Mar 13, 2008

Deja Vu

or something like that . . .

The dictionary definition of Deja Vu is the illusion that something has happened before . . . but I think I must be stuck in a Time Loop because this has actually happened to me before.

Once again - I have been place on Administrative Leave from school (with pay - thank goodness) because of an investigation that is taking place because of some incidents of which I am in the middle - again.

I think I must be a magnet for these types of things to happen. I didn't do anything overtly wrong but by being naive and trusting two of my students something happened that has left me in the middle of this investigation where 'the powers that be' decide whether I was negligent or not. In my opinion I wasn't negligent but sadly blind trust is never a good idea.

This is my eighth year of teaching and I've had the oddest things happen to me. I do not claim to be an innocent bystander but the things that happen are usually results of some innocent thing I've said or done that was taken out of context. One incident was the result of a vindictive student lying about things and no one bothered to ask me what happened - I was just blindsided by trouble. These have been learning experiences for sure so I guess this is what is meant by The School of Hard Knocks.

This time I am not going through this incident by myself because now I am a member of the union and they are helping me get through the process. My representative told me not to sit around and worry because they are there to take care of me. He even told me to pretend like I was on vacation . . . it is still a little unnerving not knowing how long this will continue. I've been out of school for a week already and I haven't heard anything indicating moving forward yet.

Patience . . . I'm still trying to learn that too.