Worked: 5:30 - 3:00, 4:15 - 6:00
Spent: Nothing!
It just so happens that today is that magical day of the year upon which thousands of teachers across California (as well as the nation) are blessed with so-called "pink slips" (which, much to my dismay, are not even pink). Technically called Reduction in Force (RIF) notices, these are the notices that many new teachers get year after year telling them that their skills may or may not be necessary during the upcoming school year. Typically, most school districts will distribute these en masse because it's very difficult to lay off a teacher (although not impossible) who did not receive a preliminary RIF in March. Due to the ridiculous "Last In First Out" (LIFO) regulations that govern hiring and laying-off of teachers at most districts, these pink slips are overwhelmingly distributed to new-ish teachers (or seasoned teachers who transfer to different districts) regardless of their pay and their performance. Teachers of "core" subjects (English, math) might be spared the pink slip slightly more often than teachers of subjects that the Powers That Be have deemed less significant to our youths (science, history, health, music, drama, PE, foreign languages, etc.), but that's not always the case.
Luckily, my district functions at a level only slightly below average, meaning that when compared to other districts across the nation, we're doing alright. Because our class sizes are already maxed out, the district did not have to issue any RIFs this year. Most of my teacher friends at other school districts have received preliminary pink slips literally every year since we started teaching almost five years ago. Every single March they are warned that their job may or may not be there for them next year. They panic, they look for other jobs (which are not there), but more often than not their pink slip is rescinded in mid-May and they have a year of relative security before they have to worry about getting laid off again.
When confronted with budget problems in 2009, my district confronted the problem somewhat differently. While other local districts issued loads of preliminary pink slips in March 2009 (the end of my second year of teaching), our district issued only a handful. The four of us who were hired for the social science departments on the same day with the same credential were spared, along with some teachers from the English and Science departments who were hired on the same day with a credential from the same teaching program. Fast forward to the end of June, when the district decided to do a second round of pink slips (they cited a section of Ed Code that allows a second round of RIFs in times of unprecedented economic stress). The social science department had to get rid of two full time positions. Since four of us were the lowest on the todem pole, they put our names in a hat. They drew two names. One of those was mine. They didn't rescind those pink slips. That was a bad year - of the 28,000 CA teachers that received preliminary pink slips, 16,000 actually lost their jobs. I lucked out when a teacher who had survived the cuts decided to become an administrator at a different district in October 2009, so I was able to take his position, but it came with a pay cut, benefits cut, increased class size, and a myriad of other drawbacks.
Yes, of course I am incredibly grateful to have a job. Several of my friends do not. Several really fantastic teachers that I know personally do not. It's just that when I read about record Wall Street and bank profits coupled with record bonuses handed out to most of these executives (And for what? Royally screwing up the foundations of our economic system?) and then when I hear various pundits standing up for them, for their bonuses, for their lowered tax rates, I get a little pissed off.
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