Cautiously Optimistic

That's how I'm feeling right now. This week is a pretty big deal for me and a bunch of my friends because, by law, teachers with permanent or probationary status (not temporary) have to be notified by March 15th if they will not have a position for the following year. And with the current financial crisis in California, my school district is facing an unprecedented cut in our funding. Which, of course, translates to bigger class sizes and fewer teachers. It's pretty ugly, to be honest. I just barely managed to avoid a pink slip last year, when the budget situation wasn't quite as bad, but have been told many times that I would not be so lucky this year. Until today, that is! The school board met last night to finalize some numbers, and it looks like they will be laying off 140 elementary school teachers (high school is being hit much harder). This includes all of the temporary (first-year) teachers. I don't know anything for sure, but I think I might be safe. Like I said, I am feeling cautiously optimistic. So please, keep your fingers crossed! Even if I do get a pink slip, I'd probably still have a job in the fall, but I'd rather not have to worry about it. And it really stinks to know that some of my friends with fewer years in the district will definitely get these pink slips-- and definitely not have a job in the fall. It could make for quite a depressing year, that's for sure.

In the meantime, I have been distracting myself by packing up my classroom. While we may have no money for teachers or textbooks, we do have money to continue the renovation of our aging school campus (through a voter-approved measure-- a completely separate source of funding). My wing is up next, which means I have to move out into a temporary classroom for 8 weeks beginning on March 20th. Aack!! Packing boxes while almost 32 weeks pregnant is not an ideal task, I can assure you. Luckily, I have quite a few willing helpers. One student's mom came in and took down all of my posters from the walls, which was a HUGE help... The janitor helped me get all of the boxes down from on top of my cupboards, and the 5th graders are super at helping me label the boxes and move them into stacks. It's just such an overwhelming task, especially since I have to decide what items to take with me for those 8 weeks, and what items to send to the long-term storage facility. My back is killing me! The good news is that Nikos is spending this week with my parents, so that I have time to get this all taken care of. I don't think I could get it all done without the extra time!