Chapter Twenty-One: Absorbing New Recruits

Chapter 21: Absorbing New Recruits

The blasting alarm shudders me awake. It is early October but it feels like summer. I run before the sun rises; it is already 72 degrees and very humid. After my run I get on the scales. I’ve lost 15 pounds since I became the Prospect principal in May; fifteen pounds in five months. I’m not trying to diet although with the upcoming marathon I do watch everything I eat. I think I am losing weight from running around on campus all day and missing dinner at night and maybe from stress. . . . I hope the addition of new staff will help alleviate some of this angst. There are several new teacher names on my class list spreadsheet these days: Jana, RitaMae, Jordan, Buffy and Billie.

Jana took over Rosie’s class when Rosie became a counselor. Jana is a tall, large, black woman with experience teaching English to difficult students in a public school here in Herald County. She lost her job when she failed the math section of the state certification exam, but she is permitted to teach in my school as a “long term sub.” This is a convenient loophole through which I will happily scramble. Jana is soft spoken but tough. She is no-nonsense, unflappable and prepares thorough lessons. Jana’s ability to remain calm helps me decide I will assign DerMarr to her homeroom. Fifth grader DerMarr’s size and aggressive behavior are a mismatch for the elementary classroom and I think Jana will be able to handle him.

Shortly after meeting Jana, Noreen came to see me “in confidence” to tell me that she has inside information that Jana is pregnant. She says it as though Jana has committed a crime (something with which Noreen has some experience). I ignore Noreen’s rumor mongering but worry about Jana’s health and the health of her baby if she is pregnant in such a stressful environment. Before the busses arrive, as we stand outside in the bus circle chatting, Jana says everything is going fine and she reiterates she is ready to take DerMarr when we feel he is ready to leave Orientation. I ask Jana how things are going with her team teacher, Stone, and allow that Stone can be a challenge. Stone’s negativity, sarcasm and dry wit have made him a pariah on my faculty. Jana says she has no problem getting along with Stone. “We both begin our days with prayer.” She explains.

RitaMae is a white woman from rural, poor Kentucky – Appalachia, to be precise. A single parent of an honor roll middle school student, RitaMae is a recent graduate from a teacher’s college and this is her first teaching position. She is certified, devoted, caring and tough. Her voice however tends to be loud and grating. I have to remind her frequently NOT to yell at the students. RitaMae tells me she was a bad kid, a Prospect type kid, when she was younger. RitaMae’s delinquent background is no doubt one of the sources of her strength and determination; she sets high expectations for our students and works nights and weekends to prepare excellent lessons for her classes. I decide to team RitaMae with Neeley. Maybe her confidence, organization and planning will rub off on him.

Jordan is a twenty-something slender, white man from Alabama. Jordan, like RitaMae, explains he can relate to our students because he too was a troubled youth. Jordan is very quiet and as a recent college graduate, has never held a teaching position, but he is a certified Social Studies teacher and his instincts are right on target. Like Daphne he develops a quick rapport with his students. Jordan and his fiancé frequently have dinner with Daphne and her husband. I team Jordan with Daphne.

Buffy is an inexperienced but Florida-educated and certified elementary teacher. She is young, blond, petite and tough. She and Midge will each have a section of the elementary students. With children in grades two through five, the classrooms will have to be multi-grade, but we can divide the students by grade/ability or by behavior. Both Buffy and Midge prefer grouping by behavior. The three of us sit down and make a list of students who work well together and those who need to be separated. Buffy isn’t ready to take her own class yet, so she will team-teach with Midge for a week or so.

Billie is our new PE teacher. Hiring a PE teacher was my staff’s idea. I gave them the choice – I could use the headcount for another classroom teacher thus lowering the student-teacher ratio or I could hire a health/PE teacher. Hiring a health/PE teacher means classroom teachers don’t have to instruct health and PE but more importantly, it means they get another much-needed planning period. We put it to a vote, and with one dissention everyone wanted a PE teacher. Billie is a middle aged, rugged, blond woman. I hire Billie for her enthusiasm, high energy and her experience, but now I am questioning my decision. She has only been here two weeks, but she has been late twice. She makes long, tearful cell phone calls at the end of the day and alludes to family problems: her husband is unemployed; her husband threw all their furniture on the front walk; her daughter was too dizzy to drive; her son’s grades are slipping and he might not get into West Point. Billie is taking classes at night to become an attorney and frequently dispenses dubious legal advice to her coworkers. On the plus side, Billie can control the students; she rarely has to radio for a counselor, and the students enjoy her classes.

