School Planning Day No. 2

At his opening speech yesterday, the Principal told the assembled teachers that 66 percent of the schools in Georgia did NOT make AYP last year. AYP is determined after all the standardized tests and graduation rate numbers are crunched at the end of the school year. Our school made AYP last year, as always, but for the first time in its history, it was close, he said. The test scores and graduation rates have been slowly declining, he continued. At first I thought this would be the prelude for a scolding speech about how deficient we teachers are. Instead, he stated it like it is---he said that the reason for the slipping scores is because many "economically disadvantaged black males" are moving into the school. I know that economic disadvantage does not have to mean poor performance or lack of interest, nor does being a black male, but statistically speaking, that's the way it often turns out. I was mostly relieved that he did not automatically place the blame with the teachers.

So far, the Administration has been reasonably pleasant towards me. I've moved to a new room, not shared with anyone, in the main building. Bye-bye portable. It was nice to have a built-in rest-room over there. But a disadvantage was that the floors were always dirty, with students tracking in dust and mud all day. Also, it was more difficult to send rowdy 9th graders "to the office" if they did something extreme and there were no AP's roaming the grass outside the portables. I have two 9th grade Basic Reading classes and one 11th grade class. I'll meet them on the first day of students next Wednesday. Next semester, they've given me 3 11th grade classes, which is most welcome.

I promised myself that I would keep up with the gym after school started. I went to a Southside branch of the Y every other day this summer, to make sure I established the habit. Now, I will go to the Richmond Hill branch twice per week, on my way home from work. That way, I won't have to fight the Savannah traffic. On weekends, Liberto and I will go to the Southside or mid-town branch. So, today I stopped for the first time at the Richmond Hill branch. It was brand new, just opened a few months ago. The machines are fantastic. New and clean, with built-in fans. Another teacher arrived about the same time I did, so we tread-milled side by side.

I wish it would rain. The temperature on my car thermometer was 109 when I came out of the school this afternoon.

Energy-less

We just returned from seeing the movie Salt, which was highly engaging, even with all the disbelief-suspension. In a spy-action genre like this, you expect to see protagonists leap from bridges to fast-moving trucks, cling to high-rise window ledges, and smash foes with bare hands. On the other hand, the premise of the movie, the fact that we have Russian spies in the US, is not incredible. I liked the plot twist that Russia was going to beat the US by tricking the US into nuking the Middle East so that the Middle East would, in turn, retaliate with major jihad.

The swimming pool water was warm as a bathtub yesterday. The heat has been horrible, the heat index even worse. My days are routine, repetitive, and unsurprising. But that's fine with me. I think if I had more time off, first to recuperate, as I've done this summer, and then a few more months to figure out what I want, I would discover a new passion in life that I'd really love to do. As it is now, my biggest passion is sleeping in every day. But I know there's more waiting for me out there, when I have the time to discover what it is. I do hope that I can retire from the school system next May. I felt a sense of accomplishment when I sent off the paperwork for buying out the first of those three years that I plan to buy out.

I'm going to mount pictures of Paris and Rome on my classroom wall. When the Class Clown begins to make farting sounds, I'll glance at those pictures and lower my blood pressure by remembering my December reward.

One more week of summer

It's trite to say that the days just glide by. School begins next week, at the insanely early date of July 29th. There will be four teacher planning days and an evening open house before the kiddies come back. Last night, I had my first teacher anxiety dream in a long time. Sigh. It's been heavenly to be free of those for the past two months. I've slept like a baby every night, rarely arising before eight each morning. Yes, I know I'm spoiled to even have a summer break, unlike other hard-working people I know. Well, I guess I'm ready to face it again. I feel much better after this vacation, during which I went out of my way to do very little, just to build up my inner resources.

Later. We just ran out of coffee creamer, which is an urgent family emergency. I must run over to Food Lion now.

