Chapter Four: Here We Go-a-Looping

Chapter Four:  Here We Go-a-Looping: The next six years at Spring Mill

I was very excited to finally be teaching kindergarten! My parapro and I had become good friends and had gotten used to working together. We had children the same age. We had other interests in common and she was a very diligent worker, unlike some others. Parapros are paid next to nothing, and many of them work that way too. Some are working only to have access to benefits such as health insurance, especially if their spouses are in business for themselves. Mickayla always went above and beyond. Our entire journey of working together for seven years was one of friendship, respect, and cooperation.

Kindergarten is an indescribable experience. You know you are usually “taking” a parent’s most prized possession. You will become one of the most important people in that child’s life, at least for the next couple of years. In the case of “looping” it may even be for longer than that. Looping is when a teacher keeps the same class of students and moves up with them to the next grade. The students have the same teacher and classmates for two consecutive years. There are actually schools that keep students and teachers together throughout extended years. This is one characteristic, among many unique concepts, of Waldorf Schools. There are pros and cons of looping. I did quite a lot of study about this and published an article in a national education journal. When the principal asked if I was willing to give it a try I was excited about the idea.

Looping placed a different perspective on nearly everything I did with my students. Because I believed so strongly in developmentally appropriate practice, I knew I had the added luxury of time with these students. I was also induced to build positive and time-proven relationships with parents. I was compelled to work my hardest at building relationships with those challenging students, knowing that I might very well have those challenges for two years, not just one! It may be incriminating to admit this, but there are few teachers out there who would not secretly admit to yearning for the end of a school year just so they won’t have to deal with little Johnny Lunchbucket (Thanks for the nomer, Gus!).

Some of the experiences of kindergarten are thrilling, others are routine, and still others are heartbreaking. It becomes routine to help fasten and unfasten clothing for going to the bathroom. It becomes routine to open milk cartons and punch straws in juice boxes. It becomes routine to say “hands to yourself!” It becomes routine to go through backpacks and folders for notes from home. It becomes routine to soothe scraped knees and feelings. It becomes routine to tie shoes. It becomes routine to tie shoes. And oh, did I say it becomes routine to tie shoes?

What never becomes routine are those heartbreaking scenarios. When a little one tells you his mommy said they didn’t have enough money for the field trip. When that troubled face says they couldn’t do their homework of “reading” one book each night because the only one home with them was their ten- year-old sister or brother. When a precious (and precocious) little lady says she loves her new dress because it makes her look sexy. When a droopy -eyed little man says he’s sleepy because he was up until eleven watching MTV videos. These situations are never routine. To me, they are still heartbreaking. To this day as I wonder what became of those little hearts and minds. And even now, it is still heartbreaking to hear some of the same from older students, only worse!

It is those moments that are thrilling that can make all the others fade like stars in the daytime, you know they’re still there, but you just can’t see them because the sun is so bright. When that light comes on in a child’s eyes that lets you know they understand, “they got it” – that’s a thrill. When they stumble over tough words and come up with their own version, pasketti and capatiller are good examples, it is endearing. When they give you those unselfconscious hugs it is heartwarming (even with grimy hands). When they bring you a picture they have just painted, saying they knew red was your favorite color, it is charming even if the paint is dripping all the way across the room. When they call you mommy it reminds you of how important you are in their lives.

Of course these are some of the things you might expect to hear from teachers. What about all those things that happen among fellow schoolteachers, co-workers, and administrators? That’s what this book is really about.  The faculty at Spring Mill seemed to get along fine for the most part. Everybody pretty much did their own thing. That is a tip off – when faculty members are not collaborating there is less opportunity for conflict. I do not recall nearly the amount of conflict in six years at Spring Mill as I experienced in one year at my next school! That year was the basis of my doctoral dissertation and the impetus for this book. But more about that later…

Of course there were occasional issues. Like the time we were scheduled for a field trip to the circus. For some of the teachers, one of whom happened to be the grade chair, this was a traditional field trip. How it related to the curriculum I never did figure out. Besides that, I had my own opinions about why this was not the greatest idea for a trip. Take 24 kindergarteners, along with the rest of the grade level which amounted to about 100 five and six year olds, to downtown Atlanta on buses to the (at-that-time) Omni arena, where we would join about 3,000 other kids and teachers for the circus, and we would have to walk blocks to and from the buses? I just did not see the value. Being relatively new, I didn’t say much. I had no choice but to go along anyway. That’s one of the problems with field trips nowadays. They are always for entire grade levels. I even once went on one that was the entire school! Individual teachers/classes cannot schedule trips.

