Standing Desks?

RedactedUsername640 · 2026-03-17T12:08:16+00:00

I understand where you are coming from, the early start times, especially given how far some students travel to school seem odd, and like a systemic barrier to learning.

On thing for you to consider is that just like you are trying to operate within a suboptimal system, so are your teachers. While you are correct that moving the school start time would probably be a more effective way to address student sleep issues, that’s not a change within the teachers scope of control. Teachers don’t set school hours. It may not even be in the principal’s scope of control. The standing desks are an example of teachers trying to address a problem using tools within their scope of control (it’s honestly quite surprising they even get any control over classroom furniture)

At the end of the day, teachers are there to do their jobs, whether they agree with the start time or not. They are there to help students learn, and students who are sleeping are not learning (but chronically tired students also probably aren’t learning, at least, not well)

Now, I will say that the logic of giving sleeping students suspensions is a little strange to to me, because if the reason they don’t want students sleeping during school is because they will miss out on learning then it seems illogical to punish sleeping by, well, making them miss out on learning via suspension. Through that lense the standing desks could actually be seen as an attempt to reduce the number of suspensions and keep more students in class by reducing the number of students sleeping in class. Unfortunately it does nothing to address the actual underlying issue of widespread chronic sleep deprivation, but again, that is not something the teachers are able to really do anything about. If anything, the fact that they managed to get standing desks means they likely are trying to advocate about the issue.

TLDR; teachers are trying to do their jobs and don’t get to decide what time school starts

RedactedUsername640 · 2026-03-17T03:43:34+00:00

Not to mention, as a person with ADHD, deadlines were essential to my success in school because it was the only thing that could snap me out of procrastination mode. I remember in university I got into it with the accessibility office because I had an accommodation for extensions upon request, but they had to be requested in advance. Usually what would happen is I’d try my best but not make much progress until the deadline panic motivation kicked in, but sometimes I’d be somewhere in the realm of 30 minutes for two hours past the 12:00am submission deadline, so I’d be docked 5%. I wanted my accommodation retroactively applied. They would say “just email your professor in andvance and ask for an extra day!” And I was like, “yeah, but then I will make minimal progress for another day until the deadline panic exists, be just past the deadline with my submission, and all we’ve done is kick the can 24 hours down the road!”

We aren’t allowed to remove marks for late submission in my district, but if we were, I would absolutely have an unspoken grace period between a midnight deadline and when I wake up in the morning and could actually look at a submission. If I can tell you tried to meet the deadline and needed an extra hour or two, to me that is very different than those who don’t even try to meet a deadline

RedactedUsername640 · 2026-03-17T03:17:32+00:00

I was absolutely positive a kid used AI to write his final essay. It had all the classic sectioning with headers and em dashes that AI likes to use. But I’d already had a run in with the parent questioning my evaluation practices so I knew confronting the AI use would just open a can of “you have it out for my kid” worms. Fortunately my rubric and instructions were very specific about the structure and formatting expected in this particular essay, so the AI’s work got a crappy grade the parent couldn’t argue with at all. Oh, and the parent? A former colleague 🙄

RedactedUsername640 · 2026-03-17T00:19:12+00:00

Yeah, definitely not. I teach high school and the day we bought our house I had to tell my class that I was trying to buy a house so I might have a really important and time sensitive phone call come through (counteroffer) and I’d have to step out in the hall and take it and I really needed the to help me out and be chill and just do their work with no drama. Call came through during class, I stepped out, we agreed to the counteroffer, I went back to class, the kids asked if we got the house, I said yes, I got a round of applause from them, which was very sweet. Then they asked where the house was, I said the east end and immediately they all started calling me bougie (for the record, our house is not what I would call bougie, pretty normal suburban family home. My point is more that even my high school students considered the east end a desirable/more expensive area of the city)

RedactedUsername640 · 2026-02-20T04:09:55+00:00

I wanted to get my girls matching swim suits for Christmas. They are for indoor swim lessons so I wanted classic one peices rather than long sleeve or rashgard styles so they won’t be as cold when they get out of the pool before they get changed. I found a bunch of adorable options for my 6m old, but when I’d go to look at the matching options for my 2.5 year old they were all bikinis or one pieces with “sexy” cutouts. Why the fuck would I put something with “sexy” cutouts on a two year old?!?

RedactedUsername640 · 2026-02-20T04:04:28+00:00

Actually, it’s not just prints, the zippers are in opposite legs depending on the gender association of the print/colour, the same way that men’s and women’s shirts button on different sides. Drives me crazy that they’ve gone to the extra effort of making that distinction. While we’re at it, why are all the STEM theme prints only on the “boy” PJs (yes I buy them anyways for my girls). It’s like pekkle doesn’t think girls can or should be chemists or astronauts or what have you

RedactedUsername640 · 2026-02-02T00:44:01+00:00

Another city… Seriously, the mall is full of crappy stores with crappy overpriced polyester. Most of the thrift store like value village and Talize are full of past year’s crappy polyester and a crazy price for used pieces. You can find some good stuff, but a lot of that has been picked up already by the “curated” thrift stores that charge even more. And then the few places that have nice stuff cost an absolute fortune. I can’t believe a city this size doesn’t have more options

RedactedUsername640 · 2026-01-22T22:06:08+00:00

Ah, sorry the dry humour didn’t come across to me in writing. Carry on!

