Today in Kindergarten...

I have been perusing the production of the primary blogger in the family, and see that there seems to be some sort of issue directly related to people who do not participate on a regular (daily) basis.

So here I am, with other things that need doing, putting in my keyboard time.

I (accidently) had a sub. teaching job today. I was sitting in my pj's at nearly 8:00 this morning, checking the email situation, when the phone rang. I was so sure it was not sub offer, I answered to discover a need for a para-pro. sub. in a classroom at the one elementary school in town I have never been in. It's a fairly new school, up on the north side of town, so (not meaning to sound prejudiced or biased:) I knew it would be a relatively agreeable situation.

When I got there I found that there had been a sub. in the class the day before, who had apparently turned the job for today back into the computer-search system, which explains why I got a call so late in the cycle. (The computer usually starts calling, looking for replacements at 6 am, and will continue to call until all the slots have been filled, or 9:00 which ever comes first).

The teacher was telling me that the school board has decided to let all the first grade and Kindergarten para-pros go the end of the year. Maybe a few will stay on, depending on education/longevity to serve as 'floaters'. The pre-K paras. are paid with lottery money, so their jobs are apparently safe.

All this means that the administrators will continue to sit behind big, wide desks on their big, wide behinds in the brand new $50 million admin. building, collecting their big, fat checks while completely isolated from the classrooms and educational needs of the community. There is something seriously wrong with this picture.

I am thankful I am not looking work. I am very thankful I am not thinking about looking for work as an educator. I've long believed that substitute teaching is probably the most thankless job on the planet, with a very close second being a school bus driver.

And don't even want to think about the direction our educational system, therefore society is headed in. I am very thankful mine are 'all growed up', or as my elderly friend used to say: 'saucered and blowed'.

A number of years ago I made the surprising discovery the world economy is based on 'greed'. It is sad to see our public schools in the situation they are, and looking even more dismal for the future, and see what administrators are paid... while wondering what they actually do. I know there is some risk involved in being willing to be 'the buck stops here' guy, but when the people on the front lines, in the classrooms trying to instill character and values, in addition to basic educational skills in the next generation are not getting the support they need: it's a sorry situation.