Exodus: A Cautionary Tale, in which one gets what one asks for (principal, class)

[lhpartridge]

I've had some crazy days at school over the last thirty years, but this one was beyond belief.

It began yesterday, when I was scheduled to give the state retests. I let the new principal know that because I missed the end of the school year last year due to major surgery, it was ill-advised for me to give the tests, as they require continuous standing for hours on end. If I had known, I would have gotten a new note from the doctor last Thursday when I went for a follow-up appointment. I immediately called the doctor's office to have a note faxed, but it never came. So I administered the test, which ended around the time that fourth block started. I missed my planning period, so I never had a break before my students came, other than lunch in my room.

I didn't find out until after school ended that the reason that the kids were so hyped up when they got to me was the huge gang fight in the cafeteria while I was testing. Before too long, my stress level and dehydration combined to send me into heart palpitations, so I called the office and had someone come to relieve me while I went to lie down for ten minutes. I am a trooper, which is why I was so sick in the spring before a serious illness landed me in the ER. I went back to the room with 45 minutes left in the school day. I was so glad when the day was over, and I came home and collapsed. I managed to stay awake until it got dark, but I haven't been to bed that early since right after surgery.

So first thing today, I was glad to see that I was not going to be administering the test, although it would still be given in my classroom, which is located on a blind hall upstairs between the main corridor and the fine arts wing. I would be following the classroom changes that my sub did yesterday, as my students were moved each block to a vacant room during the teachers' planning blocks. I thought things would go smoothly, although I had to change from the art room to the choir room. An omen that I conveniently dismissed.

At the end of second block, I picked up my bookbag, lunchbox, and students' folders and began the trek downstairs and all the way across the building to the science wing, when the AP stopped me in front of the main office and told me that the teacher to whose room we were moving had a class. By this time, I had a veritable Pied Piper's trail of students behind me on the way across campus. So we all stopped as he told us to go to the In-School Suspension room, which is back upstairs the direction from which we had just come. I mentioned that my neighbor's students were already assigned to that room, but he didn't respond. Sure enough, when we all got there, her students were also in the room. It took a few minutes for us to all get situated and for me to begin taking roll, while wondering if a sub would be sent for the other students. There weren't enough seats for a full class, much less two.

Before I could finish taking roll, the AP came and told us were were to move to the auditorium. Well the ISS room was uncomfortably hot, but the auditorium is kept so cold you could hang meat in there. At least there was space for everyone to sit, and I had them all sorted out with mine on my left and hers on my right in the balcony. Once again, I picked up with the roll call, and once again, the AP came to relocate us, this time to separate classrooms. As we were leaving the auditorium, I overheard the principal on the walkie-talkie saying that I was supposed to follow the same classroom rotation as yesterday. The AP told him that the room had a class that period, and I heard him say, "Oh yeah, B-day." Did I mention that he is new?

So we head down the hall to the vacant classroom, where I was able to finish taking the roll before the JROTC instructor came to tell us to go to lunch. As we were leaving the classroom in which we had just arrived, my neighbor walked by and said that they were through testing in my room, so we could go back there after lunch. Finally, after going back to that last classroom, we all picked up our materials and trudged back upstairs to the Promised Land--my own classroom. I still can't believe that two classes of students and I literally spent over half an hour trailing from room to room. After it was all over, I felt worse than if I had given the damn tests in the first place! Talk about being careful what you ask for. Just call me Moses.

We have three more days of retesting this week. I can't wait to see what tomorrow will hold. I think I'd better get a good night's sleep.

Anyone have crazy day stories to share?

[Momma_bear]

I hope you feel better.