The Daphne-Jordan team is clearly my best. I feel I can assign my most troubled students to Daphne and Jordan and they will handle, educate and reform them. As far as the Neeley-RitaMae team goes, I see three benefits to pairing these two: first, it will help Neeley recover from Tammie’s departure; second, it will remove him from Noreen’s negativity; and third it will allow RitaMae to serve as a role model for classroom management. I plan to move Neeley and his class from south campus to north once RitaMae has had time to get settled. I don’t share this information with Neeley, Noreen or any of the teachers - it will just cause an uproar. I’ll wait until I am ready to make the move. I hope RitaMae will be the answer to the Neeley problem. Hope springs eternal.

I try to group teachers into teams taking into account the subjects they teach best, their style of relating to students and their interpersonal skills in working with each other. In the ideal team, or as I call them, “house”, there are three teachers: one Math, one English and one who does both Science and Social Studies. But few teams are ideal. Stone and Jana’s house will be staffed with just the two of them all year. Stone prefers to teach Social Studies and is willing to teach Math; Jana likes to teach English and is willing to teach Science. Jana is tough enough to tolerate Stone and both of them are strict disciplinarians. Daphne loves to teach English, Jordan loves Social Studies and is willing to also teach Science and I will soon hire a teacher to join their team to teach Math (until then Daphne handles it). Daphne and Jordan have a genuine concern for troubled students and rarely raise their voices. RitaMae loves Social Studies and nothing else. Neeley loves English and nothing else. I need a good Math/Science teacher to join their team. Noreen is an incredible math teacher, Yvonne likes Social studies and is willing to teach Science. Once I move Neeley to work with RitaMae, I will need an English teacher to work in the Noreen and Yvonne house.

My goal is to have students who are ready to move out of Orientation get introduced to their teacher on Friday and start with their new class on Monday. This doesn’t always work since some students need more or less time in Orientation. I listen to Stephanie, analyze the data on her worksheet, and try to find the House and teacher where each student will thrive. If Stephanie and I take more than a few minutes discussing classroom assignments, an urgent phone call, irate parent, misbehaving student or flustered teacher will interrupt. We move quickly, I record the changes on my spreadsheet and inform teachers of their new assignments in the bus circle as I hand out newly updated copies of the class list spreadsheet.

I feel a little guilty about, and frustrated with this procedure. My original intention was to include the faculty and make student assignment decisions cooperatively in our weekly meetings. I believe in the benefits that flow from empowering my staff in shared decision-making. But, expediency won out over philosophy. I actually envisioned the whole in-take procedure differently. I wanted to calmly meet and talk with every new student (along with the parent or guardian) before sending the child off to Orientation. Instead new students and parents are sent directly to Stephanie’s room where she has them fill out paperwork while she simultaneously runs the orientation class and addresses the questions and concerns of the new student and parent.

The procedure for inducting new students isn’t the only orientation program in which I am failing to do what I planned and what I know is the best practice. My new employee orientation is almost non-existent. I feel very badly about the lack of an orientation for new employees. I’ve worked in HR, I know the value and necessity of a thorough initiation for a new job. A solid orientation program can increase employee satisfaction, performance and retention. But we just don’t have time for that at Prospect. In lieu of employee orientation, we do rapid-fire introductions around a table at our 8:00 meeting and Lynne hands the new recruits paperwork to be read and signed.

Ebencorp has a “handbook” but it is poorly written and covers only the corporate policies and procedures, many of which do not apply to us. The Ebencorp job descriptions don’t match any of our positions: the “teacher” description emphasizes protocol for overnight boating trips. I am working on rewriting job descriptions and obtaining Ebencorp approval to use them with my staff. My employees need a guide to Prospect of Lakeboro’s policies and procedures. I have a Word document into which I continue to make notes for this future handbook. I am determined to write it this summer, but for now I have nothing. I try to spend some time with each new employee, but even that not very ambitious objective often goes unmet. I do provide new teachers a week before they are assigned a class. During that week I encourage them to visit classes, observe and talk to teachers and set up their classrooms.

I don’t have time to lament the loss of the ideal. I am being attacked by foes I am ill-equipped to battle. My overarching explanation: there isn’t enough of me (and if I keep losing weight there will be less and less of me). I worry my squad of new teachers won’t be able to alleviate the pressure.