"Schools Out For Summer"

Another year at Lake Center Middle School is over.
It's been a long, but good school year. I was lucky to have a total schedule change this year. I used to teach four periods of 7th graders and one period of 8th. This year brought me three periods of 6th graders, one 7th, and one 8th. I was a little nervous about the 6th graders. From what I have seen they are high maintenence. They need help with everything. To my surprise, I loved teaching them. They are excited about doing just about anything I could come up with.
The start of the school year was a tough one. Class sizes were out of control. My biggest class was seventy-two 6th graders, all bouncing off the wall with energy.
There was also the principal from hell. I think it was her mission in life to make all the hard working teachers one by one give up all hope. That was the first time I had ever, not wanted to come to work. That's pretty bad. I am happy to say that she left during the first quarter of this school year. Not without leaving the school over drawn with it's budget, programs cut, and good people that were run off.
The new principal filling in turned out to be great. What a difference a day makes. I swear the day the wicked witch left, the clouds opened up and the sun started to shine. The new principal turned out to be very nice, opened minded, and carried a big stick. I remember the first staff meeting after she got there, we were still sorting out problems from the Wicked Witch. The staff was collecting legal reasons why our grades could not be done by a certain time, and that p/ contract we had till "X" date to turn things in. Then one person said," Why don't we just ask her?" You could hear a pin drop at that moment. We were so used to having to go to legal reasons why we wanted to do stuff, we forgot how to just ask for something that made perfect sense. I'm glad that time period is over.
We also got a new teacher to the PE department. She had never taught before and was doing her student teaching when they hired her to help with the zoo we called PE. She turned out to be a fine addition to the department.
The school year was flying by until that fateful day when with only 20 minutes of class till school got out, it started to rain when my students were on a run. As my students all ran to the locker room to get dry and then go home, I thought nothing of it. I ran track in rain, snow, and even hail. Well, the next day, Physo Mom called and told a tall tale of how her daughter was on one lung and very ill because she ran in the rain. That was a nightmare. She was 100% off her rocker. That lasted about 3 weeks. I' m happy to say that I got the last word. Soon after I found the girls PE clothes left in the locker room. All lost PE clothes go in a basket in my office. Not this time. I just smiled to a co-worker and dropped them in the trash. There was only a few months of school left, and she was going to graduate. She had to buy a new set of clothes just to finish the school year. HA! My small, but satisfying revenge.





I also chaperoned 80+ eight-graders to the D.C. trip again this year. I had a blast! I love that trip. We get to see so many cool things. I look forward to it next year.

Only 3 days after my return from that trip (May 23) I get a frantic call from Miles. Our little girls (dogs) Bailey and Sonoma have been attached by two pit bulls. I drove with my lights flashing, as I broke just about ever vehicular law there is. I came home to find the pit bulls still in my yard. They had broken my fence down. The neighbor across the street sprayed the dogs with pepper spray was was hitting them with a stick to get them off the girls. I'll give you the short version of what happened. Bailey had many external wounds. Sonoma was mostly internal. Bailey had to have three surgery so far. I think that's the last of it. Her neck had a life threatening wound, but her hip took the worse damage. Sonoma almost did not make it, but is now doing really well considering. Both are still sore and Bailey still has stitches. I am very thankful that I still have both of them in my life. They would not have been if the neighbor had not risked all to help them. Bailey is 10 and Sonoma is 2 1/2. Oh, and the cost of the dog's vet bills has pretty much reached 10K. We are still waiting for the report to come in so we can talk to the owner about the mounting vet bills that we had to pay. The owner had come to pick up his dogs from my house, saw me with my bleeding dogs, and has yet to say anything to us. This is going to be a long battle.
June has flown by. With all the DC stuff, and dog problems, I have been squeaking in wedding things. Bit by bit Miles and I have pretty much covered most the things we have to do. Only 5 more weeks till the big day! July 29th! I am really looking forward to it. That and the honeymoon in Muau. I have never been there and cant wait to see how pretty it is there.
As I sit here writing this recap of my school year I think back to the time when I was in school. The last day of school was a fun, but sad one. I missed my friends, but would look forward to reruns of Gilligans Island, and the long hot trip to Bass Lake. Most of of the time was spent in the back of the truck in 90+ degrees waiting to see if the truck would break down. Only the occasional crazy moment of the parents yelling across the gas station to tell how much money to give them and what number pump. Awwwwww memories.
Here is to another school year behind me and one small (I said small right?) step up the pay scale.
Now, where did I put my Margaret?