5.7.10

world's goodest teacher

and that is honestly a shirt i saw this past weekend.

and that is how some of my co-workers prop me up sometimes.
not to toot my own horn.
but because of this story i'm about to drop on you.
a little story about the game of 'musical teachers' being played at my school.

(the names have been changed to protect the innocent)

i'lll try to make it as simple as possible.
i will attempt to give you, the reader, pure facts, omitting as much personal opinion as possible.
let's rewind....

so it's mid-january-ish, and our foreign teacher setup is me, teacher A and teacher B.
three months in to his or her twelve-month contract, teacher B is fired, sighting his or her lack of teaching ability;
it is now the middle of april and the school gives him or her his or her contractual two months.
teacher B is due to leave my school 18 june.
foreign teacher status (FTS) = me + A + B

it is now the end-ish of may.
teacher A suddenly quits.
in order to depart as quickly as possible, teacher A lies to the school (to this day unbeknownst to them), circumventing the contractual 2 months notice from either party.
amidst the schools visible efforts to secure a replacement for teacher B, teacher A decided leaving was in his or her best interest.
bear in mind that teacher B is now only a couple weeks away from departure.

my school is down a teacher for 1 day.
other teachers have to pick up the slack.
we find a scab, teacher C, to fill in.
he or she is NOT a contracted teacher, only working for a couple or few months.
note that he or she, without a contract, could leave or be asked to leave at any moment.
FTS = me + B + C

meanwhile, on the korean teacher side of things, teacher D quits without word or warning.
again, other teachers have to pick up the slack.

back to the foreigner side.
it is now early june.
as teacher C searches for a more permanent job, teacher B's departure is quickly approaching.
teacher C then finds a suitable job.
he or she notifies my school he will be leaving 25 june, a week after teacher B leaves.
if this plays out, we will have two teachers out and two more teachers in within 7 days.

with the knowledge of teacher B and C's planned departures and considering the vast financial expenditures and sheer miracles required to bring in 2 contracted teachers within one week, my school un-fires teacher B, giving him the option.
fortunately for my school, teacher B accepts and decides to stay.
teacher C is then asked to leave on 18 june.
FTS = me + B - C

teacher E comes to my school following teacher C's exit.
FTS = me + B + E

on the korean side, part-time teacher F is hired at the end of june to replace part-time teacher D

commentary aside, this is what has happened at my school since mid-may.
i probably made it a bigger deal in my head with my all own comments at each step.
maybe that combined with the element of surprise at every development.

question or comments?
chat me.
message me.
i'll reserve all of my opinions for more private arenas.
for now at least.

lots of love.

jo