Not really sure where to start....

...so maybe I'll just go day by day.

Monday

When New Principal got to school (after me!) she passed me in the hall and said, "I need to see you later so we can talk about the switch." Well, it's about freakin' time!! She originally mentioned it almost 2 weeks ago, at the same time that she asked me to start putting a list together. So, ok, I tell her I have a prep at 1:20, which she then says is too late. "I'll send someone to your room." In the windup, she didn't send someone to my room (just like the four other times she said that during the past 2 weeks!) so I went to see her on my prep. Instead of having any kind of conversation, she simply hands me a list of kids. Apparently, it's my new class list. For some reason, instead of just taking kids out, she (or whoever the hell made the lists!!) moved 5 kids from the K/1 room to my room, then took 16 kids off my original list. Both classes had 21 students. Ok, fine.

But, then I started looking at the names, and realized instantly that my little TN was absent from my new list. Well, HELL NO!! That was NOT gonna work for me. It's taken me over 5 months to get him in some kind of routine, and to the point he's at now. There was NO WAY I was going to just ship him off to a new teacher. Besides the fact that I'd miss him like mad, he would just go absolutely ape shit because of the change. He does not do well when there's change in the routine. Anytime I've been out, there has been major problems with him. Anyway, I immediately told New Principal that I needed to move him back. She says, "Who's that, your little monster?" A couple of months ago, I might have laughed at that, but now I was just offended. I promptly informed her that "he's NOT a monster." and that he needed to stay in my room.

I also noticed that AB was not on my list. You may recall that his mom already threatened to take him out of the school if he was moved out of my room. I told New Principal about her threat, and her reply was, "So, let her transfer him." I was dumb-struck. But, then a few minutes later, she told me to put him on my list. We switched him with another kid. Then, the last switch we made was a little boy, CS, who is one of my babies who goes to "walking reading," which just means they go across the hall to Mrs. M.'s 1st grade class for reading (and I get a few of hers who need help). It didn't make sense for CS to be on the opposite end of the hallway, so I just kept him.

Now, when all was said and done, I somehow had 23 kids, and the other class had 19. OK, not exactly how it was supposed to go, but ok. I then had to go write out 19 letters to parents to let them know their kids were changing classrooms. The letter said that the change would be effective the next day, Feb. 2, but then she decided we need to change that to the 3rd. Go back, cross out the 2, write in a 3....ok...breathe, breathe....get all the letters stapled to the homework packets, we're good to go.

Now, I don't think I've really done too much bitching about the K/1 teacher, but suffice it to say, New Principal has been on the path to get rid of her since school started. Big Cheese tried to do it several times, but of course, he never followed proper procedures, so it didn't work. New Principal is doing everything by the book. I was actually really afraid that this teacher was going to be my new K partner. Turns out, she's been removed from that classroom and moved to Pre-K. There's a part of me that's really pissed about this, since we all know that's my dream position, but in actuality, it's serving as more of a holding place for her. Rumor has it, the Pre-K teacher (who has been out since Christmas break due to medical reasons) will be returning on Monday, and then Ms. H. is going to be gone. I don't think it's going to work that smoothly, but that's the plan.

So, exactly who is my new partner? Well, it just keeps getting better and better. Now, this will only mean something to those who currently (or used to) work at the Hell-Hole. New Principal has removed our counselor from her position, and made her the new kindergarten teacher. (Hell-Hole folks, did I just hear a collective WTF?!!) It's quite evident that New Principal wants Dr. Counselor to go. (She just earned her doctorate degree about a year and a half ago. That's quite impressive for a woman who's nearly 70!) She's near retirement age, and I'll be the first to admit, I've been saying for years that she should pack it in and go already. She's a feisty old broad, and I'm seriously afraid she's starting to show some signs of dementia.

All that being said, I think what New Principal is doing is a sin! She is not showing one ounce of respect toward this woman. It's obvious that this woman has not been in a classroom in at least 3 decades. Truthfully, I don't know if she EVER actually taught. Not only is she being thrown into a classroom, it's with 5 year-olds!! WTF?! This is pretty much the equivalent of asking the average person to walk into an operating room and perform a surgery. (ok, yes I know that's a little dramatic, but I'm pissed!) She doesn't know even the most basic of things, like how to take attendance on the computer, how to do the lunch count, she has NO idea what the curriculum is, what 5 year-olds should know at this point, OH MY GOD, I could go on and on. How dare New Principal do this to her! She's absolutely a fish out of water.

Argh! I'm so pissed about this. Dr. Counselor is well aware that New Principal's plan is to throw her in the classroom, where she's going to be lost, and then slowly start writing her up for different things (like not having a grasp of the curriculum) until she can finally just fire her. That's such BULLSHIT! Show this woman some respect.

And, on top of all this, it's my babies who are going to be hurt. I understand that pretty much all principals use these ridiculous games/tactics to get rid of teachers, but I really take offense at my babies being used as pawns in this dirty little game. They're the one who are really going to suffer. They essentially won't be receiving any instruction. All New Principal has been bitching, I mean, talking about is how we need to step things up, and do all this intensive intervention, blah, blah, blah... Well, HELLO! Do you not get that these kids need to get a solid, basic foundation in kindergarten in order to be successful in the future? No, let's keep screwing around with these babies' education, and then wonder why, years down the road, they can't pass the stupid standardized tests! Let's see, let's waste their kindergarten year by shuffling them around from teacher to teacher, and then send them off to 1st grade with nothing in their educational arsenal. (ok, yes, I'm being dramatic again, deal with it!) Then, they're supposed to try and figure out how to handle the 1st grade curriculum without the basics they should have gotten in kdg. Yeah, that's gonna work! And, then the vicious cycle of trying to play catch-up just continues until 3rd grade, which is when they need to pass the ISAT test in order to be promoted to 4th grade.

Wow, I'm feeling my blood pressure rise, and I could rant on and on, but I'm sure you're done (if you're even still reading at this point!). I'm going to have to just stop with Monday's bitching for now, and come back later for the rest of the week. Gee, I bet you're very excited....