I Walked Out of the Classroom…Again! (Part 3)

Fast forward to year 2 of my return to teaching.  I was hopeful that the year would go well.  But I had concerns:  the coworker who obviously wanted to defile my character and slander my name.  I was pretty sure that she had told lies to parents to deter them from enrolling their students in my class.  And my other concern was the new administrator.  Would she come in and change the dynamics of our work environment?

Year 2 started off in much the same way as the previous year.  The same teacher that didn’t take too kindly to me, was now my department head!  And to make matters worse, myself and one of the other teachers in the department were never formally informed of the change.

It was not going to be good having her as a department head for several reasons.  By no means, would she dare treat me fairly as a department head (she actually acted as if she were my boss).  And her best buddy was also in the same department, which was a conflict of interest.  I’m sure you can guess who gave her the title of department head.  That’s right, the vice principal that always seemed to give her what she wanted.

School was set to start on a Wednesday.  I had been scheduled to teach Geometry again, and had began to write lesson plans right away.  The Friday before school started, I had already had two weeks of lesson plans done.  And then the department head (who we will now refer to as SHE) invites me to go to lunch with her and her buddy.

Immediately, I was suspicious and figured SHE was up to something.  Those two were inseparable around the campus, and everyone knew it.  Something must be up for them to invite me to lunch.  Sure enough, on the way to the restaurant, SHE tells me that I’m probably going to have to teach Algebra I after all.  SHE states that she and her buddy had been discussing this with the vice principal all morning.  Really?!!  Again?!!  Discussing and changing my schedule without the courtesy of consulting with me first!!

I kept my cool and composed myself during the lunch, but I was livid.  We returned back to the campus and soon after, I received a text from HER asking if I would be willing to teach Algebra I, Algebra I Pre-AP (which was already on my schedule) and Algebra 2 Pre-AP.  Uh, no!!!!! And no!!!  How dare you ask me to teach three preps when, once again, you’re changing my schedule at the last minute.

I responded that I was not going to teach several preps with a last minute change.  I went to talk to another math teacher about the situation.  It became clear that SHE was upset that myself and the other math teacher had smaller class sizes.  That was part of the motivation to change both of our schedules.  We were then called to all meet in the VP’s office.

I had to adamantly tell them, more than once, that I would not teach three different classes.  They kept pressuring me to do so, which only made me more upset.  But I finally got them to understand that that was not going to happen.  Everyone ended up with the courses that they wanted to teach…except me.  I was stuck with Algebra I, and would have to write all new lesson plans.

As a result of changing the schedules, myself and the other teacher both ended up with an additional conference period.  So, I was told that I could use that period as a coaching period to help the department.  I was not in agreement with that at all.  But in that moment, I didn’t really object because I was afraid I would really go off.

The following week we found out that SHE  was the new department head.  As previously stated, it was never formally announced.  All of this drama, and the students hadn’t even arrived yet.  Heck, the new administrator hadn’t gotten there yet.  But this was just the beginning.

Have you ever had a coworker interfere with your job?

Stay tuned for Part 4. If you missed Part 1, read it here.