take a shower. So Gnu gave him a step by step lesson on how to take a shower, handed him some soap and shampoo and sent him into the restroom to take a shower. Gnu remained outside of the restroom protecting the door so no one would walk in on him. She also could hear the water running from the shower head so she felt comfortable that he was actually taking a shower. After a few minutes Huey yells, "Mrs. Gnu, what did you say was in this tube you gave me?" "It's shampoo so you can wash your hair." The response back was, "you mean you're supposed to wash your hair."
I'm in the car driving to school on the first day that Gnu will be on maternity leave. When I arrived at school and walked into the main office LittleBigB was standing there so I asked her if there would be a substitute teacher in the classroom during Gnu's maternity leave. To my surprise, she said, "yes, for the full eight days." Although I didn't say it out loud I thought to my self, will this be a good eight days or a bad eight days. At around 8:45am one of the inclusion teachers walked into the classroom immediately followed by TheSub. I stood up, introduced myself to TheSub, handed her a copy of our seating chart and then asked as politely as I could, "are you aware that this classroom is for scholars with emotional handicaps?" "No, I was not and if I had know that earlier I would not have taken this assignment," she said to me. "Well, if you are not comfortable in this environment you can leave. It can be a tough place to work and if you choose to leave that is fine," I said. She stayed.
TheSub actually made it through the eight days. She got involved immediately. She asked if she could put name tags on the front of each scholars desk so it would be easier to remember their names. Each day we went through the lesson plan, she deferred to me on the timing, and academics were accomplished. There were a few rough edges with the scholars and their behavior, particularly MiniJ and Tourette, but we worked out a hand signal system so she could silently let me know that she was not comfortable with a situation. If there was a key moment that occurred in the classroom that put me at ease with TheSub it was on her second day in the classroom. S&T is a huge World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) fan. He practically idolizes a wrestler named John Cena. On this particular morning S&T and a couple of the other scholars started to play a role play game to see if someone could guess who they were imitating. There were two categories, WWE and Super Heros. S&T went first. He went through a few gyrations that were total foreign to me and ended his role play by going down on one knee and imitated pounding his fist on the mat of the wrestling ring. The room was silent as no one knew who this character was until TheSub said, "can I play?" The scholars agreed and TheSub said, "that was an imitation of John Cena." Correct, and that is all it took. The scholars, with the exception of MiniJ, liked her. Later in the day I asked TheSub about WWE. She told me that a while back she was addicted to watching it for almost a year and S&T's imitation was one that you saw every time John Cena was wrestling.
The final day of school was our awards day. I informed the scholars that if their parental units came to the awards day program they could leave school right after the program. For our scholars that would be around 11:45am. Knapper had missed the previous two days of school so I was real concerned that he would not be at the awards program but he showed up and did so in style. When he walked into the classroom he was wearing a pinstriped suit coat with matching black pants and a pair of raggedly looking basketball shoes. On his head he wore a hat, not his usual baseball style hat but a real adult looking hat. I immediately complimented him a how dapper he looked. Note, I had to explain what dapper meant. As the other adults that tend to come and go in our classroom saw him they also complimented him on his looks. Throughout the day you could tell that Knapper was real pleased about all of the positive compliments that he received about his appearance.
It's now just a few minutes short of 11:00am. FBG walked into the classroom and told everyone to line up at the door as he was going to fill in for Gnu at the awards program. FBG went through his little speech about appropriate behavior and then led the scholars down the hallway to the gym where we would join the three fourth grade classrooms for the awards program. For reasons unknown to me, FBG had the scholars sitting in the front row and that made me a little nervous. Usually we'd sit towards the back of the gym in case something went wrong and a scholar started acting up. That way we could remove the scholar from the gym through the back door and not disrupt the assembly. I also noticed when the scholars were sitting in the front row that Knapper brought his hat with him. Hats are a no, no outside of the classroom so I quietly told him to keep his hat off his head and he agreed.
The LittleBigB was the emcee at this time slot for the awards day. When she made the announcement to start the presentation of awards for Mrs. Gnu's class I thought it was agreed that FBG would walk up on stage and do the honors. Nope! "Mr. Schultz would you please come up on stage and pass out the awards as I read them," the LittleBigB said. One by one the LittleBigB read the scholars name and award they received. At one point, as I turned to the LittleBigB to get a few more awards to hand to the scholars I quietly said to her, "Mr. FBG is a bit more generous with handing out awards that Mrs. Gnu would have been." She looked at me, smiled, and read the next name. The LittleBigB is speaking, "and the next award goes to Knapper." As soon as Knapper stood up to walk onto the stage the LittleBigB said, "Knapper, don't you look handsome today." That was all it took, as Knapper, who was holding his hat in his hand as directed, put it on his head and walked onto the stage to get his awards. Although I might not have painted the best visual of Knapper on that stage with his pinstriped suit coat, matching pants, ragged looking basketball shoes, his hat on his head, and with that big smile on his face, I was there and I saw how proud he looked and it is a visual that will stay with me for a long time.
It's now 2:20pm. Grr!, Uh-Uh-Uh, Tourette, Whale, Huey, and Knapper had left for home. FBG picked up BigHouse, S&T, and MiniJ and took them to his office to play some games as their parental units were not going to pick them up early. TheSub was gone and I had the classroom to myself. All of the stuff that was hung or taped on walls and windows was taken down. All of the information that was required to be on the front white boards was removed. All of the safety related material that was required to be on the wall by the classroom door was removed. All of the textbooks had been returned to the library for summer inventory. All the tables and desks were cleaned out. The table that sat twenty three feet in front of me all year sat empty. I was sitting at my table in the back of the room and it was quiet, real quiet. In about and hour the school year will be over and I'll get up and walk out the door and start summer vacation.
That's it. My part time editor, part time consultant and full time spouse and I have vacation plans that will have us traveling soon. I hoping to write one more blog before our travels start so I guess you better hope that I get motivated to actually write it so that you will know the rest of the story.
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