Ungrateful ....Not Really

This is teacher appreciation week and every day they have been doing something special for us. On Monday they gave us a tootsie pop stuck in a piece of paper with a little note. The one I got was on white paper and written in a pale yellow marker. I could hardly make out the words but one of them was something lick. I felt a little unnerved at first. You see there's a teacher who has made passes at me from time to time and I felt a bit creeped out. How blatant how sick. What should I do. I really could barely read it and the pop blocked some of the message. I threw it in my pocket so I could figure out what was being said and what I should do.

As I walked down the hall another teacher said, "Did you see those pops? You'd think those honor students could have done a better job at writing a message." WEW so it wasn't sleezoid teacher. One of my student was an honor's student and I said, "Oh I got your tootsie pop." She had no clue what I was talking about. I showed it to her. Then I said, you know next time you write something on light color paper you should write it with a dark ink. This was really difficult to read. My old eyes really need help."

Well then it turned into a game of telephone. I said that then she told someone else who told someone else and then the teacher in charge of the group stopped me in the hall.

"I heard you complained about the pops. Some of those kids were really hurt. They worked really hard on them." I told her what I said and suggested that next time she should.... Well before I could spit out what would be helpful she said there might not be a next time. FINE.

The thing was several, not one, not two, not three, but four different teachers were kind of unnerved by the message but I guess I was the only one who said anything to anyone and I suggested that they used a darker ink.

Since student's feelings were hurt, I wrote an apology letter. I suppose I was wrong but it's hard to believe that it took on this much of a life on its own. I really didn't mean to hurt anyone's feelings. I didn't lecture the student about the appropriateness. I didn't say anything about how other people were unnerved by it. Just about the difficulty I had in reading it.

We had a Department Meeting after school and now we were told that if anyone leaves Rome they won't be replaced. AMAZING. I just don't know how we will do it.

Here's the blog contests I entered:

Prize: Svan high chair, seat cushion and tray cover (ARV $350).

Prize: Maya Wrap.

Prize: Room It Up Laptop Messenger Bag.

Prizes (2): Copy of Preacher Creature Strikes on Sunday Christian children's book by Mike Thaler.

Prizes (2): Copy of This is the Day children's Christian book by Nancy White Carlstrom.

Prize: $25 Gift card for Coco-Zen Fair Trade Chocolate Products.

Prizes (2): Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head (ARV $19.99).

Prizes (9): Coupon for a free can of Pillsbury's cinnamon rolls and one of the winners will win a Cinnabon prize pack.

Prizes (5): Escape to Witch Mountain & Return to Witch Mountain DVDs.

Prize: Hazelnut Designs clutch.

Prize: Two sets of 60 Pokemon Platinum Trading Cards: Rebellion and Flourish.

Prize: Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells.

Prize: ZoomAlbum kit.