You're pathetic! (ha ha ha)

Or, more accurately, "we're just as inept as you, so we shouldn't really bash you guys for being stupid. But we do."

I recently was elected to membership in the major governing body of a major collective-bargaining entity, currently in major conflict with a mega-sized overseeing mortibound bureaucracy. Wednesday night was my first meeting. Much of the first 45 minutes was taken up rancorous discussions and the format of the new agenda - items had been moved around. The parliamentarian -- a professional parliamentarian not a member of the aforementioned collective-bargaining entity, constantly tried to explain that the new format actually followed criteria mandated in Roberts Rules of Order (Revised). Nonetheless, there was enough whining that we eventually voted to use the old agenda format, sending the new one back to be reviewed by a special committee.

We proceeded with the meeting (all the while, I could see the parliamentarian shaking his head in exasperation), and managed to get some vital information and make some important decisions.

Then came some additional motions (all previously submitted in writing, as per both the new and old rules) of a political nature -- involving international events (we are solely a local enterprise, though local politics could be germane to our functions).

Cue the major rancor -- and part of the process involved complex parliamentary procedures -- there were nine motions presented at the same time, but three of them were "pulled" -- various members wanting them to be discussed and voted on separately. The remaining six motions (again, all clearly within the purview of our organization) were adopted without objection.

When the first of the "pulled" motions was brought forward, there was a motion to table discussion (try to follow the minutiae of procedures here), which meant there would be discussion on if we should table discussion. During this discussion (the original motion involved events in Israel), a member used the phrase "...as a Jew, I feel..." standing behind him, another member said, not-quite under her breath, "So now you're a Jew?"

Yep - school-yard name calling/dissing/stupidity in a major downtown high-rise professional building.

And before anything else could happen, another member challenged "call for a quorum" -- well, by this time (a good three hours into the meeting), there were only about a third of the hearty souls fools members remaining, so the chair declared the meeting over. Done. Right then. Finito.

Professional, educated folks -- all with advanced college degrees -- acting like four-year-olds in serious need of nap time.

Of course, I'll be back for the next meeting in a month.

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)...