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Non re-elects

Last week was a really trying week, mentally and emotionally.  On Wednesday, they non re-elected every teacher on my campus that wasn't tenured.  A non re-elect is different than a layoff.  A layoff is because of budget reasons.  Sorry, we can't afford to keep you.  A non re-elect is for teachers who are in their probationary years.  When you begin teaching in California, you are on probation for two years.  During those two years, they can fire you at any time and they don't have to give a reason.  At the end of your second year, they have to decide if they want to keep you, thereby granting you tenure, or get rid of you because you're not good enough.  A non re-elect means that you can never work in that district again, whereas if you get laid off, you can always reapply.  So, 5 teachers on our campus (4 of the 5 who are GREAT teachers) were non re-elected, two of them being my good friends of mine and another being the only eye candy on campus!

Last year, Melissa and Rebecca received stellar observations by admin (this year, we have all new admin and they're terrible.  It's very much an us vs. them mentality on my campus) and this year, they received good observations--not the stellar ones from last year, but still good.  Then, their most recent observation forms come back and they're marked "does not meet expectations" on one tiny, stupid, minute thing--which is all they need to non re-elect someone.  One of the 6th grade teachers received a "does not meet expectations" because she didn't have enough things on her walls!  She is a first year teacher who was given really difficult kids and had been asking admin for help all year, but received none.  And then they fired her.

Rebecca is our music teacher who also took on the leadership class, organized a huge school-wide going away party for our campus monitor, Eddie, who had been at the school FOREVER (who the new admin promptly transferred to another school as soon as they stepped onto campus), and spent countless hours putting on concerts and doing anything else they needed done at school.  Yeah, she was non re-elected.  Melissa was harrassed on a daily basis for almost a semester by one of her students.  He said, "Shut up, bitch" and "Fuck you, bitch" to her and the Instructional Aide in her classroom on a daily basis.  Nothing was really ever done about that kid.  He was finally moved into the Opportunity class, after A SEMESTER of that.

It sickens me, the way teachers are treated.  What was their reasoning for non re-electing them instead of just laying them off?  Public education is a joke.

In other news, that fall I took a couple weeks ago?  It looks like this now:

It's super puffy and itchy!
On Sunday, we went up to Oakland to scrimmage the Oakland Outlaws.  It was a ton of fun and they were great hostesses as usual.  Last year, we scrimmaged them in February.  It was the first time that we, as a travel team, had played against another team EVER.  We lost 242-24.  This year, we only lost 152-51.  We did so much better!  And we only had 10 skaters and they had 17, so we were tiring out much more quickly. I love B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls.

I've come down with a really terrible cold and am out of work for my second day. :( I'm trying to get as much rest and liquids in as possible because we have a game in Paso Robles on Saturday and I need to be able to play.

Help, I'm trapped!

This is me on the inside:

I saw the orthopedist.  He looked at my MRI and told me that I have not one but two cysts (one on each hip).  I also have labral tears.  He also said that I'm looking at having both of my hips replaced at some point in probably the next 20 years.  Apparently, I have the body of an 80 year old woman.

The good news it that as far as exercise and physical therapy for my hip, skating is probably one of the best things I can do.  At some point, I'll probably have to have arthroscopic surgery, but since it isn't really bothering me that bad yet, I can wait a while.  Which is good because I can't afford another surgery.  Of course, the day after I find out about all of this, I take an epic fall at practice and slam down on my side.  I laid there, writhing in pain for a good 3 minutes, unable to speak while my teammates were asking me question after question after question.  I was getting so annoyed.  I just wanted to be left alone.  I mean, obviously I love them and they were concerned about me, but I was in so much pain I couldn't answer at the moment, and they kept talking to me.  When I finally was able to speak again, I said, "I'm fine.  Just stop talking to me."  And now I am growing the most epic of bruises on the back of my thigh.  I can't wait until it reaches its full potential.

We have the top derby coach in the nation coming for a 4 hour clinic tomorrow.  I am so unbelievably stoked.  She's doing a two hour table top coaching session for the entire training committee (all of the captains, the director of training, and the head ref) before the 4 hour clinic.

In work-related news, I wish I were good at math and had become a math teacher.  It would make grading less time-consuming.  It's either correct or incorrect.  Grading 7th grade short stories is both entertaining and mind-numbing.  I had a kid title his story, "Live or Don't."  It makes me laugh every time I think about it.  He's the most adorable little guy.  My students have been pretty cute the last couple days (but boy were they atrocious at the beginning of the week!).

Roller derby is effin up my feet

 I have always thought feet were really gross.  Most people don't really take care of their feet and pamper them the way they should.  But think about it: your feet probably work harder than any of your other body parts.  They support all of your weight (and most of us don't distribute our weight in the way we should--so our feet must work extra hard) and if you have a job that requires you to stand a lot, as I do (hello being on your feet about 8-10 hours a day), that is some serious support being given.  I've always made it a point to take care of my feet.  I pumice them regularly and rub lotion in them to make them soft and release the tension.  Now, my feet are nowhere near perfect.  I have permanent callouses because I don't distribute my weight evenly.  However, now that I'm doing roller derby (and skating damn near every day--and not leisurely skating, actively skating--sweating and huffing and puffing) and my feet need TLC more than ever, I feel like it's a lost cause.  I have new callouses, and my blisters have blisters.  I am coming to terms with the fact that I will have really gnarly feet and it's just the price I'll pay to participate in this truly rad sport.  And if all that I end up with is gnarly feet--I'm getting off REALLY easy.  Check this out.

What to wear?

I've changed my outfit for practice three times.  I ended up with what I originally started out with.  I didn't want to get too hot by having thick thigh-high socks over knee-length leggings, so I went back to put some tights on and then realized I would have no time to change between practice and running over to the theater to get in line for Eclipse.  I will run into numerous students (and probably some of their parents) at the theater so I didn't want to wear anything too outrageous or suggestive (booty shorts and flesh-colored tights were both out of the question, obviously).  It it certain I'll see at least a couple as they are holding my place in line :)

So, I went with this outfit.  I'm crouched in derby position even! (Really, I had to do that so I would fit my whole self into the shot--my webcam doesn't have a timer so I had to be within arm's reach of the keyboard). I'm excited to wear my new tank top.  It looks awesome!  Thanks to Hue Refner of SCDG for the awesome lettering!