jeers

A family member of mine is currently going through some employment issues with a certain prominent and "elitest" school district in the area. My concern for their very unfair situation has caused me to reflect on my own experiences with that same school district.

Two years before I became the music teacher at *Austin Elementary there was another girl that held my position. We'll call her "Jane" for the sake of the story. So Jane was a great teacher and the principal loved looooooved her, but Jane's husband got transferred so she had to move away. The principal hired another person to take her place, but this girl had to move away too. Then enters me. She told me she hired me above all other candidates because I was youthful, had energy and excitement and thought I would fit perfectly into the Austin family. I was in HEAVEN because this school district is one of the best in the metroplex, and as far as music is concerned, one of the best in the state. So I started working there and based on my principals evaluations and all of the things I accomplished there, I thought I was doing pretty good. Except the principal would often make comments like, "When Jane was here she did this and that." Yeah, its nice to know how things were done in the past, but I began to feel like miss Jane was miss "perfect." Then one day my principal met with me to discuss my year end eval and after a glowing review she said, "so are you planning on having a baby any time soon?" and I said, "Uh, no. Why?" and she said, "Well because "Jane" called me up and said she's moving back into town and I thought if you were planning on leaving I would have someone to fill your position."

?????????????

How are you supposed to feel good about yourself when you were just basically told that she'd rather have someone else? That was my second year of teaching, and throughout the remainder of my teaching experience there I felt like I was never good enough. No matter how good my evaluations were, no matter how much the kids loved me, no matter how much they were learning, my self-esteem was shot. And even worse, I felt like I had to be perfect because I was afraid if I slipped up once, or didn't meet her expectations, she would find a way to get rid of me.

So a year and a half later I DID get pregnant, and decided to resign mid year to be at home with Abby. They hired an excellent, masters-degreed teacher with 20 years of experience to replace me, which is SO hard to find mid-school year. I kept up with this lady, just to help her as she transitioned and thought she was wonderful. So I was completely shocked to find out from her later that they did not renew her contract for the next school year. Nope. Guess who the principal hired? Jane.

I thought my experience was unusual, until this family member started going through a similar experience. The way he and other teachers are being treated is unfair and it makes me so upset with the politics within this school district and the programs under its umbrella. If you don't play the game their way, no matter how good you are, you'll lose. They boast that they're the best, and its obvious that they will do a lot of not nice things to maintain that self proclaimed title. I used to be so proud to be a part of such a great organization. I'm not so proud anymore. Jerks.

Ok. I'm done ranting now.