The quitter...but for good reason

After I made up my mind in May 2011 that I was not going to continue at the school I had been at for the past three years I began in earnest to search for new employment. Each day at work my partner and I would sit in our office for about 30 minutes to an hour and look on the net for opportunities. To force myself out of the current position and to ensure that I would have no choice but to look and not accept another year at my current place, I asked to be placed on the excess list. This list is used to help people move ot other locations within the district. The difference between this and a regular transfer is that if a position is not secured the district is obligated to pay your salary for at least a full year.

Somewhere along the way the district decided to offer buyouts if you didn't think you could find a position by the time the school year came around. This is a win for the district because they could buy you out of your contract (and their contractual obligation to pay your full salary for one year) for $25,000. Certainly everyone can see why they'd rather give you 25K as opposed to say your 70K. I thought this was an attractive option and decided to jump through the necessary hoops to take the buyout. There were a few stipulations, like document a certain number of interview/attempts to secure a position, etc. On the day before I was supposed to submit the paperwork to process the buyout...of course I waited til the deadline in typical JayEmmBee fashion, I received a call from Human Resources informing me that they had a position available for me at another school. I still wanted to do the buyout but I felt that wisdom dictated that I take the position with the salary for another year while I continued to search for other employment. The position was supposed to be the same as the one I currently held, just at another location so I was cool with that.

When I arrived at the other location I was greeted warmly and given a tour of the facilities. I met the other instructional coach and she took me around and we discussed a few things briefly. I couldn't figure out why we weren't planning together and discussing more. After all,my other partner and I planned everything together. Turns out I was duped. They principal said that he didn't need another instructional coach...he just wanted someone to teach an elective class. I was like...um...no...I'm supposed to be an instructional coach and I have it in writing.

I went downtown to central office to clarify. I explained to them and showed them the letter that they generated informing me of the position assignment and the job title. They were like well we thought that was what the position was supposed to be. However, it turns out that the principal didn't need that position and he wanted something else. So you kinda have to take whatever he has. To say I was livid is an understatement. I thought because it was in writing and I was promised something specific that there was no way that they could back out on that arrangement.

I returned to the assigned place and picked up the supplies I would need to try to return to the classroom (something I hadn't done for over 3 years and something I had never done at the middle school level) to teach an elective class in English and mathematics. I'm not even trained/credentialed in English, but alas.

I hated every moment of it. I don't like middle school children for day to day involvement. It was different when I was a coach and I came in to assist someone with a lesson or taught a model lesson every now and then. I didn't like that every day thing. Managing and dealing with them is soooo different from dealing with high school kids.

The children were unruly. They got on my dang nerves, repeatedly.

One day while classes were in transition in the hallway I was lining up my students along the lockers as was the custom. There was this one young man named Charles who could be obstinate at times who didn't want to comply with my directive. He was messing with others kids. He was approaching them making a shanking motion, but he didn't appear to have anything in his hand. I implored him to cut it out and get in line so that we could file into the classroom and master some material for the day. He came toward me doing the same thing. I was like boy get in line and stop playing. I never anticipated that he would make contact with me. Sadly, he did and that was a career turning point.

He hit me on my right hip. Before I knew it the young man had been punched in the chest and was up against a locker. I'm not saying who did it, but it happened before I knew it. You cannot play with grown folks. To be honest, it happened so fast it scared me! I was like....ok....maybe it's time for me to let this go. I don't have time for my good name to be sullied because some disobedient child provoked me. The young man after the terror left his eyes, because it caught him off guard as well, began to put on a scene that rivaled all scenes. You know the typical 'don't hold me back i'ma f@4k him up' type stuff. I informed all teachers who were participating in restraining the young man that it was okay to let him go because he was only acting. To be clear, if he had approached JayEmmBee to do anything I was gon put something on that azz! I might've been fired on the spot, but he would've never forgotten Mr. JayEmmBee.

I had to call his parent and provide statements to the administrators and bunch of other jazz. The principal said he understood and would help me through this situation, but I took this incident as a sign that I needed to get out. I was not so much concerned for my safety, but I was concerned for the safety of those children. At that point I felt that I was too turned up to be in the classroom because I was ready to take names for anyone of them who tried it. That isn't a healthy place for me and certainly (because they would've been bruised and battered) wasn't a healthy place for them.

I went to human resources after countless nights of not sleeping well and having anxiety about the job and all that and turned in a handwritten letter of resignation. I didn't even bring my own paper. I used a sheet of printer paper so that I could scribble my wish to depart and turned around and never looked back.

I did panic though. Two days after I quit I was like...omg....I'm unemployed...and I quit on my own....what was I thinking?!?! I began applying frantically for jobs online and I got a hit in two days. I started that next job within weeks after we dealt with salary and stuff.

Turned out I had to quit that job too.

Things were so-so....children were better behaved. This was a charter middle school. It satisfied my curiosity about charter schools but there was so much I hated about it. The hours were too long...like 7:30 am to 4:30 pm. It was about a 45 minute commute in the morning and about 1 - 1.5 hour commute in the afternoon.

The incident that made me quit this job was my principal's response to me needing to be off one day. On a previous occasion I needed to be off and I asked the principal what the procedures were for requesting time off. She told me not to worry and to just indicate the absence in the time/accounting/payroll system. Of course I left lesson plans and I was off to handle my business. On the occasion in question, I told the assistant principal that I needed to be off. I sent her lesson plans by email, sent her a text and reminded her at a meeting that I would be away. I didn't tell the principal this time because I figured the assistant would tell her because they shared an office. I told the assistant too, because she was in charge of the middle school in which I worked. The principal handled the elementary school.

I'm at one of my favorite stores the night before I was to be absent from work. I start getting these text messages from the assistant principal. Let me attempt to gist out the textversation:
AP: Did you tell Ms. Gibson you were going to be off?
JMB: Nah...I told you.
AP: Well...she said she didn't know bout it. You're still supposed to always inform her of an absence.
JMB: If we're having this conversation about her not knowing, then she must know.
AP: Well she said to tell you that you won't be paid for the missed time because you have to request time off three weeks in advance.
JMB: k

Obviously I was exasperated. I'm thinking ok...why can't the principal call me/text me herself if there's an issue and how dare you threaten me with money. I have been black for (at the time) 30 years so those kind of threats mean very little to me. I know how to do without. In addition, when I asked you what the procedures were for requesting time off, why didn't you mention to me at that time that requests typically had to be submitted three weeks in advance. And who knows almost a month ahead of time every time they need to be off? Get a life lady.

After my appointment that day I decided to compose an email when I returned home. It went something like this: Effective immediatly I will no longer continue employment with XYZ school. Thank you for the opportunity, but I must follow my passion. I have never before quit a job by email. After I sent the email the AP was bothering other teachers trying to find out if they knew I was going to quit. They didn't know because I made the decision that evening in while looking for deals under the red bull's eye. So that's how I quit two jobs in two months. I quit the second one in November and chilled until March of the next year...I think the seven months came from that 4.5 months plus the summer previous. It was a good time though. I had a blast when I wasn't working.

So I revealed on of my favorite stores, sorta. And I forgot to mention this detail. When the incident happened with the lil boy I was telling my bae the story. It didn't matter that I used the phrase "I redirected him..." instead of saying before I knew it the young man was up against the locker and there was a loud crashing sound...it was clear to anyone who heard the story that there had been some physical contact. I guess when people know you....