Hi
I just need to vent. I am sooooo annoyed with work right now. I work at a community centre, am employed by the local council but get paid via a local secondary school because we cope with pupils they no longer want on site.
We were told today that they want to put them in for their leaving exams in November - instead of in June. Obviously, we have been working with June in mind. I am NOT a teacher - I'm a youth worker. I never expected to be trying to deliver maths or English to anybody. (Specially maths!)
I'm angry and upset on the kids behalf. They are setting them up to fail. they are setting us up to fail too.
I've never had high blood pressure in my life. I took it today when I got home and its 145/94. Now I know that's not very high but it's a lot higher than mine usually is - it's usually 120 over something.
I want to contact the local education authority but my line manager says I can't do that. My instinct says 'watch me!' I don't really care if i get sacked - I think the job will end next summer anyway, or maybe the head wants to wind us up by Christmas. grrrrr,
Thanks for listening. Scottie
Aww Scottie, I'm sorry to hear this. I know how much you care for those kids and I just bet you are going to go to bat for them. ;D Yes, it's sounds like they are trying to close out this part of their education sooner than next June.
I wonder if the economic conditions are pushing this. It's a shame they can't be truthful and tell you all outright, "Look, here's the way things are. The budget is short and we have to wind up sooner than expected." But of course they won't, I'm sure.
Take care, count to ten, relax and then "GO GETT'EM SCOTTIE!" ;D
hUGS, pOOH
Scottie
This is so wrong. They are discriminating against youngster who already have the odds stacked against them. I wonder what would happen if they inflicted this on kids in mainstream school?
Do what you need to do, but see if you can get more people on your side first. Could you 'leak' the story to the local media?
Kathyx
Oh Scottie - I would be very stressed too, for myself and for the kids. I don't know how the system works where you are as far as trying to change things (here it would require an impossible feat of strength), but about all you can do is continue to provide support and build trust with the kids for as long as you have with them, and hope that some of it stays with them when they leave.
We will all keep our fingers crossed that this does not mean your job is winding down, and that you will be able to continue working in some capacity. The economic situation is pretty scary right now.
Genko
Hey scottie,
Im really sorry to hear they are doing this to you and the kids. These kids are needing support not someone else to knock them down. It always the underdogs that get the boot. I dont see any of the high execs taking a pay cut.
I agree with the others an accidental leak to the media would be good but as Pooh said sit down have a drink count to ten, then go wring their scrawny little necks.
Tell em you got a whole forum of dried out women gunning for them.
Pud
Hi Scottie,
I'm so sorry for what they seem to be trying to pull with your program. Social Service programs are always the ones to get cut first when the money is low......and we all know what the economy is like.
Our government office (Dept. of Human Services) owes us more than $250, 000 and just keeps asking us to do more and more but with no money......we are just trying to make payroll so people get a pay check and believe me its not a lot in the social service field! Then they have the nerve to send us a bill for $10,000 when they owe us so much more! Ok....Sorry...got off on my own tangent!
Anyway...do what is right, but take care of yourself and your job position too! The kids still need you there! All you can do is the best you can do with a very bad situation. The kids will know that...they know a lot more than we think!
Hi Scottie,
The others are so right, it does sound like they're trying to get rid of the program without looking like they're the bad guys - know what I mean? It is the easiest way to "balance the budget" by getting rid of "unpopular programs" - usually those for children/the poor/the elderly (or a combination of). Yeap, seen this garbage before, and with the current budget/wall street mess, we'll be seeing a lot more of it I'm certain.
I will also keep my fingers crossed that you're not at the end of that axe either.
Hang in there, and please keep us updated, okay? It's so hard watching a train wreak happen to the weakest members of society.
Patze
Scottie, I am sorry to hear that you are experiencing this agenda that is speeding around the globe. It seems like all jobs are being hit with the addition of items that were not on the job description. I don't blame you for being hot under the collar. This is not what you signed up to do.
I firmly believe that the whole world is going NUTZ. Everything is all out of kilter with the financial, jobs, common sense, values, all the things that used to help make the world work together and get along together. I swear that this techology that is speeding us down this path to "nowhere" will drive us all crazy.
Please know that I am thinking of you. Maybe if you wait a few days or so the gossip will bring you the "whole story". Let us know how this goes. Also, take a deep breath and have a cup of tea. There gets to be a time that it doesn't pay to get all upset cause it just makes our blood pressure go up ---- and that is about it. Seems like none of us can get things done for common good anymore cause the "intellectuals" think they have it all covered. Irish ;D
What has made the human species successful is the ability to work together for a common good, gathering and hunting being an early example.
Today we don't even know our neighbors and the work place pits one employee against another and at home people live in the fantasy world of television, often confussing it with reality. Our ansestors gathered and hunted to keep the pack alive. Today shopping and the eternal quest for materialism is a sport or even an addiction.
