Work drama

We had NJ state testing this week. The assessment measures students’ progress in 9th and 11th grades. All week we have a delayed opening so students who are not testing come in two hours later than usual.

I had test proctoring on Tuesday for two hours but the rest of NJSLA I had two empty hours, first thing in the morning, every day. It’s incredible how much work you can get done with the two uninterrupted hours. With no teaching. I graded, planned lessons till the end of the academic year, started putting stuff away. Reworked our final exams including the speaking and interpretive listening parts.

There is a lot of drama in our school district at the moment.

Our union is in the process of negotiating our new contract- and it has been frustrating to get those email updates from our teachers’ union president. Our board of ed is NOT cooperating with the negotiation committee. There is a strong possibility of an impasse (a term to say that both parties are stuck in negotiations). All faculty had been frozen on our 25-26 school year salary step until the new contract is agreed upon. I cannot say any more but… grrrr

We lost a very highly-regarded science teacher to another district. The staff member took a pay cut, too. They were in the district for a while and were very involved in the lives of students and in our teachers’ union. Very well-respected individual and a gifted educator. I am not sure why they moved on to another district but it’s definitely a loss for our district.

Enough about work!

Birthday parties

We had two birthday parties- one last weekend, another- on Tuesday. I am usually not a fan of big gatherings but I had a good time at both. One was to celebrate the birthday of R’s friend who if our next door neighbor; the second was R’s jiu jitsu friend.

Wacky weather

We had a terrible heat wave mid week, with temperatures in the 90s and 100s. My kids’ elementary school called an early dismissal due to heat. I have never heard of that. Snow day, I get it. But now apparently they close schools because of heat?! Thankfully, T was working from home that day.

Mind you, as I am finishing this post, the temps dropped to mid 60s.

Ice cream

It’s that time of year!! We got ice cream after L’s piano lesson on Wednesday.

Reading

Still with David Sedaris! Just today I read his essay comparing his childhood in North Carolina with that of his partner Hugh, in Addis Ababa. Loved every word.

On audio, the Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. Also great.

Camping plans fell through

Some of you know that the kids and I had a camping trip this Memorial Day weekend… We were supposed to leave on Saturday, after gymnastics, then come back on Monday…

Yeah… it’s gonna rain. This morning I paid $5 and rescheduled for the end of June. Silver lining: I did not feel ready to take this camping trip. I hauled all the equipment up from the basement but have not gone food shopping, etc… in June I will not be working since it’s at the end of June, so I will have more mental space to prepare better.

Memorial Day plans

Now that we are NOT going camping and it’s going to rain pretty much all weekend, I sat down at work and sketched out things we CAN do:

🐿️ Saturday

Gymnastics class for kids

A gym session for me

Laundry

Swim at the Y in the afternoon

🐿️ Sunday

Gym for me

Visit OpenAir indoor playground with trampolines

Swim in the afternoon

🐿️ Monday

Gym for me

A hike? It may clear up by then

Things to do regardless of what day it is:

Read, do my puzzle, watch the show “Widow’s Bay”, bring my fall boots to be repaired, end-of-year stuff for work, sauna visit with foot reflexology, a library visit, a movie “Remarkable Creatures”

Pick up the house/tidy/chores

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A funny story to finish up the post.

I was sitting quietly on Tuesday morning and sipping my coffee on the side porch. As I got up to refill my cup I saw this with my peripheral vision. I peed a little since that startled me 😵‍💫🤣

Have a good weekend everyone!

Pic on the front: a district day in our town last weekend