Contracts Are In

Contracts came today. When I walked into the faculty room the long sheaves of paper poked out of the teacher boxes like pale yellow jonquils in the red Georgia clay. I pulled mine from my box and stared at the Notary Stamp. It’s now official I will be back for yet another year.

Last year I was biting at the bit to leave so I could find some place closer to home. Home being Acworth, my Barbie Dreamhouse home. I had been so frustrated that I couldn’t seem to get a position in another school despite the fact that they seemed to be throwing new schools up like concert flyers on telephone poles. One school seemed larger and grander than the next and certainly they needed more teachers.

Now of course I’m lucky I didn’t get a job at one of those schools. I’ve lost that home. I would have lost my seniority. It was truly a blessing in disguise but I didn’t realize it then.

Now that Darryl’s lost his job I find a certain peace knowing that for at least this next year I have a job. It will be my eighth year at RHS, the longest I have ever stayed at one job before. When I was younger I changed jobs sometimes twice a year. I would work at this restaurant or that retail store chasing nickel an hour raises. Even when I became a secretary I might stay at a location for two years before I was ready to move on to greener pastures.

Now I’m looking at my eighth year in a single school. This means that at the end of that year I will have seen two sets of students who started out with me in the ninth grade. It’s an interesting perspective. You watch them shuffle in uncertainly that first day of their Freshman year. By the time their Senior year rolls around you’ve watched them get their license, attend their prom, and then finally you wonder if that’s really the same kid you knew for years ago as they walk across the stage to receive their diploma.

There’s another wrinkle in the phone call story from earlier this week. One of my students had walked in just as the phone was ringing and said, “I just have this feeling that phone call is for me.” Yes I’m certain he did. The student at the other end of the phone told me that another teacher was busy right that second and asked him to call me to send my student down to his classroom. Since that teacher was the swimming coach, I thought it might make sense that he might ask a student to call because he was supervising kids in the pool. I sent the young man down to the teacher’s classroom.

Two days later I ran into the coach. “How long did you keep G because he never returned to class?” “What? I didn’t send for him.” The teacher replied. “REALLY?”

The trap slammed shut. I wrote the student up but the difficult question was, who was the student who called? Wouldn’t you know his classmates had heard I had figured out the deception and asked me if I had written up P also. P is not my student. I didn’t even know that P had called me. “Yes. Of course I wrote him up. That was crazy that he would call and think I wouldn’t check on it.” Two of my students laughed and said “Yeah that really was stupid that P would do that.” SCORE!!!!!!!!!!! So I wrote him up also delivering the referral to the Assistant principal personally. I’m certain P feels that his friend G snitched. I don't think I will go out of my way to correct this perception.

Today is also candy day. Every week until the end of September, Mars is giving away a candy bar. I won one last week. I hope I win one again this week. I posted it on ThriftyMaven but I wonder how much traffic it will get.

Here are the blog contests I entered today:

Prize: $50 Red Lobster gift card.

Prize: Pair of eyeglasses from EyeBuyDirect.com [excludes designer frames and sunglasses].

Prize: $25 Build-a-Bear Workshop Bear Bucks gift card.

Prize: HomeFree Treats Organic Cookies sampler pack.

Prize: One-year supply of all small & mighty detergent, The Apprentice Complete Season 1 DVD, autographed photograph of Donald Trump and You're Fired! promotional items (ARV $160).

Prize: 8-day/7-night trip for two to a JetBlue Getaways destination city of winner's choice (ARV $3,296).

Prize: Flip Ultra Series II Camcorder (ARV $149.99).

Gun Found At Woodstock High

Contracts came out today. The second I got mine I signed it and hand delievered it to the principal's secretary. I can't afford to play the game I played last year. I waited hoping to get a job closer to our new home in Acworth. Looking back, God was watching out for me. I had a job interview just as school began in Rome. I had tried to find a job in either Cherokee County or Paulding County and I couldn't seem to get an interview.

Now I realize how lucky I was I didn't get on at another school. I have a job in Rome, as well as some seniority. Thank God. Something happened today to make me even happier that I didn't get a job at another school. You see, last summer I tried to get a job at Woodstock High School. I heard that it would be a better situation for me. It would be closer to home and a chance to start fresh at a new school. Usually after five years I leave a school. Now here I am, year seven and I just signed on for year eight.

Just days before I started back at Rome, Woodstock called me to come for an interview. I'm sorry, I got kind of nasty with them. I reminded them that I'd called them quite a few times before I signed my contract with Rome. Then they wanted me to throw that contract back in my schools face. So not cool.

What happened? According to the news two Woodstock High School students were charged Thursday after police got a tip that led to the discovery of an unloaded handgun in a restroom at the Cherokee County school, along with two assault rifles at one of the students’ homes. A third student was questioned by police and released.

One of the students taken into custody, Forrest Busby, 17, faces numerous charges related to weapons, as well as for growing pot in a closet at his home. Busby admitted putting the gun in the Woodstock High restroom, police said. He is being held in the Cherokee Adult Detention Center on $20,000 bond.

The other, a 15-year-old who was not identified, is charged with being party to possession of a weapon on school grounds; three counts of theft by taking; being a runaway; and disrupting a public school. He is being held at the Paulding Juvenile Detention Center.

The third student, 16, was questioned but not charged, police said

As a teacher, I can tell you that lockdowns can be very stressful. I've been through quite a few over the years and all I can say is I'm glad that it was all handled without anyone getting hurt or God forbid, killed.

I heard from my son Michael today. I'm thrilled to know he arrived safely. I love him so very much. I'm working on writing a tribute to him.

Once again I worked on some entries for Thrifty Maven. There's some good freebies coming up and I'm working hard to make the articles for my series on finding a job useful.

I found out I won a bottle of Country Bob's bbq Sauce. Darryl and I tried it before and we liked it. It's kind of pricey but we got the first bottle free and now we will get another free bottle.

Even my students are starting to win. I told them about blingo, winzy, and swag bucks. In the past five days two of my students have won. One of them one $100 and the other won $500 pretty awsome

Here are the blog contests I entered today:

Prizes (5): Copy of The Perfect Baby Handbook

Prizes (4): Pizza Hut Tuscani Lasagna order.

The winner will receive a coupon for a FREE Guiltless Grill entree at Chili's

Contest: Win a $259 Ruby Necklace from DiamondShark!

Prize: Keurig Platinum Home Brewing System and assortment of K-Cups (ARV $169.95).

Prize: Hasbro Family Game Night video game for Nintendo Wii.

Prize: Shaklee Get Clean Starter Kit (ARV $176).

Prizes (3): Freshwater pearl bracelet.

Prizes:
- Copy of Welcome Home by Steve Lorch.
- Copy of Our Lifeship: A Study in Proverbs for Women by Lynn Wallace

Prize: Bottle of Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce.