We Did It!

At about 9:00 pm, our negotiations team reached a tentative agreement!!!! So, work to rule is supended as we look at the proposed contract.

I know work to rule had a large part in getting a settlement. Together with big turnouts at Meet and Confer and the school board meeting, letters to school board members, an ad in local papers, our work on the levy, and wearing all that red, we really earned this one. I'm so proud to be part of a dedicated, effective, gutsy group of educators.

So, I suppose I'll get at up at 4:00 am tomorrow, get into school, stay until 10:00 pm, sign up for fifteen unpaid committees...

Seriously, I need to be careful not to slip back into that old, comfortable martyrdom. Looking back over these ten days, there are some changes I'll work to make permanent. I won't be using the fancy powerpoints that came with the curriculum that took hours to fix and no one appreciated but me. I will keep going to "JMS Choir Practice" after school on Fridays. I'll check in more often with colleagues about how their handling their workload. Students are going to be running more of the day to day work of my classroom. I'm going to worry less about pretty bulletin boards and fussy activities and focus more on big picture planning and efficient assessment. I'll choose time with my family over time with my gradebook more often. I'm going to make another $300 on eBay.

I encourage you to look at what you can take from these ten days.

Let me know what works and thanks for reading. Thank you more for acting.