Fidgety: October 2008

October 26, 2008

No Newcomer

Our quiet Friday morning was interrupted when WD, aka 'Walking Disaster' reported to our room for the first time. "Attention everyone, we have a new room member. This is WD." We looked up from our papers momentarily when Miss WD blurted out, "Okay, where am I going to sit?" Before anyone could answer, she added, "I know the drill. This is not my first day you know," She scanned the room. "Well, I guess no one's offering, so if you all just want to ignore me, then that's fine." She dropped her coat and bag on an empty seat by the door. We all looked around and then rolled our eyes at each other. Essie offered Miss WD a seat next to her at the head of her table. Miss WD looked at the seat, paused and turned back to the group, ignoring Essie's offer. "It's ok. If nobody's going to move, I'll just sit on the floor. That corner looks empty. Is that okay with you? Would it bother any of you if I just sat on the floor in the corner?" "You can sit here," said Mr. M, generously offering his own seat, next to 3 Seater's chair. "No, she is not going to sit here." 3 Seater warned. "Sit down, sit down, please. I will sit on the other side," Mr. M insisted. WD accepted and sat herself down, legs crossed and arms folded." "Thank you, Is this this an incohesive group or what? You know, we're all in this together," she rambled to herself. "Oh, is that coffee for everyone or do I have to ask someone's permission to drink it? I'll have to bring in my mug. I am going on my third year reassigned. This is my third room. You'd think that you would have a procedure to welcome newcomers." I tried to ignore her but I had to cover my face to muffle the laughter. WD couldn't sit still for a minute. She walked around the room, looking here, there and under all of the tables. "I really need a seat against the wall and a desk for my laptop, near an outlet and room to plug in my phone," Miss So demanded out loud. "I don't have my laptop today but I bring it about once a week, you know, to get my stuff in order." At that point, I noticed WD eyeing my surge protector.
She then disappeared into the hallway and we sighed with relief. Her incessant talking was giving us all a headache. Cane had both of his ears covered with his hands. "Wow, what was that?" asked Sketcher. "I don't know but I think she should go back to wherever she came from," responded Marley. "Yeah, but they probably kicked her out of the other place." Sketcher shook his head and put his earphones on. "I'm going to sleep."
We could all hear WD in the hallway, rambling on to herself. "This group needs to be more cohesive. We're all on the same side you know. Them, against us."
Elsie addressed her as soon as she stepped back in the room. "You may have forgotten, but you were offered a seat when you came in. Why didn't you just sit down? You put your coat on an empty seat. Isn't that an available seat over there where you put your coat?" Elsie's volume accelerated along with her annoyance.
Now angry at Mr. M for giving WD the seat next to her, 3 seater began to roar at WD.
"And, I am letting you know now, you are not staying at this table. This is a quiet table. Go sit back over there", 3 Seater pointed across the room. "Tell me something, why do you have to displace someone just to have a seat? That is his seat and you should respect that. "Well, noone was showing me where to sit," she responded with a whine. "And who are you!? You should know the deal. You've been around enough! We don't have to accommodate you. You need to fit in with us." 3 Seater stated her piece, but it wasn't over there. It seemed like everyone wanted a piece of the action. Trap stood up and had a few authoritative things to say to WD. "Ok, it's my turn to tell you what the deal is. First of all, you had no right to take to this man's seat. He offered it to you out of kindness, but there were empty seats available to you. You came in here with an attitude and some expectations and now you need to get those out of your head. We are going to start this whole thing over. You will get up, give this man back his seat and sit by the door." "Can I say something?" asked WD. "No!" answered Trap. "But I just want to respond to..." Trap gave WD another loud,"No! You you said enough. I think you owe everyone an apology." "Well, I'm sorry but..." "There is no 'but.' You can give Mr. M his seat back now." WD got out of the seat and made her way to the one by the door. "Thank the lord," 3 Seater whispered under her breath. She turned to Mr. M and said, "You I'll talk to later." "What did I do?" he asked. "I was just trying to be nice." "Like I said, we'll talk about it later." And with that, we all soaked in the next few moments of silence.

October 23, 2008

I've Been Setting Mousetraps...

