Watchagonnado?
06/11/2007 01:12 p.m.
Well, it seems fate has kicked me in the butt again!

The lovely job that I was SO excited about getting? Well the HR department for the district called and told me..."We received the recommendation, however, we had another campus that was overstaffed, a current employee has transferred into that position."

Well, CRAP! So I went back and reapplied for several positions. I haven't had the opportunity to send out new resumes and interest letters, because all other aspects of life have gone a bit crazy lately.

Saturday at noon I take the GRE! I'm completely freaking out over that, because of the quantitative portion (Hint... fancy term for FREAKING HARD MATH!) I have to take the test before I can register for any more classes, and then the college of my choice will determine if my score is high enough... SHEESH... I've already shown I can do grad level work with a 3.90 GPA or better. A gal just can't catch a break.


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The final chapter...
05/25/2007 05:34 p.m.
in the book of this stage of my life.

Today is my last "real" day at the job I have held for the last 7 years. I'll be back in June to teach Summer School, but that isn't part of my contract time.

This was the first job I had after my divorce was final. It's had ups and downs,and quite a bit of stress and discord as well at times. I'll miss the friends I've made here. Some will be staying here, but many will be moving on as well. It has been shocking to go through our staff list and see that over 1/3 of the faculty is leaving!

I am very excited about the position that I was offered. I'm ok with the salary cut, because I should make up the difference and then some in the cost of insurance for my family.

I'm going back to Middle School level. Time to start the next book.
I am currently Excited

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Monday's Child is full of
05/14/2007 10:24 p.m.
EXCITEMENT! WOOHOOO!

Ok.. 3 parts WOOHOO! and 1 part Oh CRAP!

I didn't go to work today... shame on me, not! I have the sick days available, and I had a job interview this morning, plus I called my son's Dr. to get a follow up appt. Nearly had an accident (vehicular and bodily) when the office told me over the phone (cellp phone, I was driving to my interview) that an office visit would START at $126, plus labs! Holy CRAP! but I really needed to be reassured by my son's Dr. that he IS on the upside of this damn bacterial infection that he got from God only knows where... (I wish God would let us know, because if he got it from school, I am suing their butts for his ER bill and everything else).

Anyway... I THINK the interview went REALLY well. The position is similar to what is called a Diagnostician Intern in my current district. There will be a LOT of paperwork, which I don't mind, just so long as I can manage to keep an organized schedule. No full-time secretary, right now just a clerk 2 hours a week... but I think this would be a REALLY great opportunity! I have another interview on Wednesday, and a third interview trying to be scheduled as well... all of them in another school district! I'm rather happy about that.

AFTER, the interview I picked up some lunch and went to my husband's job to have lunch with him, and to get directions on how to get to my son's school (the one with the Drs appt., he goes to a magnet school that's not near our home) I get a phone call from #1 son...he's being expelled AGAIN, for 3 days!

We knew he was building up to something. He called me this morning after having a verbal exchange with the officer on his campus, and an AP, and it seems also several teachers. At lunch someone put nacho's in his school binder. He told the AP, the AP didn't try to investigate it right away because he was on lunch duty and monitoring the lunch lines. My son thought he'd found out who had done it, so he went and poured milk on the kid, the kid chased my son across the cafeteria, slammed his head into the wall (his ear is swollen and turning purple). My son threw his binder at the kid to get him off... they are both suspended for 3 days..

and then I got the rest of the story... the kid who had my son against the wall (kid #1) started the whole mess this morning by putting toast in another kids (Kid #2) back pack and telling him that my son had done it. Kid #2 put the Nacho's in my son's binder, but my son was told that kid #1 had done it. My son poured milk on Kid #1, and the rest became a huge messed up scene.

My father suggests I press charges against kid #1... I don't know what to do... my son shouldn't have poured milk on kid #1, but then again, he didn't see any one in authority trying to act on the problem, so he took it into his own hands. My son doesn't have the patience or self-control to set by and wait. My son's ear is really messed up looking though... I also don't have the money to get an attorney, and don't know how to go about filing charges on this other child... so I don't know what to do!

At least the whole day wasn't bad.

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hmmm...
05/13/2007 08:52 p.m.
Well it's Mother's Day... and I called mine. Yeah for me!

I've had an extra youth in the house all weekend. He is one of my former students and plays baseball with my son on the team my husband is helping to coach. This has been an interesting cross-cultural weekend. I'm with-holding my judgement on it right now.

Other things of interest... I took the day off Friday to send out letters of interest and resume's. I sent out seven packets, and sent off two emails before noon. I had a phone call from one of the email's by 4 pm requesting an interview for tomorrow at 10 am.. So I called in for another day off! No worries, I have MORE than enough sick days. I will end up losing more than 10 days... just one more way my current employer is messing me over... *sigh* not much longer...

My plan is to work two days this week, take off Monday - Wednesday of next week, and only work Thursday and Friday, which is 1/2 day of school and then 1 1/2 days of work days..