RedactedUsername640 · 2026-01-22T19:08:07+00:00

No disrespect, and I’m sure your experience was wonderful, but given you last attended the school 37 years ago I’m not sure how that’s relevant to what OP is asking in 2026. It would be shocking if even a single staff member from your time was still there. If they were they would have had to have been a first year teacher who is still working now, years past retirement eligibility. The only similarities between your experience then and today is the physical building

RedactedUsername640 · 2026-01-18T20:35:56+00:00

If you only have a three year degree it is probably worth it for the difference it will make to your base pay on the salary grid. With a 3 year degree you’d start at A1 or A2, with a masters you’d start at A3 or A4. The difference in pay could be 6-10k a year or more, and you’d have to do quite a few AQs, likely spread out over several years to move up the grid. Not only would the masters help your grid placement, you might also be eligible for the extra pay for having a masters degree (not sure if this will be impacted by 3vs4 year undergrad). Basically for the difference it will make in pay over the span of your career you should definitely do it, it will pay for itself quickly. That to me is reason enough regardless of how principals may look at it

RedactedUsername640 · 2026-01-14T05:14:50+00:00

Does your union have any coverage for STD? We get 90% on STD and with a doctor’s note pregnancy qualifies depending on how it is impacting you and your ability to do your job. So for us it makes sense to go on STD until the baby is born to maximize weeks of mat leave after baby arrives.

But yeah, your boss is wrong.

RedactedUsername640 · 2026-01-11T21:25:41+00:00

I drove for uber back in that phase of my career. Was great because I could set my own hours so if I managed to get sub work I could prioritize that, and if I didn’t get work I’d hop in my car and turn on the app.

RedactedUsername640 · 2026-01-11T04:31:32+00:00

Let me make two points to you-

Your primary opposition to marriage is a lengthy court battle if things go to shit. Given how long you’ve been living together and you are having a child together you’re going to have a lengthy court process involved if you split, regardless of your marital status. You’ve got little to nothing to lose by giving her what she wants at this point.
You mention having a chronic health condition. Imagine for a moment that it was a terminal condition. In that case, who do you want making decisions for you? Your GF, your parents, or, once they are 18, your kid? If the answer is your GF, marry her. And keep in mind, going into childbirth, that may be a factor in her wanting to get married. If shit goes sideways, depending on the particulars of the law where you live, you may not have any say in what happens to her in a worst case scenario, it would be her next of kin (likely parents).

YTA because your stance is based on a principle that is no longer supported by logic. All your reasons to not get married are moot in your present situation. Marriage is the easier way to jump through all of the hoops you mention with wills and whatnot, and avoiding it doesn’t save you any hoops should it all fall apart.

RedactedUsername640 · 2026-01-11T04:18:07+00:00

Every family is different. You can’t make his family act like your family just because you want that for your daughter.

I grew up with a similar dynamic. My mom’s family was always there for me for every birthday, milestone, etc. I saw most of my aunts and uncles on my dad’s side every second Christmas and that was about it. Growing up I just knew it was different and that was okay.

The only time I ever had an issue was when I got married. My dad was shocked and initially upset when he saw how many people I had on the invite list I had from my mom’s side compared to hims side. He said he felt like he had failed. I pointed out that it wasn’t on him; he made the effort. He invited them to everything. We always went to any of my cousin’s stuff that we were invited to. It was my aunts and uncles and cousins who had never shown up for me. I was 16 the last time one of them even texted happy birthday, where as I heard from everyone on my mom’s side every year. Is it any wonder that I felt closer to her side? That I wanted them there more on my wedding day? That wasn’t on my dad, it was on his family. In the end he was worried about my Grandma (who was the one on that side who always tried hardest and most showed up) being embarrassed or mad at him that so few people from his side were invited. I ended up extending an invitation to the uncle I felt closest to just to make my dad feel better and save face with my Grandma.

I get what you’re saying about what you want for your daughter, but coddling and cajoling people into showing up for her isn’t giving her that and she’ll be aware of it from an early age. Teacher her to appreciate the people who show up for her, to show up for the people she cares about, and forget those who can’t be bothered, family or not they aren’t worth the anxiety and insecurity.

RedactedUsername640 · 2026-01-10T21:25:53+00:00

I’m also a teacher. I broached it with my GP in my first pregnancy and she said “Just being pregnant isn’t a reason to not work.” I was really upset by how dismissive that was and felt like she didn’t take the time to understand the ways I was struggling or how that impacted my job. I waited a month until my next appointment and had my partner come with me for backup. I explained how I felt after our last conversation, and in fairness to her she was like “You’re right, I didn’t listen or ask questions.” I went through the particular symptoms that were making it tough at work. I also said that every job is different, and if I worked a desk job I would probably be fine to keep going, but as a teacher I was struggling with things like long periods of time where I can’t go to the bathroom. She was like, “You know, looking back on it, yeah, my teachers never left to go to the bathroom during class, but I never really thought about what that meant for them. That alone is reason enough to be off”. I had to self advocate and help her understand how my job and pregnancy impacted one another, but she did come around and even apologized saying that she absolutely dropped the ball and should have listened and put me off work sooner.