I have been out of the loop for the past few days. Writing rebuttals is very draining. My best advice to anyone that is meeting with their principal to discuss allegations is,"Keep your Mouth Shut." There is nothing you can say or do that will help when allegations are made against you. Speaking to a principal is just as helpful as helping them hold a loaded gun to your head. The principal will ignore what you say and write only what they want to see written on their report. If it makes them look good, they will write it. If it makes you seem imcompetent, they will write it. "How can they do that and get away with it?", you may ask. Very easily. They lie, distort the truth, twist and turn the facts and scramble your words until you barely recognize who and what the report is about. There are so many holes in my principal's report that I have set traps to keep the mice away.

October 13, 2008

Under Assault: Teaching in NYC: A shout out to TAGNYC

Damned if you do Anything.

It's almost six months from my original date of reassignment. The UFT's "Don't call us, We'll call you" attitude" is really getting to me now. In spite of their rules, I went ahead and called them from the Rubber Room.
"Oh you're case? Let me check. What school are you in again? I'm so sorry. He, she, they are away from their desk. Do you want me to put you through to their voicemail? What district is that again?"
I called back four times. I left a message with every "he, she and they" that the receptionist would connect me to. I finally set an appointment to meet with my UFT chap.
"What is it exactly that you want to meet about? UFT chap asked.
"Teachers in my room are going back to their schools. I want out." I said. "What's going on?" Are you just going to let me rot in here?
"Your case is somewhat complicated. It's been almost six months and you are sitting there with no formal charges. The regulations say that they can't hold you any longer than six months without charges. After six months, they(your school) will have to take you back. When the six month point comes and they don't send you back, you can file a grievance on the grounds that you haven't been charged and that will probably piss them off. You need to sit tight and not push the envelope. If you do, she(Ms. Principal) will probably get angry and retaliate by making up charges against you. If she makes up charges, you will have to go through the whole 3020a process.
"You mean they have six months to charge me and when the six months are up, they can first decide to charge me with anything they want?"
"Yes."

October 8, 2008

Of Liars and Puppeteers...

The purpose of my latest stint with Ms.Principal & UFT 'chap' was to review OSI's findings in my case. What a joke. After going over the OSI's "substantiated" findings(fabrications) in my case, UFT chap kicked me under the table to keep my mouth shut. It is not only the findings that are rigged, but anything you say in response to the findings can and will be recorded in writing by the principal and held against you at your next meeting. Mind you, principal will only select statements either good or bad and use them out of context to make you look irrational and unbalanced. Ms. Principal is very good at this. She can twist and turn words till they take on meanings that one never thought they could. My statements have been so convoluted that I don't even recognize them.

I am convinced there is no way to defend yourself against the DOE. They have the whole system rigged in their favor. Right this very moment, while Randi is off on her new venture at the AFT, Klein is gearing up to hire more liers- oops, I mean lawyers and puppeteers- uh I mean principals (who call themselves CEOs). Hey, what's the difference what we call em? They are all part of the plan to kill the public education system and it's only a matter of time before they do.

October 5, 2008

Today's Accomplishments...

October 2, 2008

It's All About Nothing.

I am starting to lose my mind. Getting up in the morning isn't like it used to be. In fact I can't even remember what it used to be like. How does one get motivated to wake up, shower, get dressed and get to work on time when there is no work? What is the purpose of sitting in a room where "nothing" gets done and "nothing" is expected of you? Is there such a thing as being motivated to do nothing? "I'm so excited, I have nothing to do today." or "Guess what? I have a lot of "nothing" to do today!"
Imagine the conversations one could have...
"What did you do today?" "Nothing."
"Sorry I can't talk now, but I have to get back to nothing."
"I am so exhausted from doing nothing."
"I'd better get to bed, I have so much "nothing to do tomorrow."
"Yes, you'd better rest up." (Wouldn't this would make for a great Seinfeld episode?)
How many newspapers, books, magazines, prayers and restaurant menus can one read before losing it? Moocher is famous for reading every newspaper that he can get his hands on, but never purchasing a single one. The minute someone dozes off, his paws are on their newspaper. If there is a pile of papers in front of you, he will pick through them without hesitation. You can just feel his prowling eyes scanning the room for his next unknowing victim. He will even do your 'Soduku' without asking for permission. Isn't there a law about that somewhere?
Oh, the insanity of doing nothing.

