It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a fork.

Ok, so many of you either know or suspect what I'm about to tell you. I will no longer be teaching in the H.A.P. I was told Thursday early afternoon that I will be involuntary transferred from my current position to a position teaching ninth grade civics at West.

I'm less than thrilled. Before I go off on the reasons for my disappointment let me make somethings perfectly clear. 1. I have nothing against West. 2. I have nothing against the people who work at West. 3. I'm not inherently anti junior high. 4. I am happy to not be looking for a job.

Ok, that's clear right. This isn't about where the new position is, who I'll be working with, or what type of position it is. This is about how and why I ended up there and what I'm being asked - that's the wrong word - forced to give up.

Due to shifts in enrollment and cuts in non-tenured staff our school district ended up with a staffing dilemma. Both of the two junior highs were 1.o fte understaffed and the high school was 2.0 fte over staffed meaning that two teachers would have to move from the high school to positions at the junior highs. At first they asked for volunteers. No one volunteered. This isn't totally surprising. People don't like change, the high school social studies department is pretty tight knit and people are generally happy with their teaching assignments.

The next step, after the lack of volunteers, was principal's discretion. The principals of the three schools were supposed to sit down and decide what was best for everybody. We were specifically sent an e-mail saying that seniority in the department had nothing to do with the decision. That was great news for me. I'm the bottom person in the high school (by several years) and the district (by 4 days). It was great news for me though because I'm teaching in HAP. I love HAP, but most people would be opposed to teaching in HAP. My position would also be a domino position in that moving me would require shifting someone else into HAP. More disruption or teacher and more disruption of programs. I also felt somewhat protected because while there are a lot of people in the department who could do at least as well as I will at teaching ninth grade civics, I'm pretty sure there's no one who will be as good in HAP. I was brought in to help elevate the academic standards and reputation of HAP. I've done that. HAPsters work harder now than they used to have to and we've had students leave the program because mainstream classes are easier. I felt secure. There were several people in the department who were much more logical choices.


Weeks passed. Principals and school department chairpersons met. Nothing was decided.
Another e-mail went out explicitly stating that all secondary people were being considered for the transfers. (I wonder if they thought about moving someone from North to West and filling two spots at North as an option?)

Last Wednesday the decision was made. Nothing was announced but the word on the street was that the principal was going to talk to the people being transferred in person before anything went out to the whole department. Thursday at about 2:30 the principal walked into my classroom where I was sitting waiting for a parent to show up for parent teacher conferences. I no longer felt secure.

My conversation with my principal was good. He's the best principal I've worked for and he's been an advocate for keeping me at the high school and in HAP for the last four years. He said that if it had been entirely his decision, I would still be in HAP. The middle schools wouldn't accept the teachers that my principal initially wanted to transfer. Because I have one year of junior high teaching experience and I can teach pretty much everything I'm being moved. Other people are being rewarded for their incompetence, or at least their inability to adapt to changes in the student population.

After almost a week now, I'm starting to come more to grips with the decision and there's still a chance that I'll be back at the high school. The one thing that's still really bothering me about this is the lack of communication from the junior high. I still haven't heard from the junior high principal or the department chair.

Maybe this will all work out for the best. Maybe it'll only be one year. Maybe it won't actually happen. Maybe I'll like ninth graders.