Thursday I received a call from the County Health Department, informing me that one of the lab tests my son had run in the ER a week ago came back positive for a food born bacteria.... I'm a BIT upste.. 1) I feel it should have been the caregiver's (hospital and treating Dr.) responsibility to inform me that my son had a highly contagious food born illness and 2) we don't know WHERE he got the illness. I strongly suspect he got it from cafeteria food at school. I would LOVE to be able to pinpoint it to that, because then I could nail the school district for the medical bills, which happens to be my employer, the same one that refuses to let me re-insure my children.

Right now, I just wait for the job opportunity that is meant for me... Please Lord, let it happen soon and without drama!

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The Insurance Scandal Continues...
05/07/2007 10:07 p.m.
I stayed home today because my youngest is sick. He spent 5 hours in the ER yesterday, got stuck 3 times before they got a good IV going, had an X-ray, and made at least 5 trips to the toilet, before we go the "verdict". "Well, there's nothing wrong with his white cell count, so it's not an infection... must be something viral". "His Xray looks ok, he's still got some poop in there, but everything else is ok." (after 5 trips to the restroom with no food in his stomach, I'm amazed there was ANYTHING left in his intestine, especially since this has been going on since Friday!).

Anyway, since I don't have any insurance on the kids, this should be a lovely bill we get. At least the prescription was generic and only cost $17. And why did we go to the ER if we didn't have insurance? Because my son's gut has been hurting, and it started hurting so bad in Sunday school after he tried to eat some toast and drink some juice, that he was red in the face and crying.

And the idiots from my benefits office had the nerve to call me again today, and tell me the same thing.... "It's been more than 31 days since you were cancelled, you are outside of your window for a life change event, you can't add them until November." Screw that! I gave them an earful again (and still didn't use profanity). I told them I'm sick and tired of the run around I'm getting. I've been trying to get compensation from the dental insurance since February, I've made numerous phone calls, have been told that someone should be contacting me in 7 to 10 business days (twice), and still nothing. My son is getting his braces off next month already, and they haven't paid a cent!

And they continue to refuse to let me put my kids on insurance because the private policy (Same insurance company that the district uses) didn't send the final cancellation notice until 5/2/07. They should go by the date I received it, not the date the insurance company decided to make the cancellation effective.

So I told them once again, I'm fed up with the "benefits", which aren't really a benefit,because insurance is cheaper in other districts, or if I went to work outside of education, and that I wasn't going to wait to have insurance on my kids until January (open enrollement is in November, they don't take a payment out until December, and coverage doesn't start until January)... that I would leave the district and get insurance in August first, and when I left, I'd make sure I told everyone I know why I left, because there are already people upset at the cost we have to pay for insurance!

So, to get to the end of the story finally.... after I talked with them again today, I found the website for the Texas Department of Insurance, and filed a complaint over both matters. It may not do any good, but then when I filed a complaint with the Dept. of Education, the school finally made an attempt to do the right thing. It's a shame that you have to go to the highest authority in order to get people to do the right thing. I know good and well, the administrator COULD allow their enrollment if they wanted to, they just want to be jerks and pull the damn beaucratic red tape crap... and they aren't even doing me a huge favor... It's going to cost me $600 more a month to cover my children on my insurance policy!



And to think, I went and interviewed for positions at the elementary level in this same district Saturday, have a second interview scheduled for Wednesday evening.... I now know that I'm a valuable commodity, and a huge asset with my experience, credentials, training, and the fact that I'm continuing on in the field.... well, the benefits people can get their heads out of the dark recesses they have them buried in and do the right thing... or I'll take my assets someplace else.
I am currently Pissed Off

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GRRR..,
05/04/2007 01:39 p.m.
I started a long rant last night, about the idiocy of my employer's insurance benefits department, and through some silly glitch, I lost the whole thing.

I've been employed in the same district, at the same school, for 7 years now. Some years have been better than others, but this year, messing with the stupid insurance people has been the icing on the cake.

Not only have they been complete idiots, and now jerks, they have managed to screw me out of nearly $2000, and are dragging their feet over the matter. Maybe I should get one of those lawyers that advertise on TV to deal with them? Maybe I should call the state insurance board, since not only are they refusing to process a claim on my son's orthodontics that they should cover, but they are refusing to allow me to cover my children through our insurance, even though I have FINALLY received the documentation that they were covered on insurance and that coverage has been cancelled. It is NOT my fault that the other insurance cancelled the policy effective March 14th but didn't notify me that the policy had been cancelled until April 25th!

I think this may finally be the "door opening", the signal to get out of this particular district. I'll put up with a lot when it comes to people messing ME over, but when you start messing my kids over... that's the last straw! I have more than enough sick days left this year to go out and interview or whatever, in fact, I'll end up losing about 15 sick days that I have accumulated... oh well. I can go to another nearby district, make nearly as much, or more than I make now, the insurance will probably be a LOT cheaper, and I can get coverage effective in August, instead of having to wait for enrollment changes here to take effect in January.

