School, school, school, school, school!!!!!

I think there are few things in life less efficient than elementary school training sessions. Not that I expect too many of my friends to be able to empathize with having to sit through seven hours of school staff-meetings, though I imagine there are quite a few equivalents in this world of commerce in which we live. So here's how a meeting goes. First, the topic is announced, which may or may not be followed by a variety of disclaimers, last-minute additions to the previous topic, and/or ironically child-like chatter as we all give our under-the-breath opinion on the impending topic. Then the topic, playground safety for example, is presented by a staff member, who mistakenly says the list of rules is still a draft and subject to change. There's nothing wrong with people knowing a list is subject to change, but when announced to a group of "I'm looking out for number 1" (or any other grade from 1-8 at our school) kind of people, announcing it's subject to change means it is immediately subject to change. So rather than first having the list read aloud in its entirety, or even having people read it to themselves and then submit suggestions/caveats in writing, a five minute subject is now a sixty minute subject. Everyone, and somewhat rightly so, feels entitled to let everyone else know how each and every rule and decision will affect their grade or class differently than every other grade. One group of kids should be allowed to play in a clump of trees, while another group is forbidden. Should we allow dodgeball if it is contained to a specific area of the field? How are transitions between different grades' lunches going to be done, and why can't we do it a different way? Should older kids be allowed to use the playground equipment? Should each class have their own bin of balls and jumpropes, or should we have one large community bin, and why? Can God create an object that is to heavy for him to lift, and if he fell while picking up such an object and nobody was around, would he make a noise? If He did make a noise, what would it sound like, and how could we ever know for sure? What is our exit strategy for Iraq? If a woodchuck were able, hypothetically speaking, to chuck wood, how much wood could he chuck? Etcetera, etcetera, ad nauseam. Good grief. If I were running these meetings, man we would get SO much done! Well, I'd like to think so. Some of you know that I really enjoy efficiency of all sorts (yes, I realize that this is not entirely applicable to everything I do, and I'm in partial hypocrisy already, but better partial hypocrisy than total, I sometimes say) Energy efficiency, fuel efficiency, efficiency of speech (though I do enjoy using lots of words to say very little, hence the blogs I write, but in everyday application out in the world I'd rather get through interactions with a lot of people than dwell in them. Coldhearted? Yes. Realistic? Also yes.), efficiency of movement. So these meetings can be absolute torture. But I guess we don't have that many of them, so I'll only be a little irritated now and again, rather than all the time, unless you're one of the above-mentioned not-dwelling-in-the-interaction kind of people.

Since I am talking about jobs, I should explain how I got my current one. So at the end of last school year, I told everyone I wouldn't be coming back, and that I'd moving forward to things I'd rather do. And I still want to, but to live one needs a job. One thing I forgot to do, however, was submit a resignation form. So in spirit I had resigned, but in reality I had not. So a couple weeks ago I got a call from Portland Public Schools offering me a position at the school I was at last year. I wasn't interested, so I told the person on the phone that I had no intention of working for the district, whereupon the person on the phone told me I needed to submit the proper paperwork. So I looked all over the website and called people in human resources, but got no answers. All the while I had been looking for work and not having much luck. It really takes either connections, or experience, and I pretty much only have either of those with both the Anchorage and Portland school districts. I had submitted an application for a new REI going in four or five miles from my house, which sounded great, but I didn't hear back from them. Anyway, after a couple weeks of stressing about work (the twitching I get from heavy stress was just beginning to kick in) I had a revelation. I had been offered a job, and yet I was stressing out over getting a job. "What is my deal?" I began to think. So I decided that since I already have a job, I should probably take it, especially one that pays decently, the benefits are already active, and I sort of know what I'm doing. So today I went to the school I was told to show up at, thinking maybe the job I had been offered was still mine for the taking. I don't think it actually was still mine, mostly because nobody had any idea I was coming, and nobody could figure out where I was supposed to be. So while I was sitting through the aforementioned meetings, one of the school secretaries was on the phone helping figure out what I was to do. A couple days ago, one of the Para Educators (that's what they call people who do my job) had to step down, and a replacement had been arranged, though the school hadn't been informed as to who the replacement was. So, they had been assuming it was me, since they didn't have any idea who the replacement was. I knew deep down that it couldn't have been me because I had been called weeks before. Anyway, by the time school was out, I was officially the new Para in a life-skills class at the school, and the other person who should've had my job was reassigned. Or at least I hope they were. Anyway, all this to say, God was pretty danged faithful to me, allowing me to have a job that probably wasn't mine in the first place. And, as icing on the proverbial cake, the class sounds like a lot of fun, and the teacher is young and has a reputation as a great teacher. I didn't think I'd be happy to be working at a school yet again, but I was. You know when the Psalmist pleads all those times for God not to forsake him? I've been trying so hard in recent days to not be like that, but there has always been a tiny seed of doubt, a little seed that says I will be forsaken. And the funny thing is, much of the time I don't know what I need. Maybe working at the school was exactly what I needed. I'm actually looking forward to working in this position, and that's an exciting thing. (Oh, and REI DID call back after I'd decided to take the school position. I could've been hired there... for $8.50/hr, part-time, and would have had to wait for my benefits to kick in if I ever went full-time. So what I thought would be a much better job wound up not being good at all. God's awful good to me.)