Oh, my goodness! What a summer it has been! After returning from Luke and Alex's dream wedding, we listed our house. Then the donating, selling, downsizing, and packing started in full force. In the middle of all that, we decided that we should be looking for our next house wherever I got a job. Umm.... stressful, nerve-wracking, frustrating, and time-consuming doesn't begin to cover it! And it all started AFTER July 18th!
My first interview was with Warrensburg, MO. It's a small college town about an hour and a half southeast of Kansas City. Over the summer, they had added a brand new Early Childhood wing. The principal called me when I was driving back to Hutchinson and asked if I was interested in the position. I told her that I was interested. Here's the thing, though. Missouri does not have a reciprocating agreement, in terms of teaching licenses, with Kansas. They border each other! They share a city!! Ok.... So I begin the application for my teaching license in MO. Guess what?? They make the applicant send out letters to verify past employment. Every other district I've ever worked in has done that based on the information on the resume. Secondly, I had to be re-fingerprinted. No big deal, right? WRONG!! I had to be fingerprinted at one of their licensed facilities. I was told to go online and see if there were any of those facilities closer to me. There were two in Wichita....but they didn't do fingerprinting for teacher licenses. GRRR!! Then the phone calls started. "When will you be in?" "You need to schedule a meeting with the superintendent." Hells bells!! They hadn't even gotten all of my 37 years of employment history, yet. I hadn't been offered the job. There was a voice in my head telling me that they were trying to push my application through before receiving all of my employment verification so they could place me at a less expensive step on the salary schedule. I couldn't sign a contract that didn't honor and value my years of educational service.
The next interview I had was for a position in Warsaw, MO. On the way down, we stopped at a LICENSED fingerprinting location. True to form, the stupid machine wouldn't register my prints correctly, so I had to try each set multiple times. (that should have been a sign) It's a small town located near Table Rock Lake. Heavenly! Right?? We even looked at some houses while we were down there. I wasn't offered the job...
Next, I had two interviews, on the same day, in Lawrence, KS. (I decided I was done messing with MO and all of the hoops I had to jump through to get one of their darned licenses!) The next day, I had a Zoom interview with one of the building's Early Childhood staff. That night, around 9 pm, I received an email telling me that I would not be considered for that position. That kind of blew me away because the principal had given me her cell phone number and said "This would be your room." The other building principal, that I thought I'd had a great interview with, didn't ever reach back out to me, one way or the other. I even emailed her, asking if she had made a decision. Crickets.
And then there was a district in Arkansas. I did a Zoom interview with the entire kindergarten staff. I think there were five or six. This was on a Friday afternoon, after they'd been in back-to-school meetings all day. Not ideal, but workable. That night, I get an email saying that they had "chosen to move in a different direction." By this time, I was just done! I had been praying every night for God to direct me to where I was needed and for help to be patient with the process. Honestly, I was thinking about reaching out to textbook companies and child development companies to see if they were looking for sales reps.
And then Topeka called... Friends!! They wanted me! The director of our site is from Nebraska so she gets my Husker obsession! In my Zoom meeting with the director and the principal, the principal said, "Here's why you need to come and work at Pine Ridge Prep." So, last week I began year 38 at Pine Ridge Prep. I *thought* I was going to be an extra set of hands and follow the Guest Teacher, who was already in place. Nope! I was literally thrown into the fire. Luckily, I can deal with that. Abbey and Alex are gracious enough to allow me to stay with them for time being. So, I drove to Topeka on Tuesday night and started on Wednesday. After I got there, I learned that Open House was that night. Sure! No problem! Kids started Thursday. I felt woefully unprepared, but I punted and no one was the wiser. Friday, I taught all day, hopped in my car at the end of the day and headed home to Hutchinson. Oh! And guess what?? I received an email telling me that my Missouri teaching certificate had been processed and I could go to the Missouri Department of Education's website and print it off...
I went though my YEARS of teaching ideas that are in plastic totes in our basement. I had purged and organized them at the beginning of the summer, so that was an added bonus! Now my car is loaded and waiting for the return trip to Topeka. I have lesson plans and I feel much more organized! Ready and waiting to see my sixteen cuties tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment