March has arrived like a lamb according to the weatherman. On the world and local affairs front, however, March has appeared with a vast array of tensions and problems. Unrest here, mistreatment there. It's in my workplace, my city, my state and the neighboring states, my country, the world, and yes, in the universe - the sun spots have been quite active as of late according to the news.

But it is March. February is just a memory. A memory of too much snow, too much cold, too much feeling sick with the cold my students have been sharing with everyone. Today we had drizzle, snow, wind, and I think the sun tried to peek out, and a friend in the neighborhood has seen a flock of robins in her back yard already. It seems too early, but hey, I'm ready for nicer weather.

Wow! A surprise - got to see hubby last night. It's been a little over a week since I dropped him off at a 17 day driver training and refresher course. When he's done, he goes on the road with a trainer for 12 weeks. I miss him terribly and seeing him last night was a delightful surprise.

I'm tired of the snow that continues to fall, however, I'm glad I don't live in DC - after 2 feet of snow last week, they are bracing for 10 to 20 more inches.

Not much to say tonight as I am totally exhausted. Was up at 4 am to get hubby to a truck stop to connect with his trainer, have breakfast while we waited and then drive to work and teach from 8:30 - 6:00. I teach night school as well as regular school.
 

As life changes and we experience those changes, they become part of who we are.

The past four months have seen enormous challenges and changes in my household. Last October, my husband attended a truck driving school to obtain his CDL through the local community college. I studied with him, cheered him on, and applauded his success. I was (and am) extremely proud of him. As we worked our way through the course and began to apply to different trucking companies, we became aware of a legal road block in our way. Before he could complete any more applications, he needed to clear up the legal issues in his home state. With a fabulous lawyer on our side (I realized that I didn't have the legal know-how for this battle.), we emerged victorious after a 2 - 3 month battle. Isn't the legal system wonderful sometimes?

When we got back home, he dove back into applying to various trucking companies; however, now, his CDL was almost 90 days old. Many companies wouldn't look at him.
Two weeks after we fully cleared up the legalities, he got a call from a trucking company interested in hiring him. They called on a Monday, and he needed to be out there (a two and a half hour drive) on Sunday to begin a 17 day refresher training course and then 12 weeks of driver training. So, how to evaluate what was needed and how to pack and get him there in less than a week. Rather than take the bus, he asked them if I could drive him out. No problem. And then I drove home.

He is there and I am here. I dropped him off one week ago. It is hard to get used to being home alone. My kids are grown; the oldest lives on his own, but the youngest still lives here - I rarely see him.

I think what I miss the most is his touch and his smile and his teasing. I have no one to laugh with at night. I long to have a hug.

Saturday, if not earlier, I have to drive out there and bring the taxes for him to sign for who knows if I will get to see him again before taxes are due. He is doing well and I am proud of him. In order to maintain a spot as a driver, he must maintain an 85% average in the classes - his average as of today is 98%.
 

As I sit here at the computer and write and surf and play games, I wonder if I will make it through this winter as well as the school year. The district where I teach has gone to the dogs and our new superintendent, in my opinion, is at fault. She adopted a "hug a thug" policy and publicized that she believed that there were no juveille deliquents or thugs or gang members in the district. Now, one of her monkeys has publically said that in a district the size of ours, four incidents (two guns at one school, a stabbing, a gun at another school, a teacher beaten so that she has nerve damage and is in the hospital) in a month is no cause for alarm.

To this I say Bologne.

By the time I get to the weekend, I'm exhausted. I wish I had time to write on a daily basis here. I think I need to work to force 10 minutes here for writing about my day and getting it off my chest.
 

A rambling I will go, A rambiling I will go.
Hi ho the dairy oh
A rambling I will go!

What a day! Better yet what a week!

I feel as if my head is spinning - but I can't get anything constructive out. I'm preping for NaNoWriMo, reading submissions for the writers guild contest we have going, I'm helping hubby study for his CDL class (truck drivers school), trying to keep up with my own work, and get a writing career off the ground.

As for work, it sucks. It's difficult to talk about and share something with anyone about work. We have a no arrest, no expulsions, and few - if any - suspensions, but we have tons of ALE (alternative learning environment) students but a tiny room to put them in. The student know that no matter what they do, there are few if any consequences. Yeah! Kids are out of control - in the entire district. In my humble opinion, the administrators are following the new superintendent because she has threatened that if they don't follow her wishes, it's her way or the highway. The new superintendent has also told the board of education members that they can't call the schools or go to the schools for information about anything, but that they must go directly to her.

It's like working for a power hungry amoeba.
 

It's only September and the staff at our building are feeling like it is already February. In a school district where a new superintendent was hired last spring, the district seems to be quickly racing downhill.

One cause, a new discipline policy. In this discipline policy, the police are no longer able to enter the high school building and arrest students; we have been told that none of our students are gang bangers or thugs or criminals. Few, if any, students will even be taken infront of the board for expulsion, and most of the unruly students will get at most 5 days of out of school suspension.

In a recent board meeting where teachers and parents voiced concern, the superintendent attacked the teachers by insinuating that they were all lazy and racist and wanted things easier for themselves.

Granted, out of school suspension is viewed as a vacation for most. Some students are even able to work during the day at their usual after school job as well as make up any school work missed. Lesson learned? Do what you want and the punishment won't hurt.

In my school alone, we have had at least three of our p.e. teachers assulted and the discipline action for these students - no more than three days in "alternative learning environment" (ALE = formerly called in school suspension)

One teacher was called a "fag" three days in a row. The student received no consequences, but the teacher was verbally reprimanded for writing the student up.

Today, there was a chick fight in one of the middle schools and one of the girls was either thrown out of the window or at least into the window. (Rumors vary) A teacher called the cops, but when the cops arrived, the administration told them that the situation was under control and they weren't needed. At this time, cops are not allowed to arrest any student on school grounds.

Our new superintendent seems to believe that our teenage, high school students only need a hug and a lolly pop and they will behave. (Oh, but wait! You can't hug a kid, especially at the high school level, because it could be construed as sexual harrassment.)

In one of my classes, we began with a memoir project about their freshman year of high school. One kids comes and tells me he can't write about his freshman year because he was locked up for it - in fact he was locked up from seventh through ninth grade.

The new discipline concept, however, doesn't seem to be working. The theater teacher has been told she will be moving to the tiny room behind the theater (after all it is connected with the theater), the publications room will move to her room, and ALE (in school suspension) will be moving to the publications room because the room in back of the theater is too small to house the ALE kids because there are too many. Go figure!

More tomorrow.
 

And thus ends the month of July. The more I expect that life will get easier as it goes, the more difficult it becomes. I have survived the endurance challenge of teaching high school summer school to students who needed to pass one or both semesters of their junior English course. As the course wrapped up yesterday, I had to tell a girl she hadn't passes. (No surprise to me.) She had turned in one of the five required packets of poetry and one of the five required packets of short stories. I had told her Wednesday that she hadn't turned enough in and she assured me she had. And then yesterday she told me she turned in a "whole bunch of stuff," but she told the principal that she had left it at home and wouldn't pass.

Now, I need to get prepared for the "real" school year. Did I have a break from high school kids?