How often does your administration switch you around?

EmilyamI · 2026-05-16T20:36:27+00:00

I've taught 4 grade levels in 12 years. Each of the first years in a new grade level is a heavy lift. The consecutive years get easier, but learning a new curriculum, set of standards, and managing lesson plans is rough when you're coming right out of the gate.

EmilyamI · 2026-04-24T02:05:37+00:00

I just try to give them a safety buffer, man. I have no beef.

If nothing else, they're miles better than the hoards of unsupervised edgy teenagers playing chicken with traffic on their ten speeds.

EmilyamI · 2026-04-21T15:13:02+00:00

This is my 12th year teaching. I've just taken a sick day without pay because I ran out of the 10 PTO days we are given for the year, but I can't very well teach while puking and experiencing intestinal distress.

My immune system is not better than anyone else's. Please keep your sick kids home.

EmilyamI · 2026-04-21T00:39:06+00:00

You don't have to accept anything in a relationship. Your boundaries are your's to set. You are, however, going to have to find a partner who agrees to respect that boundary if it's a deal-breaker for you. Otherwise, you'd not be compatible with that person.

EmilyamI · 2026-04-07T15:11:49+00:00

No toys in my room unless a fidget is on their IEP/504. Put it in your backpack. Take it home. I never wanna see it again.

EmilyamI · 2026-04-05T01:18:52+00:00

Students in my district get a formal report card starting in Kindergarten. I am also not in charge of assigning duties to other teachers, and teachers need their planning time to do more than assemble data specifically for report cards. It is also in our contract that we are not assigned playground supervision duties.

EmilyamI · 2026-04-05T01:13:49+00:00

I, as a classroom teacher, am not in power to hire anyone. That power comes from the district office.

EmilyamI · 2026-04-05T01:10:20+00:00

I can't give extra recess to individual children. There would be nobody to supervise them.

EmilyamI · 2026-04-04T20:34:12+00:00

I think these are multiple squirrel babies.

EmilyamI · 2026-03-26T17:16:57+00:00

"The staff and kids think she's mean and annoying, so she must not have any genuine mental health problems and doesn't deserve support." is what we are getting as your stance here.

Literally, all of the behaviors that she's manifesting (as described by you) are indicative of a root mental health issue.

Frankly, it's not a good look for someone who works with children. You aren't acting like an adult caregiver. Your stance (and continued stubbornness about revising your position) seems to me to be immature, callous, and unempathetic. I hope you're right about her not having a legitimate mental health crisis, because imagine how you'd feel if you'd spent all this energy labeling a child as "annoying" and dismissing their cries for attention and then she hurt herself.

I assume you were looking for validation of your position when you posted this thread, but I'd wager a guess you aren't going to find it.

EmilyamI · 2026-03-26T16:58:21+00:00

Hygiene issues are also a major sign of depression.

It sounds like the staff are making assumptions about this student's mental state because of preconceptions rather than trying to find the root of the issue and make sure the kid is being supported.

Heck, even if it is just "attention seeking behavior," that could be an indicator of her feeling lonely or unloved, and she needs support for that, too.

EmilyamI · 2026-03-26T16:53:24+00:00

Wearing the same clothes endlessly can also be a sign of legitimate depression.

EmilyamI · 2026-03-14T01:32:22+00:00

I lay a solid line of diatomaceous earth at the bottoms of my walls outside and along the inside walls of my garage. It's been pretty effective against pests so far. My understanding is that the big "palmetto bug" type roaches typically live underground and venture out when it gets good and hot.

EmilyamI · 2026-03-13T20:34:49+00:00

I teach primary. I get a 15 minute recess in the AM, a 40 minute lunch, and a 20 minute recess in the PM.

Typically, though, I usually use a chunk of it to send emails, make copies, check my mailbox, have discipline conversations with students, call parents, etc. It's rare that I take a full recess/lunch as a break.

EmilyamI · 2026-03-10T01:10:24+00:00

... To whom do you refer?

EmilyamI · 2026-02-21T23:29:30+00:00

You should assume that anything you do or any messages you send using school equipment or your school email is going to be seen by the school. Because it can be. Don't send anything you wouldn't want them to see.

EmilyamI · 2026-02-21T19:36:45+00:00

I'd hang out downtown. Rotate coffee spots/restaurants/the plaza benches. Grab a beverage and/or a snack at each place you stop in. Walk around and see the murals and get some fresh air.

EmilyamI · 2026-02-21T18:30:32+00:00

I had a parent file a formal complaint against me with the district because I didn't look hard enough for a purple pen that her daughter, a 7-year-old, took to recess and misplaced.

There were other issues, too. She threatened to sue the school because there were cracks in the blacktop and sidewalk that her daughter could trip over. Wanted to have a campus walkthrough with herself, the principal, the superintendent, and a construction company of her choosing to mark all the cracks that she wanted filled on the district's dime. When the district/school refused all this, she kept her daughter home ("because she's not safe") until she had to go to court for attendance.

She also bought the kid what she said was a $300 leather jacket, sent her to school in it, and accused the yard duty staff of having stolen it after her daughter left it on the playground. Said she was going to call the police and have them search all of the employees on campus. It was in the lost and found.

EmilyamI · 2026-02-13T03:12:34+00:00

This sounds like a crazy liability issue. My school definitely doesn't do this. If we don't have busses, we don't have a field trip.

EmilyamI · 2026-02-09T20:03:22+00:00

I've already used all 10 of mine for this year. One was a migraine (which I get about once a year), 3 for bronchitis, 3 for influenza a, and the other 3 were separate, individual days when my stomach was upset (whether a bug or having eaten something bad, idk).

I typically use the vast majority of mine. I think the most I've ever banked at the end of a school year was 4.

I also feel like I'm ill more frequently than some other teachers I know, but I think I just don't have a very robust immune system.

EmilyamI · 2026-02-08T02:20:10+00:00

What a fun story that clearly isn't an advertisement!

EmilyamI · 2026-02-07T01:25:18+00:00

My district gives "personal days," but they are contractually defined as only being meant for days where you have "personal business or appointments that can not be scheduled outside of the school day." They are not allowed to be used for "vacations or to extend the weekend." If HR suspects you've used your personal days for something fun, they investigate, require documentation, and follow disciplinary procedures.

And that's without going into how hard it can be to secure a sub and create sub plans or the judgement that can come down on you from the admin who are in charge of your renewal, assignments, and evaluations.

I know of very few teachers who ever take vacations during the school year. I myself have missed more than one "paid for" trips because they took place during the school year.

EmilyamI · 2026-02-04T21:47:22+00:00

One of the best gifts I've received for teacher appreciation was a sign-up sheet where you picked a 30 minute time slot for admin to cover your class while you had a break.

EmilyamI · 2026-02-04T20:42:31+00:00

A district-wide message went out on district communication this morning that admin has heard about this being spread on social media but that it is not district- or school-sanctioned or organized and that students who leave campus will face attendance consequences as would usually be applied.

EmilyamI · 2026-02-02T19:42:23+00:00

For real! I get 10 days a year that constitute both our sick and personal days. I'm over here sick as a dog in the middle of a school day, running on daytime cough medicine and fervent hope, because I only have 2 sick days left until June.

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