More sad news leads to a change

Last week the school district's psychologist died in a car crash. She was on her way to work and never made it. Apparently there were no skid marks nor signs that she took evasive action to stop crossing the median. She hit another car head on. What does this mean? Who knows, but all I know is that it bring our districts death count to something like nine. Now this death count is not always directly related to the district as far as employees but, instead they are all closely related to the district in same way or another. Two students have had a parent die, one teacher lost her dad in November and mom in December. Another teacher lost her father-in-law, and of course there was the paraprofessional who lost her husband. There are other countless deaths that I could rattle off, but the point of the story is that death has plagued our district. Does this put a damper on our district's attitude? You bet, and that includes me. It seems that we just keep reeling from tragedy and it is beginning to take its toll. So I've begun to consider other jobs, I'm not sure why, I just have an itch to go in a different direction. I feel sad, discontented, and irritated with the daily grind of teaching.


I've expressed interest in the district's Instructional Facilitator job as well as the new Tutor job that will open up next year. The Instructional Facilitator job would be a little stressful, but I don't think it will carry the same responsibilities that teaching a class does. My friend Linda says that I am a 'teacher of teachers,' so maybe that's a new direction. On the other hand, I really want the tutor job. This job will help our 6th graders transition into 7th grade. Either job might be the change I'm looking for. I also want to apply to the newest elementary school, Saddle Ridge. The school is really close by our house and I thought I'd give district #1 a try just to see what happens. We'll see.