Ah, where to begin? I should start on a positive note, so let's have some pictures of Daven! He's 7 weeks old now!









I love this kid. Seriously, I don't know what I would do without him. He brings me so much joy. I can't get enough of him!

So it seems that I will be able to spend more time with Daven than I thought. Because I'm not going back to work in a week after all.

My principal emailed me last week and said that we needed to meet so that he could catch me up on everything that the sub had been doing. Seemed legit since my maternity leave is almost up. But for whatever reason, I had a bad feeling about it.

Our meeting was set for Thursday afternoon, and I went in early so that I could see the kids and talk to the sub. They all seemed happy to see me. The 7th grade showed me a song and dance they had been working on. It was the closer act from Sister Act 2. I asked the sub how she came up with it and she said that the principal wanted her to do it. So I asked her where she got the music - yep, from the principal. Did he ever offer these resources to me? No, of course not.

We talked for a few minutes after the kids left and she told me that they were having to take all kinds of extra time to try to get that song and dance together because they were going to enter it into a fine arts fair. So not only were they taking free time and elective time, they were also taking band time. In the two months that I have been gone, my band and orchestra have met only 4 times. What a shocker. But it wasn't my sub's fault. I told her that he was supposed to tell me everything that she had been doing with them and she said that she hadn't talked to him or given him any lesson plans. Uh huh. Strange.

I went in to the meeting and after a few brief exchanges of small talk with him pretending he cared about how I was doing, he fired me.

But it's ok, because he's going to pay me until the end of July. See, isn't that ok? ::angry face::

One reason was because my teacher license isn't all figured out yet. Did he expect me to do this while trying to adjust to life with a newborn? He told me that he would help me with this, but then never followed through. Ok, so fire me for that. But if you're going to fire me, then you need to fire the other teacher there who not only lacks a license, but also has never even had any teacher education at all! And she's been there as long as I have. Be fair and fire her too.

I don't have quality music lessons. Really? I don't? How do you know? He's only formally observed me once and beyond that has no more than walked in and out of the classroom. And I haven't had to turn in any lesson plans to him. So how does he conclude that my classes suck?

Apparently I have bad rapport with my students. But they like me. Yes, not only did he say this but he also typed it up in a letter he sent me. So I don't have a good relationship with the students but they like me. No, that's not a contradiction at all!

My classroom is a mess. No, it was a mess and I cleaned it up and organized after you said something the first time.

You have food in your classroom. Yeah, and I was fucking pregnant the entire school year! Does he not see how I would need to keep food around? Also, the only place I had food was in my desk drawer, so this means that he snooped around and looked through my desk. It's not like anything was open. I had pop tarts and a jar of peanuts and some easy mac. Oh, and at least 2 of the primary teachers have mini fridges in their classrooms. Explain to me how that is fair.

I supposedly made it apparent on facebook that I don't value my job, have passion for it or take it seriously. First of all, how did he even see my fb page? Everything about it, including pictures and status updates are set to private so that only my friends can see it. Second, what is he talking about? I have said stuff like "So glad it's Friday" or "It's going to be a long day". I've probably even said something along the lines of "This faculty meeting was never ending". Again, I was PREGNANT. I was waking up in the morning to dry heave stomach acid. I was throwing up my lunch in the trash can at work. I was constantly uncomfortable.

I only have 3 teachers as "friends" and one of them didn't friend me until after I had gone on leave. Did one of them start shit? The only other thing I can think of is that one of the parents last year's 8th graders who I am friends with snuck a peek at my page and decided to take things out of context and start shit.

I so wish that I could have defended myself at the time. I wish that I had. But all I could manage to do was sit there and cry. "You need to take this extra time to reflect and consider whether or not you really want teaching as your career path". How are you going to say that to me? Or anyone?

I can't help but feel like he's had it in for me for a while. And I did manage to tell him that I thought that he has wanted to fire me all school year. His response to that? "Yeah, well..." So I guess that since the moment he found out that I was pregnant, he decided he was going to put a plan into motion that would allow him to give me the boot and still cover his ass at the same time.

The whole "lookie at how much better your sub does than you" thing - well if you had given me some fucking support and a budget I would have been able to do the same things.

Fuck him.

Fuck that school.

Like I said before though, I do get to spend more time with Daven. And I'm in the process of updating my resume to send out for other jobs. I've already applied for a temp summer job in June that has something to do with grading standardized tests. We need to save anything we can.

So that's the down low, written especially for Shelbs. I know we haven't gotten a chance to talk. I'm pissed and hurt and my self esteem isn't that great right now, but I'm also in a way relieved. I just wish I could have left that school on my own terms. Miss you, girl. Let me know if you can come over this next Wednesday!