Oh well... in the long run, it's their loss (the school district's). Sure, they can find another teacher to fill my position, but it won't be one with the same amount of experience and the same credentials.

So God, if this is the sign I'd always been asking for.... I think I finally got it!
I am currently Indifferent

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School Violence Statistics
04/18/2007 03:51 a.m.
What happened yesterday tears at my heart.

It also brings home the research I've been working on for the past month on safe schools/school violence and behavior interventions.

Since 1996, there have been 36 shootings at schools in the US alone. In these incidents 95 people have lost their lives and 128 have been wounded. In 2000, a six year old shot and killed another six year old at an elementary school!

Violent crime in our society as a whole has remained fairly stable, but violent crimes among juveniles has risen dramatically. (I haven't had the opportunity to trace this infor to the original study, but have the reference for the study in which I found it).

I'm a parent, and a teacher, and what I feel when listening to news reports, or while doing this research is so hard to explain... I'm saddened, sickened, angry, sympathetic, empathetic... the list goes on... and I wish SO badly that I could "fix" the problem.

But just as there are a mirage of factors that contribute to the violence, there is no one solution... but it's blatantly obvious, that what we're doing isn't working effectively, it just isn't enough!
I am currently Depressed

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And today I learned something new...
04/10/2007 07:24 p.m.
well of course, I probably learn new things all the time, but this was a BIGGIE for me!

Today I created, by myself, with no help or tutoring, my very first PowerPoint presentation.... yeah.. I hear the laughter, and pooh on you... I'm almost eurphoric, that little ol' me, who has trouble navigating the web at times, ... who can't even seem to reactivate my content monitoring program after the "Geek Squad" disabled it correcting virus issues... me, who cried in the "library" because there weren't any books, it was all web-based and I couldn't remember my logins.... I created a Powerpoint... no bells, or whistles... it's basic, but it's complete and relevant!


I am currently Excited

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Just lists....
03/22/2007 06:45 p.m.
Things that are driving me CRAZY right now....
1) baseball opening day
2) people who don't follow through with their self-made obligations
3) over-extending myself to cover for #2
4) teenagers, preteens... ok kids in general my off-spring by blood and marriage in particular
5) People who think they are above others and/or people who are sneaky and try to stab one in the back
6) Being over-extended at work because.... can you really tell your boss/supervisor.. "No, find someone else"? (I DID try to tell them that, but was told there WAS NO ONE else... grrr)
7) The fact that I am STILL not producing any creative writing
8) CPS, my husband's ex-wife and her husband... and even my husband to a small degree
9) It's Spring and everything that produces pollen has gone crazy, blowing that yellow crap everywhere and driving my allergies berzerk


Things that make me happy/keep me sane.
1) Being able to get in here (pathetic) and just chill, or vent, or whatever
2) I DO have a job, and I'm catching up on the bills... at least my money is lasting farther into the month now
3) It's Spring, and the flowers are blooming, and the sun is shining (at least at the moment)
4) The school year is 3/4 of the way over!
5) catching a 15 minute power nap!
I am currently Tired

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Overdosing on Stress
02/23/2007 04:24 p.m.
I'm starting to hit overload. There are things that I feel I HAVE/MUST do in order to be a good parent/wife/person, but I'm having a real ordeal trying to balance everything out.

1) I am a full-time teacher, and where I live we are in mandatory state testing season. I teach 5th grade, which is a year of retention, the students have 3 opportunities to pass the test, or they are retained. I feel the pressure of doing all that I can for my students, and I feel their stress and pressure as well.

2) My OWN child is in the 3rd grade, which is also a retention year, and I fell horrible when he asks for help on his GT math homework, and I can't help him because the work his teacher sends makes absolutely no sense to me, it appears that it is just an exercise to waste time to me, and I really don't have the time to call the teacher, schedule a conference and take off work. I feel that I'm letting my son down.

3) I am back in school (Grad. School) myself, and I am really struggling with some of the work, mostly because it's psychological research based written assignments, and I'm having trouble determining exactly what I'm supposed to do/what my teacher expects and I'm also not a technical writing type of person (I endeavor to make my writing very understandable, so that anyone, even middle school level, will be able to read it and know what is being discussed), whereas my teacher is very much into that style.

4) We are struggling to make ends meet. I have a teenage son who always seems to "Need" something new, and I hate to tell my kids no, but I have to pay the utilities, and the house note, and insurance, etc., etc. I am contemplating taking a part-time, on-call massage therapy job to help make up the difference and to help pay for my schooling, but when will I have time to study, and cook, and wash clothes, and all the other things that have to be done.

5) Little League baseball is starting back up, and I'm on the board of director's as well as both of my son's playing... and Opening Day is right smack dab in the middle of needing to study for mid-terms and writing papers...

I have over-extended myself, but I have no one to ask to pick up the slack when I'm over-whelmed, and I can't let my family down, or kids down, or students down...

What have I done to myself?

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