I Was Wrong.

Got a pink slip this morning. I don't normally blog from work, but I am so upset that it's kind of hard to focus on the whole teaching thing. They gave them to everyone who was hired my year and later, including some people who were hired the year before. I will probably end up having my job back in the end, but this just sucks. All I want to do is cry, but there are 33 kids who are expecting to learn today. Why can't I just go home?? :(

Oh, and I should have known this was going to happen. I was optimistic, but everyone kept saying "you're going to get one." I really, honestly didn't think it would happen, but now that it did, it's devastating.

UPDATE (7:20pm): I'm feeling a lot better now. I was really caught off-guard this morning, which is what pushed me over the edge. I went into the office, as usual, without realizing that the pink slips had arrived yesterday afternoon (when I was at the doctor's office). The secretary must have thought I already knew about mine, because she just sort of dropped it in conversation. Talk about dropping a bomb! The shock of it all, plus the sympathy of many of my wonderful coworkers, turned me into a blubbering mess. I pulled it together just in time for school to start, but then the kids came in and I fell apart again. I explained to them what had happened, and they were very sweet. They had me laughing again pretty quickly, but my energy was completely sapped. We didn't do a whole lot of learning today-- it was more an exercise of "making it through the day," and they all knew it. It was depressing.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, though. Truthfully, I stand a decent chance (better than most) of being rehired before all is said and done. I won't know anything until at least June, when the May Revise of the California State Budget is released. Hopefully the voters will approve all the proposed measures in the upcoming Special Election, and the budget situation won't be quite so bleak. My school district has to plan for the worst-case scenario, which is why they handed out so many pink slips. But keep your fingers crossed that the worst-case scenario doesn't become a reality-- for the sake of all us pink-slipped teachers and the many students who will end up in much larger classes.

If you want to read about this whole mess, check out our local paper.