So, I haven't made any posts here mostly because I haven't been working for a while - I went back to school and then we moved so I didn't get to finish. But a conversation I was having last week reminded me about some stories from the distant past.
I'm a teacher. I've taught mainly preschool, and I also briefly taught drama at an elementary school. When I had my first child, I went back to work at a nearby preschool (Torture Time) because they offered my daughter a space in their infant room. I was the Pre-K teacher. They'd been open for maybe a month when I started. Here's some of the high points of my 11-month tenure:
- Supplies? What supplies?
Because ... yeah. I had no supplies in my room. None. Fortunately, I had a lot of stuff from my previous teaching position, so I brought in books and toys and dress-up clothes, but I had to go buy art supplies myself. Except, the next day when I came in and opened my supply cabinet, the paint was all gone. A quick tour of the building revealed my paint sitting in the 2-year-old room.
Me: Um, excuse me, you guys have all my paint.
Toddler Teacher: Oh, I thought that was for everyone.
Me: No, that's mine. I bought it myself. With my money.
TT: Oh. Well can we use it?
Me: ... I need it for today's lesson.
After that I started locking my supplies up or taking them home.
-Good thing we weren't on fire?
I'd been working for about 2 weeks when some kid pulled the fire alarm. We'd not only never had a fire drill, I'd never even had a briefing on the evacuation policy. So the alarm goes off really really loud and there's flashing lights and some of my kids start to cry it's scared them so much. But I am a professional and know how to handle a fire alarm! I round my class up, take them out the side door to the yard, and line them up along the back fence. I'm the first class out of the building, and I have my roll sheet and all my students.
So what does the director say when she comes out? "You're supposed to line your class up over THERE!"
Yeah. You're welcome.
-Just go ahead and lie to the parents, they won't know.
This last bit is the part that drove me to quit.
First of all, the school had a "secure" front door. You had to swipe an ID card in order to get in. In theory, this made the school all hi-tech and safe. In practice, parents just held the door open for whoever was behind them. Or, if there was nobody else, you could just knock and look sad and someone at the desk would buzz you in. But every time parents went on a tour, they'd sell the security scan door as the very latest in safety. Think of the children!
Speaking of tours, I can't tell you how many times the director would come through my room and point out how great our ratio was. Ratio = the number of students per teacher in a classroom. My class had 12 students per teacher (at this point I had a co-teacher and 24 kids in our room). The director would talk this up; how great our low ratio was!
Except. 12 students/1 teacher for that age group is the maximum ratio allowed by law. It's not GOOD, it's the bare minimum. And in practice, some teacher always called in sick, so the floaters that were supposed to give us breaks were always in a classroom. Nearly every day I had to send kids to another room because my co-teacher was sick and we were over ratio.
So I was already getting tired of the consistent misrepresentation the parents were getting. And I was sometimes asked to back this up, meaning I was basically told to lie to potential parents. The straw that broke me though, was one morning when a mom says to me:
Mom: So, can I hang out in your class a little this morning?
Me: Sure! I always love to have parents --
Mom ...because there's a cop in the parking lot and I lost my license with my last DUI.
Me: Uh. O...kay.
I must have had a look on my face, because she excused herself a few minutes later during circle time. So as soon as I had the chance, I went to see the director.
Me: Hey, so ... Jimmy's mother told me that she's driving without a license due to DUI. Just so I'm clear, I cannot let her pick him up knowing this information, right?
Director: (looks me dead in the eye) I did not hear her say that, and neither did you. (I swear to god. This is a direct quote.)
Me: .... wha? But ...?
Now, I was maybe 26 at the time. I was young and not particularly assertive, and if the director had told me that was legal, I likely would have believed her. But insisting that I didn't HEAR IT AT ALL? Convinced me that I was going to be committing felony child endangerment or something if I let Jimmy's mom pick him up. I was terrified all day preparing for this conflict, knowing the director wasn't going to back me up and I'd probably get fired.
Jimmy's mom sent grandma to drop him off and pick him up for the next few weeks, at which point my class graduated to kindergarten and I immediately quit.
I'm not sure how long they stayed in business. Preschool teacher is a high-burnout occupation, but even so the turnover there was insane. In 11 months I think the school went through 20 teachers altogether. I was the senior employee by the time I quit.
