Living in the South: Tornado Warnings

August 26, 2008 at 11:01 pm | In Living in the south, The Job | 3 Comments

Today was my first “real” day on the job.  Students were in the building, I had a meeting to go to, and I finally had my very own key to my very own office door, allowing me to come and go without worrying about my crappy computer getting stolen. 

At 1:15pm, the principal’s voice came over the loudspeaker and announced to the staff that there was a tornado warning, and we were to follow “tornado warning emergency procedures”.  Um, what? 

Then I remembered that I have a brand new manual with a fire-engine-red cover that says, “EMERGENCY PROTOCOLS”.  I thumbed through.  Bomb threat?  No.  Heart attack?  No.  Weapon in the building? No, thank goodness.

I find the correct protocol, and as I start to review it, I hear the sound of classroom doors opening, the patter of hundreds of feet, and teachers giving directives in urgent tones.  I walk outside my office and see that students are being instructed to evacuate their classrooms.  As I watch, the students are urged to line up against the wall.  Once in place, they face the wall, get on their knees, and hunker down with their bums in the air and their arms braced across their head and neck.   Teachers pace behind them, prompting them to put their “bottoms in the air” and “keep their foreheads on the floor”. 

They looked like prisoners.  Really small prisoners.  Well, the boys did.  The girls could be easily identified by the two inches of hiney hanging out of their low-rise jeans.  I felt sick thinking of how frightened some of them must of been.  I toured the group, listening for tearful gasps or panicked breathing.

We learned that the tornado was six miles away. 

But it wasn’t even raining.

We had to remain silent. 

Thirty-five minutes passed, and the warning was lifted.  Sweaty faces were lifted, limbs were stretched, and students were permitted to talk to one another.

I couldn’t believe what troopers they were.  No stressed out faces, no excessive prodding needed to keep them in that uncomfortable position, no panicked parents calling.

Living in the south:  tornado warnings.  Bless their hearts.

Job Woes

July 8, 2008 at 9:02 pm | In The Job | 1 Comment

Today I emailed the human resources lady at my new job to see when they needed to me to come in to get my background check.  She casually emails me back and says that due to budget cuts, all background checks are on hold while new positions are reevaluated. Um, what?

So I call the head of the school psychology department.  She has to shut the door to her office before we can finish the conversation.  She confirms that all the school psychology spots in my part of town have been cut.  She tries to assure me that they WILL find a spot for me in the county, but it will not be in my part of town, meaning that I will likely have to drive really far, and may end up in some ghetto school.  And since I will not take a job that means that I have to drop the kids at daycare at the crack of dawn so I can drive an hour, I basically consider myself jobless.  Which really sucks, cause I already paid the money to get Dec into daycare AND I busted my butt getting this dissertation done so I would be done with it by the time my job started.

Several weeks ago, I had been tentatively offered another job in another county, so I called the school psychology department head and explained what happened.  She was very understanding.  There is a small chance I may be hired, but only if they can open up a 1/2 time slot, which isn’t very likely.  She says she’ll let me know by the end of the week.  Even if there is a spot, it might be really far away.  But, first things first, we’ll see what she says.

I’ve called all the other school districts in the area and all the other school psychology jobs are filled.  I’d say the chances that I’ll have a job in the fall are about 20 percent.  WHICH SUCKS.  I am ready to go back to work and I thought I had a great job.  I’ve got my doctorate, but I’m unemployed. So, I’m totally disappointed.

Not much ya’ll can say, I know, I’m just venting.

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