Slice of Life: Upheaval at School 3/19

I am participating again this year in the Slice of Life challenge in which we write a slice every day in March.  If you are interested in joining in, visit the Two Writing Teachers blog for more information.

This year, our school has been put through the wringer. Our principal of 15 years decided to retire at the end of October. There was a plan in place and our assistant principal took over and we had a smooth transition. Just when we thought things were falling back into place, right before Christmas break, the district gave us the news that a person who was being demoted from Central Services would be placed at our school. It was a big upheaval. The administrator that was placed in our school had never been a principal and had very little experience in elementary schools. The situation was difficult for everyone, but we settled into our roles and sucked it up and it has been going well. The new principal took on the role very well. She worked hard to learn what she needed to learn about the way our school operates and she has been diligently trying to help our transition be smooth. 

Now that we finally seem to be settling into this and things are falling into place and working smoothly, the district decided to throw a wrench into our lives again. They are possibly messing with the assistant principal again and changing her role at our school. I can't believe the amount of ridiculousness that has been going on this year. And this woman has had to go through so many changes. Our principal said today at our staff meeting that she is pretty sure that this is happening because of her. It is awful that the powers that be are trying to make things difficult for our principal, but in the meantime they are losing sight of the purpose of education. Making things difficult for her will make things difficult for all of us. I am worried about the effects that all of this will cause in our school. I don't understand why they are choosing to put us through the wringer. I wish they would just let us be until the end of the school year. 

The reality of our situation as teachers is that we all have to bend to the whims of the political minds that run our district. It doesn't help that I work for a large urban district. I wish that the business of igniting young minds did not depend so much on political moves. But I will keep plugging away and hoping that we get some consistency soon.