Tuesday, August 23, 2005

LSHS Orientation

Orientation has begun. And while I may not have an email account (or a signed contract), I do have my name listed as having an email on the staff email webpage. Somehow, I was one of the few that didn't get a form for signing up, so DeAnn (whose name you will probably see quite frequently--Office Manager, Secretary to the Principal, answer-person extraordinaire) is looking into it. On another note, Emily Waterston, was given a middle initial for her email account, even though she doesn't have a middle name.

This morning I was a little late to orientation (grr) and I was looking for the "staff lunch room" where the meeting had moved. We were having freshman orientation from 8-4, and I asked one of the adult link leaders if she knew where the staff lunch room was. Yes, she said and gave me directions, "But students aren't allowed in there." Um, "I teach here." So that was time number one. Time number two was when me, Rochelle, and Emily (all of us are new hires in the Communications department, and I think the three of us will most likely become close as we're all close in age and fairly new at this teaching thing--Emily is 24 and had been budget cut from two other districts and Rochelle is about my age and had done a long term sub position last spring but otherwise this is her first job as well) walked through the Dean's Office area. There is a secret staircase (which isn't terribly secret) that only the staff can use; it runs up the center of the building through the Dean's office (Dean=Assistant/Associate/Vice Principal), the CRA (we have decided to pronounce it "craw" and it stands for the Community Resource Area, I think--otherwise known as, our cubicles), and the Library upstairs (which is supersmall). One of the Dean's secretaries, who we had met just an hour before, asked, "Can I help you ladies." "No, thanks, we're just going upstairs." "Oh, geez, I didn't realize you were teachers!" And later, Rochelle and I were in our cubicle area (Communications has a smaller CRA across the way from the main one, which I like because we get real windows, as opposed to those silly windows that look out over the commons, and we have less people in there, so we have a better chance of getting things done) and a set of parents and a grandparent came in and they were like, "You two are teachers! No way!" We look mighty young to be teachers... Rochelle and I decide we must be resigned to hearing that a lot. I guess it's not such a bad thing!! But I will have to start wearing my name tag, where I don't look like a pumpkin (as I did in my Roseville ID) but my shoulders are so broad that I kind of look like a football player. Wah. I suppose we're never really happy with our pictures, but I had previously been pretty satisfied with my driver's license. But that was when I was sixteen and eighteen. Very different time, I suppose.

Here also are the board notes that have me officially hired at Lakeville: August 9, 2005

(Elisa and Kathy are also hired in the same board meeting--woo hoo!)

In other news, I am still pending. I have since taken some action--I emailed several people (DeAnn, Principal Douglas, the head of personnel, as well as the contact at the Dept of Ed website) but it was when I called the department that I actually got a few answers as to what I can expect. I still don't know why it has taken so long (I haven't had any criminal record and I went through the program as everyone else did) but I was told that they were to review my file in the next two days. Tomorrow marks Day 2, and even though I have a district orientation, I plan to call them by three o'clock if my application is still showing up as "pending." Technically, I am to start on August 30th (the official first day of my contract), so I'm a little nervous about that, given today is... well, a week away! I don't even think they can mail the contract in time. I'm frustrated. Not only did the U keep my application information well beyond the time they said they would (they kept it for a month when they said the process should only take ten days), and the government shut down, but the Department of Education has somehow kept it tangled up as well. I probably shouldn't write about it any more; it's frustrating enough to make me cry!

Also, my twisted ankle (yipes!) has slowed down my move--both into the house and into the classroom. But I have recruited my friend Kelly to help me with much of the moving into the classroom as I am located on the third floor and the elevator was out of order today. I carried one box upstairs, but that was pretty rough, especially since I have been putting my weight onto my right side.

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