April 7, 2011

Reality Comes

Yesterday was a rough day, as teachers were called down to the the office to be told their positions have been cut. One colleague was no shock, as she was hired in the middle of the year when a little extra money was found for her position. The shocking moment of the day was hearing that we lost a foreign language position, leaving two teachers to provide foreign language to 500 students who are required to take it it the IBMYP program.The low man on the totem pole has been at our school 5 1/2 years.

I've heard that we lost 11 positions. I don't know which ones for sure, but that's 11 teachers with uncertain futures and 55 classrooms full of students left to be absorbed by those of us still standing.

I don't even want to go to work today with the mood so heavy and situation nothing but hopeless.

To make matters more depressing in my mind, the proposed cuts on the table now include a 5% pay cut and a 20% increase I what I pay for health insurance. From estimates I've seen on what that means is that I need to cut $300-400 from my family's budget.

My poor kids are really getting the shaft at school and at home.

2 comments:

Maestro said...

I'm really sorry. That's horrible... It's also another wake-up call to all of us. This kind of thing is going on everywhere, and I'm starting to hear that even my well-to-do school district may start being affected more.

Ms Characterized said...

I'm so sorry.