2005-2006 The One where I got to be in one building again.

THE ONE WHERE I GOT TO BE IN ONE BUILDING AGAIN  2005-2006: Wichita Public Schools: White PreK-5 Library

2005-2006 School Year Photo

It was great being 6.2 miles from School. Our oldest son would go to school with Brad in the morning and I would drop off our youngest son at his Elementary School. Both boys would come home with Brad. On a no traffic day my commute was less than 10 minutes. 

The Professional Development day that had started a few years earlier somewhat forced my Specials Team to be a unified group. Up until then Specials Teachers really only depend upon themselves. The creation of a building schedule was no longer determined by our building. It was now determined by the school district. Although I was NEVER guaranteed a job on a yearly basis (due to Library not being contractual planning time), our PD day pretty much meant that my job would not get cut. As I mentioned in another blog entry the addition of the PD day was the beginning of our district's substitute teacher shortage. Most substitutes soon began to figure out if they accepted a TU, W or TH job they might not get a plan break that day. Can you blame them? Even worse was the fact that our classroom teachers now would have one day each week where they didn’t get plan time. The plan time they did get the other 4 days of the week was contractual but trust me, most teachers need and appreciate plan time EVERY day. Another thing that contributed to the substitute teacher shortage was the whole facility waiting thing for music and art teachers. What substitute wants to go room to room on a cart? Needless to say it was expected that those of us on the Specials team that were available to see a class had to pick up the slack. So even though our schedule showed a plan time on a PD day, we rarely got it. 

Suzy, did I inspire you to become a Librarian?

It was often hard for my Specials team members to understand why my schedule had more plan time than they did. It was not plan time, it was management time for the upkeep of the library. This did cause some tension on my team. Library Media Specialist jobs should not be compared to the other specials. Other districts around us had Library clerks that worked in School Libraries which allowed the Library Media Specialist to focus on teaching and collection development. No such thing in USD 259. I can honestly say that because of this our collection suffered as I concentrated my efforts on my teaching which was heavy on technology. I will to this day say that of all the Specials jobs at the Elementary level being a Librarian without a clerk is probably the most demanding. My current job as a Technology Teacher (including the grading of 300 some students) is much easier than being a Librarian without clerical support.   Our school was huge and had 4 sections of each grade level. In our first years at White Elementary School our enrollment was close to 700 students. We also were a highly mobile school which meant that kids moved in and kids moved out. Our book loss on a yearly basis was high and typical of a school of poverty. When a student would ask me for a certain book I would often reply “It did not get turned in.” Can you guess what the #1 book was that I had to constantly replace? THE CAT IN THE HAT.  I wonder how many copies of that title I purchased throughout the years? I know it was several. 

2005-2006 Specials Team (PE Teachers not pictured)

I had a great team that I worked with. I can not remember the name of the older male PE teacher but our other PE teacher was Nancy. Erin Earle and Suzy Paterson were our music teachers. Rhonda Mance was (and continues to be) the art teacher.

Although Suzy only taught at White one year we had an immediate bond. We were both into fitness and had a shared love of the Oklahoma Sooners. 

Suzy and I had a shared bond of fitness

Stay tuned for my next blog entry on 1/29/2022 THE ONE WHERE I TALK TO YOU ABOUT TEACHER ON TEACHER BULLYING  2006-2007: Wichita Public Schools: White PreK-5 Library

This will be a hard topic for me to write about. If you have experienced bullying as an Educator, I would love to hear your story. PLEASE NOTE THAT I WILL NOT BE NAMING NAMES, BUILDINGS OR DISTRICTS WHEN I TELL MY MY EXPERIENCES.

Please be on the lookout for a special blog entry on 2/7/22 that will contain a tribute with a special announcement.