Pets and Things

We spent Sunday night at Mark and Terry's house in Statesboro. I got all the fur therapy I desired, many times over! They've got foster animals as well as their own animals, a total of 15. There were eight two-month-old kittens from different litters in an assortment of colors, all hyper and playful, batting each other and rolling around. They are the recent foster-rescues from the Bulloch County Animal Shelter where Terry volunteers. The kittens stay in a large cage in the screened porch, but are let out when the dogs have been sent to the backyard or into the main house. The grown-up cats, three or four, are mellow and sit quietly around the living room. Another grown-up cat, who was in his final days, preferred to stay by himself in the screened porch. Then there were the four dogs, who were so sweet. They stay outside in the fenced yard, but are brought inside at feeding times or for the night.

I know that M & T were hoping that we'd volunteer to adopt one or two of the foster kittens. M even hinted strongly. But we didn't. I loved the kitties to pieces and had a wonderful time snuggling them, but my heart isn't ready. Right now, I want a break from responsibility for another living thing. I loved Pete and Gus and still cry for them. I gave them my very best. They were loved, walked, taken to the vet's, given medication when needed, bathed, brushed and held. When Gus came home one morning with a jaw swollen to three times its size, we took him immediately to an expensive animal emergency room because it was a Sunday. In the late fall before Pete died, I took him for walks that he wanted to go on and carried him home when he was too weak and slow. Those are just a few of many examples of our commitment to our animals. To us, a pet is an important responsibility until its last breath. Sad as I am about them---I can see their headstones from the window next to me---I am relieved not to be worried right now about where New Kitty is, what he/she is doing, if he/she might slip out the back door and fall into the koi pond, or worse still, climb the fence and disappear forever. Right now, I am not worried about New Kitty climbing into the indoor fish tank and drowning, nor am I worried about New Kitty getting stepped on, or crushed by a closing door. I'm not worried about his/her sniffles, poops, or fleas. What I want is for Gus and Pete to come back! But I don't want any other animals. For awhile.

On Monday night, Terry texted me that the old cat on their porch had to be euthanized that day, and the loss had hit her really hard, more than she'd expected.
Yes, that's another reason why I don't want another animal right now. I hope they understand. Since we didn't feel ready to take any of the kittens home with us, I went to Wal-Mart and bought a bunch of doggie and kitty supplies, to assuage my guilt, no doubt, and drove them out to Statesboro on Thursday. Terry is teaching a summer course, so we met on campus. I gave her the supplies, and we went out for lunch. The GSU campus is barely recognizable! So fancy! The student population is now 20,000.

I've been lazy this summer. I don't feel driven to do anything more than flow through the day. I think of this time as rehabilitation from the last school year, as though I'm recovering in a spa or rest home, where my one and only goal is to restore myself. I've started the paperwork to buy out the first of three years from the Georgia Teacher's Retirement System, so I can begin this school year with 7 years' credit instead of 6. Next May, I'll buy another year and will then have 9. I'll either brave it through one more year if they haven't found a way to fire me by then, or try to take up a career of full-time part-time courses at Savannah State or Armstrong, just for the TRS credit.

Fourth of July weekend

Yesterday afternoon, as Paul and I sat outside by the koi pond, the sound and feel of the heavy wind made me feel as though I was on the shore of Lake Champlain. The windiness of upstate New York on a summer day was cool and refreshing; the beach with the waves splashing in was an ideal place for me to read. Maybe that's why I've always liked the sounds of heavy wind. In coastal Georgia, a very windy day, unassociated with a storm, is unusual. Each moan of the wind yesterday caused me to stop reading and look up at all the trees arching over the back yard, shaking their limbs and swaying gracefully. But you never know when a branch might break off and crash to the ground, so I was ever vigilant. Yesterday in downtown Savannah, several limbs of some huge Live Oaks broke off in the wind. One woman in a car was killed when a branch crashed on top of her vehicle.

It's been a lazy week. Reading, swimming, de-cluttering, running items to the Good Will, going to the gym, doing household business. You wouldn't believe all the neat stuff I have unearthed by going through the cupboards on a zealous clean-up project. I've also found plenty for the garbage can or Good Will. And the Humane Society. Paul and I drove a car-full of doggie and kitty shampoos, flea powders, kitty litter, medications, and old towels over there for a donation. I also finally donated the big, soft doggie bed that we bought for Pete when he was sick and which he died on. I just couldn't give it away before, even though it's been sitting unused for six months. But I guess I was finally ready this week. I figured some other doggie at the HS would love to sleep on a thick, deliciously soft bed. I can see that I'm not a good candidate to take on a new pet right now. It's taken me this long to get over Gus and Pete. I'm not sure I can do that again.