            One of the issues about the circus trip was purchasing souvenirs or refreshments.  The parent permission letter had plainly stated that the purchase of souvenirs would not be permitted, and room mothers would be coordinating snacks to be brought with us. My room mother followed the guidelines to the letter and had juice boxes and small individual bags of snacks. That would have been fine had all the other classes followed suit. But nooooo, two classes bought circus drinks, popcorn, and a souvenir for their kids! You can imagine what that started from the chaperoning parents, putting those of us who had followed the guidelines in a sticky situation. We made it through the day, but you can be sure the next time this grade chair planned a trip I spoke my mind about it.

            Another issue involved parapros. A couple of parapros were assigned to office duties. They were not regular classroom parapros. Teachers or their classroom parapros were not allowed to make copies or operate the laminator. I understand this to a certain extent. The more people that use such equipment the more likely it is to have problems. Requests for copies were supposed to be turned in at least 24 hours in advance. These parapros were often called on for other duties. A couple of them had children in the school.

 Part of the issue involved the location of the workroom where these parapros were stationed. The school’s design had a separate room for a teacher’s lounge as part of the office suite. This was convenient for phones, restrooms, the cafeteria, mailboxes, media center and office. Ever since the school had opened this room had not been used for its intended purpose; it was designated the workroom, although there was a room intended to be used as a workroom located on the opposite end of the building, far removed from the office and cafeteria. The rooms’ functions were essentially swapped. There were advantages for having the workroom closer to the office, but those advantages were not for teachers. In fact, it was a distinct disadvantage for teachers.

Just imagine your classroom is located closer to the now more removed teacher’s lounge. You may think that’s better, and for quick trips to the restroom it may be.  Quick trips to the restroom are actually a joke for elementary school teachers. There rarely is such an opportunity. Only during lunch or planning period! Now, imagine yourself marching your class of 25-30 students from your room to the opposite end of the building for lunch or specials. Now you must backtrack completely to the other end of the building, with your cafeteria tray, to eat your lunch in the lounge. Of course you have to allow time to be back at the opposite end of the building to pick your class up at the appointed time on the dot! Not to mention you need to also go by the office, check your mailbox, put in copy orders, and return any phone calls and make that quick trip to the bathroom.  And I do mean quick because all of this must take place within the time you dropped your students off and the time you must pick them up, about 30 minutes, including traversing the hallways that are about the length of a football field!

Well, back to the parapros. It was unnerving to be hurrying to pick up your class, and suddenly realizing you are short one or two copies of something that must go home today, looking into the office suite, and seeing one of the office parapros sitting at her desk in the copy room filing her nails or reading a book! I’m not kidding. And then the unmitigating nerve for her to remind you about the 24 hour notice, and say she would try to get to it before dismissal, if you wanted to come back and pick it up! My blood pressure is going up just recalling this incident. Of course I would not say anything to the principal, not wanting to be a tattletale, complainer, or grouch (that would come later). I also had the suspicion this parapro was pretty good friends with the principal outside of school.

Another incident that is very vivid in my memory was also related to parapros. A situation arose where one of the office parapros went along on a field trip with her child’s class. There was talk among some of the classroom parapros about whether this should be considered part of their workday or not. They had seen where the parapro in question was signed in on the sign-in book for her regular hours. (Sign-in books have a list of all faculty members and the sign in times are there in the open for anyone to see). There was some disgruntlement being voiced about whether this was “fair” or not.

