Looking for Silver Linings

I've talked to a lot of people in the last couple days. Union people. Colleagues. Students. Parents. I have tons of morale support, but the truth is that I have to eventually face Principal Palpatine with no more backing than my union rep, and I've come to understand that even that may be denied me. It's been a roller coaster of hope and despair.

Least useful: Our union president. I don't mean to imply that she isn't sympathetic to my cause. But being that she's the one who dances with the district brass the most frequently, she's probably the least capable of throwing weight around in a teachers defence. Most of her e-mails to me have been explaining the extent of administrative rights and powers, as well as the restrictions of the union. She's the one who told me that the district has already flexed its muscle in refusing to allow a union rep to sit in a meeting that wasn't a formal disciplinary action. Her best advice: "Take lots of notes, and good luck"

Most useful: Mark - School Board member. As I said in my last post, I e-mailed Mark and asked him if he would agree to meet. He's a former band teacher himself, and he and I had worked together on several projects. Mark came to my classroom today, we talked for over an hour. I was very careful not to ask for any favors, only advice. But in the course of explaining the events as they unfolded, I told mark about Palpatine's formal e-mail cc'd to two assistant superintendents. "She cc'd Carl?" he asked me. I nodded. He said, "I'm meeting with Carl tomorrow. I'll have a word with him."

That may do wonders for damage control, but that wasn't the best thing about my talk with Mark. He gave me lots of advice about how to proceed with Palpatine. A lot of it echoed things that everyone else was telling me: Don't take a hard stance, don't give her reason to bring down a charge of insubordination. At the same time he gave me advice that only another music teacher could have given. He reminded me that there was no way that a band teacher could be expected to produce a marching product starting in October. It would be the end of the football season before we even got people hired. "She'll have to wait until next year, at the very least. There's leadership training, show design, uniform and equipment purchasing, music selection, parent organization... That all takes a long time. And... well... how long has she got left anyway? Do this right, and you can wait her out."

I hope so. My closest friend on campus (Elaine - English teacher extraordinaire) told me that it may be best to think of Palpatine as a permanent fixture. Everyone knows Palpy has her eyes on a higher district job, and will most likely be gone... maybe soon. But you never know. As far as I know, she's not yet finnished her doctorate and there's never a gaurantee that she would find another job immediately. Elaine: "It might not be a bad idea to have feelers out there."

In the mean time.... despite having gotten a full night's sleep, I still haven't recovered from my Sunday-night worry-fest. Grades reports are due tomorrow, and I haven't had a cohesive lesson plan in AP Theory since Friday. Wait... huh? I'm supposed to teach music?