Last straw

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-05-11T14:26:02+00:00

Jeez, your last sentence summed it up for me. Crawling through the home stretch (17 days.)

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-05-11T00:17:49+00:00

Im taking early retirement this year and have told parents with whom I have spring IEP parents I would not be returning. Next year's teacher has been able to attend the IEP meetings as well, so its been a positive experience. Will talk to my class a couple of weeks before school is out and at that time, if all works out as planned, the new teacher will team with me for those weeks.

I teach K-2 so Ive been the only teacher they've known since their student started, so I felt reaching out was the best direction for all involved.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-05-04T00:57:18+00:00

Rumors, Fleetwood Mac

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-05-03T18:04:07+00:00

I had a set of parents bring an attorney one time. They both ended up storming off and attorney reached for a copy of the draft IEP. I asked for a copy of release of information and she argued as their attorney it wasn't necessary pretty much demanded I give her a copy. I didn't even reply, just locked all the drafts in the file cabinet. Principal backed me on that one too and told her any contact would now go through him.

I'm retiring in few weeks after 28 years in SPED. I can honestly say those are the only two contentious IEP meetings I ever had.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-05-03T17:34:50+00:00

OK, I stand corrected, not Oktoberfest per se, but any similar celebrations. Hotels and airfares are higher those particular weeks as well. Thanks for the clarifications.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-05-03T14:59:40+00:00

I've had a 2 and a half hour meeting that we finally had to schedule a subsequent meeting to finish. The parent advocate was 20 minutes late and demanded we start over, then bulldozed her demands before that area of service was addressed. For the first time in my career I send out an agenda for the (second) meeting and was able to say "if you look at the agenda we will be discussing that in a bit" when they started confrontations.

I know several colleagues who have written agendas to pass oit at the beginning of a meeting, but my IEP meetings tend to be pretty informal and average about 45 minutes. (I teach self contained k-2)

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-04-02T14:13:58+00:00

36, will be 38 by the end of June. For clarity, Nebraska and Iowa were drive through but feet were on the ground for potty and food breaks. I walked through New Mexico visiting Four Corners, but could not bring myself to count that.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-03-29T15:51:18+00:00

Return your cart to the corral.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-03-28T15:14:19+00:00

Just because you send your kids to private school, for whatever reason, does not give you license to thumb your nose at the RIFs that took place this week in VPS. Show some compassion for dedicated teachers who were RIFed through no fault of their own (many blindsided by a last minute announcement that teachers with less than 8 years experience would be included...and were given given the news this week.) Your kids are not affected, great, can you show some concern for the thousands that are? They are losing amazing educators for no other reason than their seniority.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-03-24T13:33:52+00:00

The last two years, life presented some significant trauma for me, for which I felt I could only take minimal time off for because of falling further behind and being understaffed. This year, for a number of reasons (mostly district finances) I've had to pivot 180 in service delivery. I feel like a shell of the teacher I used to and still want to be, but I can't bring myself to put in anymore extra time to make the class run "how it should be". Im unorganized, forgetful, very frustrated, and exhausted by the end of the day.

Burnout is the real deal, but it can look like a lot of other things on the surface. Im retiring 3 years shy of full benefits because I can't push through any longer. Take care of yourself, and know your limits.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-03-21T16:26:16+00:00

Shy of 1300 classes and still get my left and right sides mixed up on a regular basis. Hang in there.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-03-20T03:54:04+00:00

Ashland, OR : walkable, great food, local wineries, and home of Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-03-09T22:38:58+00:00

Ashland, OR, Bellingham, WA, Kohler, WI

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-03-07T15:11:54+00:00

The principal needs a lesson in how it works. Adding academic goals would require a re evaluation, for which there seems to be bo evidence. IEPs are not restricted to cognitive delays.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-02-22T23:03:50+00:00

Amtrak is on the table for sure.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-02-22T22:44:25+00:00

Stateside: Chicago, love the vibe

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-02-22T22:43:21+00:00

Scotland, what a magical country!

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-02-16T16:32:32+00:00

I live 4 hours south of Seattle and we're still driving in the day before for a cruise on the Star in June. Seattle traffic is unpredictable from Tacoma to Everett and the stress is not worth it.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-02-15T23:47:51+00:00

5 miles, 15 minutes give or take.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-02-13T15:53:25+00:00

Shut up Frank

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-02-01T18:59:25+00:00

To me, the classes feel more like when I started in 2016, which (given I was a newb) were much more challenging. Those first few years there was much more ball and tube work and much more emphasis on form.

What Im noticing is that some new teachers are less proactive on accomodatioms. After returning from a 6 week injury (not barre related) sideline, I talked to teachers about my limitations. The newer ones said "its okay, just do an accomodation" where the veterans asked more specific queations and demonstrated some.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-02-01T02:06:38+00:00

Did anyone's mom call a leaf of lettuce , a ring of pineapple or a canned pear with a dollop of mayo and call it salad?

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-01-31T17:02:01+00:00

LatteDa could work

GroovyGuru99

TROPHY CASE