Out of the mouth of....

pre-teens!

Yesterday there was a soccer tournament for grade 4-6 students going on all day. I won't bother complaining about how it interrupts a day of teaching, but it is annoying when there are a large number of unsupervised kids running around after the bell rings.

School gets out before 3:30pm, but there were still kids running around until about 4:30pm. At 4:00pm I headed downstairs to get something. When I reached the bottom of the stairs I heard a few of my students talking. I walked up behind one boy (he did not know I was standing there) when he said, "Oh yeah, well you'll probably never lose your virginity!"

Lovely!

Conspiracy

I try to be a good person, so why is it that these things keep happening to me? OK, not only me, but why do these things keep happening? I know that things could be a lot worse, but sometimes it just feels like the world is against you!

On Thursday, February 8th I felt like going home at 3:30pm, but felt that I should stay and prepare for the sub that would be in my room on Friday afternoon while I was in meetings. I could have done this in the evening, but I decided to stick around because the Recycling Club had sorted and counted the recycling during the lunch hour and I thought it would be a good idea to take it to the depot after school. I waited for my chauffeur (AKA my wonderful husband) to pick me up at about 5:15pm. We loaded up the truck and drove toward the depot. I told him that I would like to stop at the Royal Canadian Legion because they donated money to my basketball teams and I had to stop in to pick up the cheque. He asked if we should stop their first, but since the recycling depot closed at 5:30pm we went there first. We then went back to the Legion and I asked Tom if he wanted to come in. I was surprised he say yes, but we weren't in a rush and since he knows the manager and some of the other people who spend some time there he came in with me. We were in there no longer than 10 minutes and came out to find that someone hit our truck and took off. The front end on the passenger side was damaged and there were truck parts laying on the ground. The signal light was hanging down and only works intermittently now. Husband rigged something up to hold it in place - it's not pretty, but it's functioning (sometimes).

OK - So that's not that bad, but get this...

My sister called me a few hours ago to let me know that my car, the car that she is driving while I am up where sometimes I think proverbial hell has frozen over, was involved in a similar accident. It turns out that while she was at work last night, someone smashed into the passenger door of my car and, once again, took off! She's not sure if the door can even be opened because she is afraid to try it in case it doesn't close again.

What is wrong with people? Is there anyone out there who is honest anymore?

Finally!

I went to work yesterday morning to find that they finally replaced the ceiling in my room. They had not complete the work, but the big job was done.

All this came to be after our meeting with the WCB doctor after school on Tuesday, February 6th. I quoted the doctor about the safety "provided that the conditions are met". Everyone there knows the conditions had not been met yet as they were still working on sealing the cracks, etc. Once again I was left with mixed messages. What I got from what he said was that my room was not safe yet. Other staff members told me that if I knew the room was unsafe and allowed students in it, I could be help responsible. I don't think that would have been the case, but why put myself or my 22 students at risk? I came in on Wednesday morning and asked the Principal for her advice. She suggested that I call the Superintendent, so I did.

First call (direct line) - no answer or voicemail
Second call (Board Office main line) - asked for Superintendent and got his direct line - once again, no answer or voicemail
Third call - (Board Office main line) - told them I needed to speak with Superintendent and could not get through on his line. I was informed he was on the phone so I let her know that I really needed to speak with him and left my name
Waited...waited...waited...then the bell rang. What was I supposed to do?

I decided to NOT take these kids into the classroom until I heard from him or until something was done. I used the empty classrooms of other teachers during their prep periods for the morning. During my prep I went down to talk to the Principal and she told me that Superintendent called her to see what I wanted. Superintendent still has not contacted me even though he was in the building yesterday. Unimpressed! Anyhow, she called WCB for me and Senior Safety Man and he said it was her call. Then she called Public Works and asked them to come and tape up the door or do something to stop any air flow between the rooms.

During the lunch hour, someone came with duct tape and temporarily 'fixed' the problem. The following day they came to start on the ceiling! At least the Principal is looking out for us.