From RIF'd to Recall.... Pitfalls and Silver Platters

      What a tumultuous week.... a week ago I was relatively calmly teaching the last couple of days of school, hanging in there with the 8th graders who had just experienced their first formal dance and were impatiently waiting to move on to high school.  Then the last day of school, I was presented with a piece of paper by a man in a suit  from Human Resources, who calmly stated that my position was being cut, and that after July 1st I could collect unemployment, and my benefits would end at the end of August. The principal got me coverage for the afternoon classes, and I headed home to research my options.

Those options included retiring since I am 62, and have enough years in the district to collect a pension.  However, there are some steep pitfalls to retirement as I've found out. First off, it's scary letting go of the person you've been for many years.  Teachers tend to say "I'm a teacher" like that defines their role in life, even though they are a parent, sibling, child, spouse, etc., their job seems to define them more. So letting go of who you are and trying to define a new you without what has consumed your life for decades is scary.  I found myself putting in job apps for more teaching jobs, or trying to figure out how to volunteer in schools, or develop my own business around what I've created over the years.

The second pitfall was the "benefits" which were not an option of my contract. This option was removed for several reasons, the first being that  I was in a district that has been whittling away at our contracts with each negotiation. Because I came back a month and a half into the new contract,  and because I took a leave of absence to pursue my own professional growth which brought me back to the district only 6 years ago, benefits  would not be offered to me. Therefore, I began the journey through tons of medical companies trying to sell me their "cheap" policies.  Of course they were cheap  -- one of them only paid $10 for each doctor visit... what normally is considered your co-pay!  And because my husband and I, being the ages we are, have "pre-existing conditions"  some of the more reasonable companies could reject us.  The "silver lining"  was that come January 1st when Obama care kicks in, they could no longer reject us.  However, one doubts that politicians ever create silver linings for us middle class folks, so it sounds suspicious.

The third pitfall was the limitations the pension  and Social Security would put on my earnings at this time.  With the pension, I could only make a certain amount of money working in public schools or the university system in the state.  I could work at private schools, or on my own, but then Social Security would limit that as well.  Social security would at least add any money I made above my small pittance back into the pot for when I turned 66.  So I would have to juggle my finances carefully and live simply.  That part didn't bother me, particularly if I was able to do something I loved.

So with all these pitfalls, when I received a phone call from HR that I was being "recalled" only a week later, I had very mixed feelings.  I had already worked through all the paperwork for retirement, and was working on what that might look like.  If they had asked me to take a position in another field, I would have gone on with the retirement.  However, since I was already looking at jobs elsewhere in my field (the one that I spent so many years getting and recently achieving a doctorate in), and they offered my old position back to me, I had some real thinking to do.

As I thought through my decisions and the path of the last week, I realized that I was still looking for jobs in my field.  In other words my "heart" was still in the classroom teaching technology.  So if I had that chance, and the chance to return to a place where I was needed and used to, then I should do it.  It also makes my pitfalls lessen with each year that I can continue.   So even though when the riff first happened I felt that I was  handed the chance to retire and should grab it, it was't given to me on a silver platter.  It was given on a broken platter, and at least returning to the classroom will get me a complete platter, but it will never be a silver one ---- because I'm a "teacher".

The myth of tenure..... is hurting students

Tenure... that word that supposedly protects teachers... the one that everyone claims keeps bad teachers in the classroom, was proven wrong today, especially in my district.  You see, I got riff'd today!  Yep... and I have tenure and many years of experience.... so if the myth is true, then it should have protected me.  Even recently getting my doctorate so I'm current in my field (Computer Science), and winning a Curriculum Award from the district, and getting runner-up for best paper at a state conference, and presenting at a National conference in my field didn't protect me.  Being in Computer Science seems to be a detriment in this district, as many of the first to be let go were Computer Science teachers with tenure.  That's extremely sad for our students.  You see, we are a district that has lots of BRAC potential, touted that our county would grow with the influx of high tech positions, and it is predicted that our students will have good chances of employment in that field in this district in the next 10 years.   But if they don't have Computer teachers, how are they going to learn the skills needed for those positions?

So if those in my field and my district feel that I am sharp enough to win those awards, why didn't they keep me?  It all comes down to money.... our county executive cut his portion of paying for public education in the district, and the district has to rearrange its budget. I haven't a clue about how they decided, but they are "cutting programs" and our program is the first to go.  Maybe it has something to do with the fact that our Chief Information Officer has not supported our programs for the last several years.  Maybe it has something to do with the perception that kids are born with technology skills (they may be, but they haven't a clue how to make them "work"  for them rather than be a toy).  Someone needs to teach them how to adapt those programs to what they are learning in the classroom. 

Maybe it has something to do with the new Common Core Standards that supposedly have a STEM base to them, yet don't mention computer skills anywhere in the standards.  They focus on Engineering, Mathematics, and Science, yet when professional development is offered, the technology piece (in particular careers in Computer Science like database administration, technical support, network engineers,  software engineers, programmers, are never mentioned as possible careers for kids in STEM).  

So what's my next step?  Not sure at this point... I'll be exploring how I can use that newly acquired doctorate, trying my hand with writing again this summer, and exploring what retirement might look like....  hopefully I'll find a window of opportunity ... and soar through it..   although it won't be one that promises "tenure".