enroute home....

currently in Lake City.  Never wanted to drive the rig so far again but here I am.....

Madness....

Nice visit with Renaissance but I am concerned that the majority of the students are minority. After what I suffered through this year.....

too ,many don't recognize the dsnger. will it be too late when they finally do???

and just like that....

it's over.

Drove away from Clermont Middle School today and don't ever plan to go back. NOT EVER.

Ended up having to talk to both of my least favored administrators but the conversation was brief. I think they were are glad to see me go as I was. No. On second thought, that isn't possible.

Going to meet with Mr. Taylor, admin at Renaissance Charter tomorrow. Finally connected up with him this morning....

farewell friends!

Memorial Day

My favoriet holiday.  Unofficial beginning and day of tribute for the fallen.

Gotta wonder why happened.....

Tomorrow I will return to Clermont Middle School for the last time Won't be there any longer than I must be.  Never want to see the place again.

Much has happened...

All I need do at CLMS is retrieve my fish tank (and one surviving fish) and turn in my keys.

Never want to see Clermont Middle School again. Didn't even get a yearbook. First time ever. I dislike ending the year with some much repressed anger. Some of it came out during our final faculty meeting.  Don't even know why I attended. Nothing they discussed had anything to do with me...until they asked what we needed to  focus on for "next year>"  They gave out sticky notes. Our science chairperson insisted I use them.

I did.

"This school needs a new leader, badly."  Posted it. I am sure admin saw it.  No apologies possible. What I said is true, just as my remarks ab out the pitiful state of discipline were.  What they gonna do to me????

Got my offer letter from Renaissance.  Good timing?  I am going to go with it.  Yes, I still have reservations.  But I had some of them before coming here.  Geezz....look how that went down....
Still, as I admitted, not everything about the experience was bad.  Truth is, most things were not....but the downside was a serious one. Just having my character slimed was enough.  Never had a  cell phone stolen either. Neither have I dealt with such totally needy students. Not to this degree.

Checked out some RV camps near the school.  Both resembled trailer parks. It's a 22 miles drive from Bees RV park.  36 minutes.  But most of it is via the turnpike. It didn't seem that long of a drive. I have done longer.  And Bees is a known entity. They know me. I know them.

And so....

it ends.

And I sense a myriad of feelings.

Relief.  No doubting I feel relief. This has been the toughest year in awhile. Only my final yer at Pius X and my seven weeks at Lincoln were as bad.

Doubt.  Am I or was I as good as I believed?

Regret?  Am I running out on kids who need me?

Will this be my last hurrah?  I hit the big 70 in December.  Have I spent my final year in the classroom.

Another possibility occurred to me last evening.  What if the man at Renaissance checked me out on social media?  People have done it before.  I'm clearly progressive and lately quite open with my feelings about my situation at school.

Still have heard nothing and fear this opportunity is gone.  Perhaps, in the final run, it is better. I've real reservations about working in a  corporate run charter.

I want tomorrow to be my final day at Clermont Middle School. Hope I can wrap up all the paperwork.

Then I want to be on my way....

They came by again today, just as I arrived home from school.
Even got the baby to take a cracker from my hand.I
am gonna mess then something fierce.

Tomorrow is it...

and I do not feel the creeping sadness I have in other years. I cannot deny there are some students I will miss and the majority of the faculty and staff have been good to me. But the situation has been difficult and the adult leadership nonexistent.  I need out.In a few days I will be.

Something else to "worry" about, meanwhile.

I've called Mr. Taylor, Principal at the charter school, twice. Neither time has her answered. The latest time was today.

The personnel person there continue to email, telling me my letter of offering is coming, telling me I need to come to the new hires session.

But Taylor does not respond to my calls.

Here's my issue.

These are business people, NOT educaators. Not really. They are deep into numbers and stats. Already told me that. Could be that someone up the corporate ladder put the nix on me and on Kathleen too.  Too old.  Too expensive.

I've dealt with the business mentality before, in tutoring.  They don't hold the same values we do.
Time will tell. I head home to Carolina a week from tomorrow.

Nope

They called first thing Monday morning. At least they did me the courtesy of letting me know. All the other jobs I applied for are taken. Guess it's the charter school or not at all.

Right now, that is a toss up.

Day one of final exam week. Two down. Three to go.  Results are better than I thought they might be so far.  All students went up except for one, some significantly...."effective." I like to believe I am. At times I still wonder.

Didn't want to remain age Clms, but this is the ONLY time I was not rehired, the ONLY time in my career and I guess it just stings.  They could have, at least, given me the dignity of resignation.

"Not reappointed."

It makes it seem as though I were fired.

I was told it was due to losing four positions, but I learned, today, that 8 teachers are not returning. Eight.  Don't know the details, but they couldn't find a spot for someone else in there somewhere?

No matter. Not anymore.

I will either accept the Charter school offer or will return to NC and go back into retirement.

You know, both are tempting.  I do not feel as though I am through with teaching science. 

Not yet.

Still feel passion for it.

Speaking plainly now, what do I have to look forward to if I do not?  Don't want to complete that thought. It's plainly morbid.

The other side of the coin is that I have three works in progress that need completion.

My Country Tis of Thee, my treatise on the state of my country would seem timely.  We don't turn some things around soon and I do not give the republic long to live. Dramatic, I know, but true. We're morphing into Panem, the mythical nation of Hunger Games fame.my detractors on the News and Record editorial page would howl with laughter at that. I' m a regular target of their vitriol and ridicule.  gonna keep writing, just to irk them and henceforth, I do not even intend to respond to their barbs.  That will make them more crazy than anything else.