I'm a teacher. I've taught mainly preschool, and I also briefly taught drama at an elementary school. When I had my first child, I went back to work at a nearby preschool (Torture Time) because they offered my daughter a space in their infant room. I was the Pre-K teacher. They'd been open for maybe a month when I started. Here's some of the high points of my 11-month tenure:
- Supplies? What supplies?
Because ... yeah. I had no supplies in my room. None. Fortunately, I had a lot of stuff from my previous teaching position, so I brought in books and toys and dress-up clothes, but I had to go buy art supplies myself. Except, the next day when I came in and opened my supply cabinet, the paint was all gone. A quick tour of the building revealed my paint sitting in the 2-year-old room.
Me: Um, excuse me, you guys have all my paint.
Toddler Teacher: Oh, I thought that was for everyone.
Me: No, that's mine. I bought it myself. With my money.
TT: Oh. Well can we use it?
Me: ... I need it for today's lesson.
After that I started locking my supplies up or taking them home.
-Good thing we weren't on fire?
I'd been working for about 2 weeks when some kid pulled the fire alarm. We'd not only never had a fire drill, I'd never even had a briefing on the evacuation policy. So the alarm goes off really really loud and there's flashing lights and some of my kids start to cry it's scared them so much. But I am a professional and know how to handle a fire alarm! I round my class up, take them out the side door to the yard, and line them up along the back fence. I'm the first class out of the building, and I have my roll sheet and all my students.
So what does the director say when she comes out? "You're supposed to line your class up over THERE!"
Yeah. You're welcome.
-Just go ahead and lie to the parents, they won't know.
This last bit is the part that drove me to quit.
First of all, the school had a "secure" front door. You had to swipe an ID card in order to get in. In theory, this made the school all hi-tech and safe. In practice, parents just held the door open for whoever was behind them. Or, if there was nobody else, you could just knock and look sad and someone at the desk would buzz you in. But every time parents went on a tour, they'd sell the security scan door as the very latest in safety. Think of the children!
Speaking of tours, I can't tell you how many times the director would come through my room and point out how great our ratio was. Ratio = the number of students per teacher in a classroom. My class had 12 students per teacher (at this point I had a co-teacher and 24 kids in our room). The director would talk this up; how great our low ratio was!
Except. 12 students/1 teacher for that age group is the maximum ratio allowed by law. It's not GOOD, it's the bare minimum. And in practice, some teacher always called in sick, so the floaters that were supposed to give us breaks were always in a classroom. Nearly every day I had to send kids to another room because my co-teacher was sick and we were over ratio.
So I was already getting tired of the consistent misrepresentation the parents were getting. And I was sometimes asked to back this up, meaning I was basically told to lie to potential parents. The straw that broke me though, was one morning when a mom says to me:
Mom: So, can I hang out in your class a little this morning?
Me: Sure! I always love to have parents --
Mom ...because there's a cop in the parking lot and I lost my license with my last DUI.
Me: Uh. O...kay.
I must have had a look on my face, because she excused herself a few minutes later during circle time. So as soon as I had the chance, I went to see the director.
Me: Hey, so ... Jimmy's mother told me that she's driving without a license due to DUI. Just so I'm clear, I cannot let her pick him up knowing this information, right?
Director: (looks me dead in the eye) I did not hear her say that, and neither did you. (I swear to god. This is a direct quote.)
Me: .... wha? But ...?
Now, I was maybe 26 at the time. I was young and not particularly assertive, and if the director had told me that was legal, I likely would have believed her. But insisting that I didn't HEAR IT AT ALL? Convinced me that I was going to be committing felony child endangerment or something if I let Jimmy's mom pick him up. I was terrified all day preparing for this conflict, knowing the director wasn't going to back me up and I'd probably get fired.
Jimmy's mom sent grandma to drop him off and pick him up for the next few weeks, at which point my class graduated to kindergarten and I immediately quit.
I'm not sure how long they stayed in business. Preschool teacher is a high-burnout occupation, but even so the turnover there was insane. In 11 months I think the school went through 20 teachers altogether. I was the senior employee by the time I quit.
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