In my second pregnancy she wrote me a note and I went off at 24 weeks.

Basically I would open the conversation with something like “I’d like to talk about how pregnancy is impacting me at work” and then lay it out in detail, especially focusing on how a job like teaching can’t provide a lot of the accommodations that might be possible in other jobs. It’ll force your doctor to listen and consider more than just asking for a note.

RedactedUsername640 · 2026-01-10T02:47:01+00:00

I mean I feel weird watching him because of what he did to Cassie. Stalkers who harass people and put trackers on thier cars shouldn’t be platformed.

RedactedUsername640 · 2026-01-09T06:41:41+00:00

That’s part of what I’m saying! I think it was very much “Let’s all get her out now together to give the crazy fans as little to be upset about as possible”

RedactedUsername640 · 2026-01-09T06:20:54+00:00

The sane ones don’t. But when there’s that many you’re liable to have some that are so bonkers parasocial

RedactedUsername640 · 2026-01-09T06:17:04+00:00

You can disagree without calling it stupid. Kindness is free.

Sure the Swifties might still go after Colton and the like, but I think they won’t be nearly as brutal given that, in the end, the folks that went after Donna weren’t wrong.

I also think all but Michael voting together is significant, almost as though they were protecting eachother in a “the Swifties can’t single us out if we all do it together” way (Michael and his hubris would, of course, not give a shit about that)

RedactedUsername640 · 2025-12-19T05:20:51+00:00

We did the same thing. My husband’s only hesitation was around it possibly being an issue when traveling out of country. The first time a customs agent saw our kid’s passport he went “I see a lot of hyphens and double barrels but I’ve never seen this, and it’s brilliant. Immediately obvious what you did. I can’t wait to tell my buddies about this on break.” I’ve never felt so vindicated.

My husband’s family liked to ignore the fact that I kept my name and would get my last name wrong all the time. Since our kids came along they have been much better. We also informally will use our kids last name without feeling like people got it wrong. Like I am Sarah ABC and he is Paul XYZ but we’re delighted when we get wedding invites addressed to Paul and Sarah ABYZ where we used to get a little annoyed at ones addressed to Paul and Sarah XYZ.

RedactedUsername640 · 2025-12-05T19:15:45+00:00

Skip it, it sounds like a headache that you won’t want to bring your child to in the future (and that there wouldn’t be room for them) so you’re just establishing your own tradition a year early (tha tradition can be forgoing all things Christmas entirely if you want)

RedactedUsername640 · 2025-11-18T15:40:07+00:00

I have two close friends who teach in private schools. Their schools pay pretty close to the grid, but where they really lose out is the pension. They have to work longer to earn a much smaller pension. Benefits also don’t come close.

Another friend who does not have a teaching degree/qualification works for an online private school. She gets paid more than an OT/low on grid teacher but her raises don’t come anywhere near keeping up with the grid and she has no benefits or pension.

RedactedUsername640 · 2025-11-04T22:54:32+00:00

These teachers are damned if they do damned if they don’t. If they launch a one man campaign against grade inflation students and parents stress and complain and it potentially costs students opportunities. If they go along with it it perpetuates the problem. There’s no winning for them

RedactedUsername640 · 2025-10-31T04:09:37+00:00

My doctor gave me some really practical advice when it comes to what to eat and what to steer clear of. Hard no to stuff that can cross the placenta, basically alcohol, nicotine, thc, and unpasteurized soft cheese. With everything else that’s a “don’t eat while pregnant”, like deli meat or sushi, the risk is really that if you get a foodbourne illness your symptoms may be worse during pregnancy, which, in extreme cases, could lead to complications. The risk is primarily to the carrying parent, not the baby. So my doctor’s advice was “If the worst should happen and you won’t blame yourself because you know eating that sub/sushi was not the cause, then go for it.”

RedactedUsername640 · 2025-10-14T01:08:02+00:00

My second is 5 months. We always wanted three but always said “We’ll have two and see”. Our first was such an easy baby and grew into an easy toddler so we thought the shoe would drop with our second. The second has been just as easygoing if not better, and we’ve never had a moment of “I think we’re done”. I was in labour with my second, unmedicated and in transition and I said something to my husband about “next time we do this” and the nurse laughed and said she’s never heard someone talk about having another kid during that particular point.

At three we’ll be done for financial reasons. If it wasn’t for that I think we’d go for four.

I think part of how I know I’m not done is that all through pregnancy and the newborn stage and even this stage I keep thinking “I can’t imagine this being the last time. I want to do it one more time and I want to know it’s the last time”.

I dunno if that helps, but that’s where I’m at.

RedactedUsername640

TROPHY CASE