Blogger proofoflife said...

Your life sounds like Waiting For Godot! What is the UFT doing? NOTHING! Oh I forgot they are arming principals to put more teachers in the RR with the new data reports. Try to hang in there you are not a NOTHING! We are victims of a weak union, and that is the long and short of it!

October 5, 2008 11:31 AM
BTW, I found this great website. It describes exactly what we do all day!

We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.
-Edward R. Murrow

May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won’t.
- George Patton

Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it.- John Lennon

Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."
-Martin Luther King Jr.

"No one is free when others are oppressed"
~Unknown
Martin Luther King, Jr.
We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. -unknown

You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.

Origin of The Rubber Room...(From Rubberroommovie.com)

Exact specifics as to when, why and how The Rubber Room came into being are next to impossible to come by, although wild speculation abounds. The likelihood is that, rather than being consciously created by any one person or group, The Rubber Room slowly but surely developed over a period of years through a process of trial and error, whereby teachers deemed unfit to remain in the classroom where "reassigned" to the nearest empty and available administrative space.
The term "The Rubber Room" appears nowhere in the formal legislative code governing New York City schools. When a New York City educator is sent to The Rubber Room, that educator is not openly or specifically told that he or she will be going to a place called "The Rubber Room". Moreover, if you telephoned an official in the New York City school system and asked for directions to "The Rubber Room", you may very well likely receive a response, possibly masked in faux confusion, telling you that there is no such place called "The Rubber Room". Nevertheless, "the room" undoubtedly exists and, because it has no official name, those three provocative and inflammatory words, "The Rubber Room", make up the default epithet by which it has come to be known, even by high-ranking school officials, many of whom find the phrase distasteful.
The exact meaning behind the words "The Rubber Room" is a topic of hot debate, particularly for occupants of The Rubber Room itself, some arguing that it is a reference to a padded room where mentally ill patients are placed, others proposing it is a room where once normal people are slowly and steadily driven crazy, still others believing it to be simply a generic allusion to a prison cell. There are even some -- more than one might initially suspect -- who claim to have been present during the exact moment when the phrase was coined, or even to have coined it themselves. Aside from etymological differences, however, almost everyone agrees that "The Rubber Room" is a pejorative term used to describe a room where New York City teachers are sent, usually involuntarily, to sit idle day after day while still collecting their salaries, often for months and sometimes for years at a time.
Over the years, many have made efforts to eradicate The Rubber Room entirely. For example, in March 2002, then Chancellor Harold Levy vowed to close The Rubber Room after becoming frustrated with a particular case, and in January 2004 Randi Weingarten, UFT President, called for an unconditional end to all of New York's Rubber Rooms. Despite best efforts, however, "the room" remains. http://www.rubberroommovie.com/

Do not believe...

Do not believe because you read it in a book,
Do not believe because you saw it on television,
Do not believe because science says so,
Do not believe because a famous person says so,
Do not believe because a wise person says so,
Do not believe because a wise person believes it,
Do not believe because your best friend believes it,
Do not believe because everyone else believes it,
Do not believe because others have believed it for a thousand years,
Do not believe because you've heard it many times before,
Do not believe because you are told you must,
Do not believe because others expect you to,
Do not believe because it gets you accepted
Do not believe because it will make your parents happy,
Do not believe because it will get you noticed,
Do not believe because you want to believe,
Do not believe because you can't afford not to,
Do not believe because it helps you cope,
Do not believe because you'd go mad if you didn't,
Do not believe because you must believe something
Do not believe because there's nothing else to believe,
Do not believe because it feels good to believe,
Do not believe because it makes sense,
Do not believe because your eyes tell you it is so,
Do not believe because it is your own experience,
Do not believe because it feels true,
Do not believe because you know it is true,
Do not believe any of this, Believe only that you are,
And do not even believe that,
For that is beyond belief.

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