Back to work

OK, so I'm a little late. Sorry.

Three weeks off flew by, and the reality of getting back to the daily grind of work hit me Sunday night...

It was going to be an interesting return. Right before the start of Winter Break we were told that the entire school was going to be re-keyed. It seems that the foreman of the construction crew on campus had left his ring of master keys unsupervised and, well...

We were told that the office would open early, so the early-birds would be able to get their new keys and maintain their idiosyncrasies...

I had to wait - that promise of opening early never materialized - along with the four or five other anxious early risers hovering about the office door. Several kids arrived to the sight of this gaggle of instructors pacing about - a somewhat intimidating image for the first day back, I'm sure.

When the office finally opened, we were told that we had to sign-in, then go over to the cafeteria to turn in our old keys and get the new ones, fill out some paperwork, then return said paperwork back to the main office where we had just signed-in.

Yes, school bureaucracy at it's best - the very model of Redundancy.

Well, the day went amazingly quickly, all things considered. The kids were fine, we got a lot of work done. I had two new students assigned, and one other checked out (the PC term of "OT" - Opportunity Transfer - has replaced the less-than-flattering "expelled")

This morning, I heard from several teachers in my building - the new keys for the ladies 'reading room' don't work any more. Yes, district efficiency once again.

Up next - designing a BAA (Big Ass Atom)...