We're spending the night at Mark and Terry's tomorrow. Right now, they have 10 or 15 dogs and cats that they're fostering. The problem is, as much as I don't want to mourn another beloved animal, I know the minute one of her cats or dogs snuggles up with me, I'll be hooked. I'd like to resist just a little longer, though, until we get wood floors put in and after the trip to Europe.

I'm now on a midnight-to-9 am sleep schedule. The best housing shows are on late at night, such as International House Hunter! The more I watch those shows, the more I think of new things I'd like to do with the house if I had the time, energy and money.

Summer Sundays

It's Sunday night. The thunder is still growling outside, and the rain is still dripping, but I think the storm has moved past. I adore summer Sunday nights when I don't have to work the next day.

We bought our Paris/Italy vacation package for December! I know it's far away, but I wanted to get the most convenient flight times at the best price. Of course we also got the trip cancellation insurance, just in case, but we're optimistic. Terry told us about a European travel website that I had never heard of, called go-today.com. Using their multiple-destination feature, we created a Dec. 20 - Jan. 1 trip for a wonderful price. We land in Paris first and stay three nights, then fly on to Rome until the Dec. 31st New Year's count down. We return Jan. 1, flying out of Rome. When the school year heats up this fall, I'll just close my eyes, breathe a silent OHHHHHMMMM and visualize the Eiffel Towel and the Seven Hills.

Contrary to what I just said above, the rain has started again. I love rainy nights as much as I love Sunday nights before a non-working Monday.

Hot hot Friday

The sky is purple and rumbling. The t.v. screen is flashing "Severe T-storm warning."
The daily afternoon storm is crawling in. It was 101 today, according to my car's thermometer.

I finished SAT's on Tuesday. Wednesday through today, I really have no idea what I've done. The days have blurred together with nothing spectacular, unless you consider that I cleaned out the linen closet, which was so stuffed and disorganized it was impossible to find anything. I amassed a large pile of sheets and mattress pads that we don't need and drove them to the Humane Society to donate for the animals. They're always looking for towels, sheets, and blankets.

My routine is lovely to me, although it would sound crashingly boring to anyone else. Every day I sleep late---what a joy!---read the newspaper by the koi pond, do errands and household business, go to the gym or pool, play on Facebook, read, and putter.

I received a letter from the Georgia Teacher's Retirement System. The good news is that I have three years of out-of-state service that I can use to buy out three years from Georgia's TRS! After the forthcoming school year, three more years are all I need to be vested and retire with full honors, all the benefits and a pension. The bad news is that I can't buy them all out at once. They have a rule that after 6 years, you can buy one retirement year; after seven, another, and so on. Thus, having had 6 years in the system, I can only buy one year now. After the next school year, I can buy a second year. Okay, that adds up to 9 years. But to make it to 10, I need one more year after the next school year. They were forced by technicalities to give me a contract for 2010-11, but will they spend the year thinking of creative ways to non-renew me for the year after? The lady I called at TRS today told me that if I worked part-time for the last year at any job affliliated with TRS, not necessarily my current job, it would still count as a serviceable year.

On another note, the Troy Davis case is back in the news. After an historic ruling by the Supreme Court, a new evidentiary hearing was held by a federal judge in Savannah this week. Davis was convicted of shooting a Savannah police officer in 1989the same year we moved to Savannah, but always maintained that he was innocent. He was sentenced to death and was almost executed several times, but for appeals, once getting a stay two hours before a scheduled execution. Since the original trial, 7 of the 9 original witnesses who said Troy Davis did it have recanted their testimony, saying they were intimidated by police and coerced into their statements. The media is all over this, of course. After following the case in '89, it's spooky to see the slain police officer's children, then 2 and 2 months, giving interviews to the media as adults. I'm very interested in the outcome of this latest trial. Since I've taught To Kill a Mockingbird, I've told the students about the Innocence Project. It's scary to see how many hundreds of convicted criminals have been sprung after DNA testing proved them innocent! Witness identification is the the weakest type of testimony, and the Troy Davis case is based entirely on that.