Maybe we can learn something from our Amish neighbors about working together for a common good of the greater community and not be so materialistic. Well, not until I get my new 60'' plasma TV and 600 Watt surround sound system.
Nice epson
can i come watch
Pud
Pud,
Only if you bring the popcorn and beer. Better make mine a root beer.
ok but i'll have to wait for the lear jet to come back
Pud
Scottie,
Being in the education system, this sounds par for the course. I am really sorry because I know, like my teaching colleagues and myself, you have a close relationship with your charges and a strong sense of responsibility. All I can say is that we as individuals can kick against the system even if we can't change it and I would make your feelings known very clearly - perhaps a strongly worded letter to the powers that be?!
Remember at the end of the day we can only do what we can do - no more!
Thinking of you.
Beverley
Hi :)
Thanks evryone as ever. It's so good to have a place to come and vent. This really has nothing to do with the credit crunch or the global recession. This has to do with a new head, trying to stamp her authority on a school.
Staff moral is as low as ours is in the 'alternative' venue. We've been having an English teacher up to collect coursework (rushed) and she and her dept. have no time for the head at all. It's not only the 'alternatives' that are being made to sit exams early. If I still had a kid at that school I would be playing merry heck with the powers that be!
meanwhile we just have to do as much as we can in a whole two weeks when we thought we had at least 6 months. Whoopeeedoo.
What we are meant to motivate them with for the next 6 months - remains a mystery.
Take care - Scottie :)
Scottie,
Surely someone will intervene for your staff and the students! I hope so. Hang in there.
Cheryl
Scottietottie,
WOW
This too shall pass? :) Does that help ;D
Pace yourself? Fight the good fight? Hang in there?
Sometimes the people who need to learn the most are the ones trying to lead.
Take American politics for example. >:(
Scottie , seriously those kids are the ones who will suffer at the expense of poor leadership.
I hope you persevere in this. luv kimbo
Quote from: Scottietottie on October 10, 2008, 01:38:30 PM
This has to do with a new head, trying to stamp her authority on a school.
Scottie - I can feel your frustration. I too am dealing with a "new head" at school and I
KNOW it is affecting my blood pressure. I have come within a nano-second of quitting on several occasions. In fact, I'm still considering leaving the end of December. Having SjS and dealing with this on a daily basis just isn't worth it. I use to like going into work - this is my eigth year there - but last year and this year I just dread going in there. :(
I'm sorry you have to go thru this. Hang in there.
Bucky
Longevity on any job means out lasting a lot of kooks, they come and go while you stay and endure.
Never stay where you can clearly see it will always have an unusually lack of good leadership, life is just to short to be unhappy with your job
Kimbo
Hi Scottie
I'm really glad you posted about this because it's so important, and it reflects the experiences of all of us who are trying to make the world just a bit better in any way we can.
I don't know if any of these are useful ideas but here goes:
- is the new head likely to care about exam statistics? Do the exam results from the young people on your programme go on the school's results table or are they separate? If they're going to affect the school's position on the results table then the head might reconsider making it harder for your students to do their best. In my experience headteachers care about this sort of stuff, to the detriment of other (important) issues.
- does your local education authority have a specialist in school exclusions/other special needs who might have an opinion on this? I know you said your line manager said you shouldn't contact the LEA but it seems reasonable to do so.
- do you have a strong and supportive trade union rep?
- all the main newspapers have 'diary' sections in their education pages where people can relate stories like this anonymously. I'm sure they'd be interested in this issue. Or maybe contact one of the journalists directly. If you're in the UK you might find Melissa Benn or Fiona Millar at the Guardian helpful.
Let us know what happens. And keep breathing deeply - in between bellowing with rage and frustration! I think the bellowing will help with the blood pressure just as much as the deep breathing!
Chana xxx
Hi Chana :)
You're thinking along the same lines as me - but unfortunately - not the same as my manager. I was wondering about going down the 'anonymous' route. We gave our lads a mock paper today and they are nowhere near ready to sit an English GCSE. This is going to really knock their confidence, which we have been trying to build up. Not one of them managed to write as much as a page and not one of them wrte in sentences with punctuation. Most of them couldn't actually work out what the questins meant.
The mock maths went slightly better.
Thanks for the names - I might ontact one or both. I do feel strongly about this.
The head does care about marks. That's what I really don't get. The school is patently a 'failing school'. Only 21% of it's pupils managed to get an A-C Grade in English last year. We are wondering if she is trying to put a November exam onto last year's figures and concentrate on the 'can do' pupils in June. I don't know. Like I say - I'm a youth worker - not a teacher - and I'm part time as well so have no access to head teachers and upper management. I do have a better idea how schools are actually run than my manager though as I was a parent governor for about 15 years. (Head teachers must have been soooo relieved when my children left school! ;))
This would not be the first time I've 'taken on' authoriy. If I do.
Take care - Scottie :)