Then there's Mid the Hills, the tale of my years at Camp Chimney Rock.  I'm writing it solely for those who lived that CCR experience but, of course, anyone is welcome to join in. This year's reunion got trashed when Mike made a fuss about my not caving to his manipulation and now there is one planned next year, over Labor Day, Camp Waziliyah, in Maine, a camp owned by two CCR alums. ?Don't plan to attend.  Our reunions are about the people, yes, but also about the location. Hickory Nut Gorge still holds magic for me and others. Wazi has nothing to do with it.  I suspect it's a  big promotional thing, anyhow and I want no part of that....but I WOULD like to have my book published by the time it happens. Some of my reasons are sinister, yes, but still, I b believe, appropriate.

That tale is morphing too...

The pen IS mightier than the sword. There is little doubt of that. And unless Mike chose to write his own account of things (he both lacks the ability and the perseverence)), then I will get the proverbial last laugh.  I am not into revenge, but you know, I can always make an exception to policy..... Sometimes it's warranted.

And Reap the Whirlwind is timely too and some of its components have already begun to emerge into sinister life.

yup!!!!!

Trump is doing his very best to turn us into an oligarchy.  We don't have far to go. Money and moneyed people run out country. They own us.  Just today that Supreme Court struck down more employee rights.  The wealth gap widens more each day.  The anger on both sides of the issue grows too.  I feel it personally.

Faith, a woman I have known since she was 7 or 8 years old is now an evangelical "born again"missionary in Romania. I blame evangelicals for much of the harm the alt right, in the person of one Donald Trump has done. Faith was the closest thing I ever had to having a child of my own. She referred to me as her :third daddy" and her five children now call me "Grandpa Bill." I had planned to visit them this summer.

Not anymore.

The gulf had widened too far. Sad, I know, but that is how I see it.

Two days to go.  I hope and pray I will get through this without drama or trauma.  Today one of the girls who slandered me last fall went full on berserk and was chasing another student through the school.  I just sat on my stool, in the hallway.  Didn't say a thing and sure didn't get in her way. Had she chosen to push or strike me, I do not want to think about what I might have done....

who knows???

Interview went well.   Part of the job includes teaching art.  What????

Not sure.  They must have had some keen interest as they thought I was still in NC and were willing to Skype with me.  Why bother if there wasn't some real interest?

One more regular class day and then final exams.

I just want this to be over.

Got visited again today.  They came right to my front door. Gonna miss then when I leave next week.

looking forward to Friday...

umatilla elemerntrysounds almost too good.....

mostly caucasian....sorry, but after this year, that matters.....

small, southern town....a best kept secret I was told....

science position .....


NOT A CORPORATE SPONSORED charter

today was tough

totally lost my cool with two of my classes.  Always come home and beat myself up when that happens.

Mike actually called me yesterday.  Not sure if it was a case of his cellphone doing it's own thing. It has before...assuming he has the same phone. He was always getting the latest. I hung up. Still have nothing to say...

But on the brighter side, I got a call from Umatilla Elementary today. A STEM position in a small town school.  I meet with them Friday.

Today wasn’t so bad...

I anticipate worse days ahead.

Another testing day. Our entire school schedule tossed on its head for TWO classes of 7th graders, taking a civics end of course test.end of course. That is a high school term. That is exactly what clams is too, a little high school.

Didn’t even have students until past one pm. Tomorrow will be horrible. I have my worst class for three hours.

The principal made a brave speech this morning, vowing to put students in ISS. ISS? We haven’t had it all year. Why now?

I admit there is a lot I do not know, but this seems kind of dumb....

I just want this to be at an end....

9 more student days.....

It’s nuts

Had to have someone remove another student. Haven’t had to do this all year. Things are just coming unraveled.

Only want this to end without anything else ugly happening. One of them hid in a rear cabinet through a whole class, madness.

Then add to this, todY I find myself in the Er of a local hospital. Stomach pain and nausea along with back pain. Waiting on an x ray and blood work. They’re talking about an IV too.what fun.

Finally heard about my fingerprinting for renaissance charter school. Signed up for this upcoming Thursday. That appears to be the sole thing standing betwixt my official hiring.

Still having doubts. Corporate run charters are a real issue for me. Fact is, I don’t know a lot about them, really. Only what I read and hear from others. The main thing is how they appear to be desegregating the public schools, this time along socio economic lines.

The haves and the have nots. It’s becoming more of a problem every day. Trump and his lot are making it worse. And so many who are affected do not appear to see the problem.

Cannot figure that last one out. Why would people act and/or vote against their own good?seemingly, some prefer to let others think and act for them. It’s the kind of thing that gave rise to the Nazis. Some laugh at me when I say such things, call me a drama queen. I see that a lot in my letter writing in the news and record. Haven’t written a letter for awhile need to and soon.

I applied for several positions in lake county. Heard nothing more. Won’t bother me much if I don’t. Not convinced other schools in the county will be that different. The problem appears to be the culture more than anything else.

Hone again.

Gastritis....they think.  I had fears of pancreatitis, which would have meant hospitalization..

Things continue to get tougher at school....

actually had to have a student removed today.  Only done that three times all year. We doing the human development unit (sex ed) and it's tough enough without a student tossing out rude comments and creating disorder.  Would have ignored him but the other kids were picking up on what he was doing and beginning to emulate him. What surprised me most is that someone came and removed the miscreant.

Offered an interview at a local elementary school.  Decided against going after hearing the school is one of the toughest in the county.  I don't need  that. Actually applied to 8 schools. We will see if any of them contact me.

Continuing to have second thoughts about the charter school.  Called the principal there to ask a couple of questions.  He was in a meeting, or so he said, and pledged to call back. He hasn't. Maybe he has had second thoughts about me.