So I guess in my first week they threw everything at me ... including the kitchen sink. Okay, well maybe not the kitchen sink. But a carbon-monoxide scare instead.
In the first three hours in my new position, I taught two AP junior classes (one on Our Town, the other on Walt Whitman), managed a personnel issue that involved two different bonehead moves by the same teacher, physically moved fourteen classes to other rooms and/or teachers, transferred eight students to new English classes, fought with the guidance department about the proper protocol for schedule changes - twice, and hung up some posters in the new office. The rest of that first day was more of the same, with more moving out of one classroom and into an office.
The second day was a bit quieter. The third day was more of the same, plus my first "downtown" meeting, mostly about personnel evaluation and supervision. On Thursday, I led my first department meeting, but not before dealing with a potentially toxic (literally) situation.
One of my teachers left school at 9am with a bad headache, a recurring ailment for him the last two weeks or so. He felt that his room might have poor air quality, and might perhaps contain carbon monoxide since children had been complaining of similar aches too. What followed was a crash course for me on carbon monoxide poisoning, detection, and protection. I was brought to the bowels of the building, where computers store and analyze information supplied by various carbon monoxide detectors throughout the building. The head custodian showed me the data from the detector nearest the classroom in question. Then he showed me data from all other detectors for the sake of comparison. I guess a reasonable person would conclude that we have no carbon monoxide problem anywhere in the building. So I concluded just that and reported, with the custodian, as much to the principal.
The teacher returned on Friday, having spent part of Thursday at the doctor's office. He was armed with medical documentation of raised levels of carbon monoxide. So the order was placed for a more advanced test of his room and area, scheduled for Friday afternoon. The result ... nothing. I suspect he might test his apartment and vehicle, just to be sure he's following all precautions.
In the meantime, the principal ordered that I remove the teacher and all classes from the room. So I spent some time Thursday afternoon trying to figure out exactly where to remove them to. I ended up creating a new classroom out of a previously "abandoned" place. The jury is still out on whether it will work as a functional classroom, but it satisfied all concerned parties.
On Friday I attended my first principal's cabinet meeting. I expected a snoozer and got a fireworks display. Some of the other department chairs wanted to use the time to address their concerns over discipline and security issues in the building, and the administration's perceived inability to handle them appropriately. The administrators (i.e., principal and vice principal) became very defensive and a small group of department chairs became borderline offensive (in both meanings of the word). I'm not sure we resolved anything as much as we simply aired many concerns in a loud and chaotic manner. But it was nonethless an exciting first cabinet meeting for me.
And that, in a nutshell, was my opening week. It culminated in a much anticipated, and probably deserved, Budweiser (actually several) among colleagues Friday afternoon.
For the record, Monday of week two was very quiet and mundane. Here's to an uneventful second week.
