Pilfered Booty

I got a lock on my door today. I put the service request in before school started, August. The only thing that had been stolen was candy and the candy jar was decimated. The first time I noticed something fishy was when the lid was open. There must have been a covert operation organized by some crafty students to swipe about 3/4 of the treasure. Then a week later the stash had been raided again and left us with 10 lone pieces of candy. Last week was the final assault on the tackle box filled with candy. Some invader, rumor has it a fifth grader, took the scattered stragglers and left behind a toppled and opened candy box. No effort was made to conceal the desecration of our shrine to extrinsic rewards.

Anyhow, since the only thing that was stolen was candy, not 24 handheld responders for our smart boards or any school supplies, I am not concerned. Stealing is unacceptable but since I have not had protected space for two months I would say that the casualties are minimal. What would have been hysterical is if they hi-jacked the smart board off the wall and tore down the projector. My principal would have said, “Mr. Castagnola you need to replace these items, they were in your room and your responsibility.” I would have said, “Blaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!” and pulled out a copy of the work order for the door and highlighted the date.

Now I have a lock on my door. It is new and very shiny and needs a key. Oh, a key. Maybe someone should have given Mr. Castagnola a key to his classroom. This way when he got to school early to set up his classroom he could enter the room. Whatever, a minor glitch, forty minutes of lost sleep, but it is symptomatic of the overarching administrative shortcomings. Our school does not, I repeat does not, believe in disseminating important information to the affected parties. If it is important or relevant they promise to let you know no more than 12 hours before the time of implementation. Like when they told a fellow teacher he would be moved from English to SS/Sci at 6:30 pm on Monday and the change would be effective the next morning. Or how the principal told me I would be teaching after-school and that it starts tomorrow. I had been trying to acquire information about the program for the last 6 weeks. Last year they had consultants to help out, this year they have no one, the last time they had no helping hand the school was taken over by the state. I am going to steer clear of this ensuing disaster and apply my energies elsewhere. One thought is to host my own afterschool tutoring and possibly organize a club. We will see.