One day soon after this I happened to be in the office, behind the counter, speaking with the clerk. A different parapro was on the outside of the counter and a comment was made that there was talk about the office parapro going on the field trip. About that time the principal came out of her office and behind the counter. I was caught between the principal and the opening in the counter to the waiting area. And I literally do mean caught! She was very irate. Her voice was raised. What is all this talk going on? It’s nobody’s business what anyone in this office does! I make the decisions around here! She looked directly at me and said, “Do you know anything about this?” I responded that I just knew there was some talk, I didn’t know any details, and please excuse me I had to get back to my classroom! She turned on the classroom parapro at the counter and continued raving.  I hightailed it out of there. I had never had a confrontation with this the principal, and boy can I say that after that I hoped I never did. We have always maintained a congenial relationship to this day.

The founding the principal of Spring Mill moved on to the county office. The new  principal was congenial, and things continued pretty much status quo. If anything, the faculty was left more on their own to go their own directions. This may be interpreted as treating teachers as professionals who do not need micromanaging. On the other hand, there are those who may need some managing! I got along fine with “the new guy.”

In 2002 the system was to open two new elementary schools. I was not dissatisfied at Spring Mill, but since the experience of opening it as a new school had been so rewarding I wanted to be a part of that again. I signed up for voluntary transfer. After attending a meeting where both the principals of the new schools shared their philosophies, I chose to go with S. H.  Miller. I learned another big lesson!

When we had opened Spring Mill, the principal was not coming from an existing elementary school. Indeed, she had not been a principal at all. The principal of S. H. Miller was a veteran in the county. She had opened other new schools. She was coming from an existing elementary school. This is one of those political situations about which I understood very little. I had liked her approach at the meeting. She seemed congenial and professional, with just enough faculty interaction to not be micromanaging. We were given surveys to list our first, second, and third choices of grade levels we wanted to teach. There were no interviews involved, policies required voluntary transfers fill the faculty openings, and after that any leftover openings could be new hires. I had no personal interactions with this the principal throughout this whole process. There were several other teachers at Spring Mill also moving to this school as voluntary transfers.

At this point I was already interested in an EIP (Early Intervention Program) position. In addition to my rheumatoid arthritis, I had now been diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Both of those conditions together were taking their toll. I did not have the energy level I once had and was continually exhausted. I had been on several different medications for the RA and tried every new treatment that came out. Each would help for a time but then the symptoms would eventually recur.

I listed EIP, kindergarten, and first grade as my choices for the new school, in that order.  About two days after the end of post planning, I received a phone call from the principal. She said she had placed me in a first grade position. She also said  that supply orders should be turned in by the end of the week to the secretary. At this point, they were operating out of the county office. The school building would not be ready for occupancy until the very last moment, the week of preplanning. That was the totality of the conversation. No getting to know you, no would you consider, no explanation about this placement. I was of course disappointed but was not in a position to voice this.

            Apparently the principal had called all of the Spring Mill transfer volunteers that same evening. Immediately after getting off the phone with her my phone rang and it was a colleague. She also was “assigned” her third choice. She shared that this same scenario had taken place among most of the other Spring Mill volunteers (who were all calling each other back and forth that evening) – each was basically told their assignment, and no one got their first or second choices. This was the lesson I learned, and looking back I can see that I should have expected it. The principal’s favored faculty from her previous schools were given their preferences first, leaving others (who she did not know from Adam) to fill in the blanks. What I did not see coming and was taken aback with was her curt to-the-point demeanor on the phone.

This was especially confirmed further by the experience of one of the other Spring Mill transfers. This teacher, a younger single girl with about three years of experience also did not get her first or second choice of assignments, but she was okay with the third choice. She had taught an upper grade and a lower grade, and knew that she really did not want the lower, so her middle placement was acceptable. I am relaying Stephanie’s account of what happened to her. When Stephanie went to turn in her supply order to the secretary, she introduced herself. The secretary said, “Oh, you’re (Ms. So and So). By the way, your assignment has been changed to kindergarten.” Well, Stephanie was of course dumbfounded. This was exactly what she did not want. She said something to the effect of, “Oh no I’m not!” She asked if the principal was available for her to talk with and she was. The principal basically told Stephanie she didn’t have any choice, it was her prerogative to make the decision, she would not consider any other alternative placement, and if Stephanie didn’t want it she could look elsewhere.  Stephanie left in tears and basically said she would be taking the matter up with the superintendent.