Shockingly, they managed to awe me with their total incompetence.  I gave an open notes quiz in Biology on the topic of the digestive system.  This was not a sophisticated quiz; it was factual, requiring recall, not synthesis of information.  Essentially, open your notes or a textbook, find the information, and pick the correct answer.  Hell, most of it was common sense.  A few tricky terms like "peristalsis" or "hydrolysis" might require deeper digging, knowing the location of the recondite gall bladder and understanding its function might prove challenging, but overall, the quiz wanted definitions.  Look in the back of the book, pick the corresponding correct choice.  

Needless to say, 1 kid out of 25 passed the test, receiving an earth shattering 20/30 correct for a score of 67%.  Ever the optimist, I figured that 67% would be the class average on such an easy quiz-cum-review assignment.  The class average hovered around 50%.  I wish it were an indication that half of the class received 80-100% and the other half scored between 0-20%.  I could walk away with the minimal feeling of knowing that I got through to half of the kids in that situation.  I'm left feeling as though I'm saddled with a bunch of half-wits who would choke on their food unless someone reminded them that they needed to chew all of their food during every meal.  

My open notes quiz for Chemistry was decidedly more difficult.  I expect more from my juniors and seniors.  I did the whole "Hey, howya doing, whatcha do for break routine?" to get them comfortable, then I slapped them with a pop quiz.  They were relieved to hear that they would be able to use their notes.  I walked around, helped out a few kids, and saw that they had some recollection of the material.  Mastery, no, not even with their notes in front of them could they demonstrate an unflinching understanding of the material.  

Seeing that I needed to review most of this material, I decided not to grade the quizzes.  I collected them at the end of the period and set them on my desk.  Whether it was a lack of motivation, the laziness inherent in not grading the assignment, or a motivational trick, not wanting to saddle the students with a failing grade from their first day back at school, is up for interpretation.  I see it as a perfect blend of both motives.  When I passed back the ungraded quizzes the next day, the students were puzzled.  I explained that I looked over the quizzes and felt that grading them would be a futile exercise.  My casual flip through their papers revealed the truth I needed and that they did not need to see a failing grade immediately upon their return to school.  I spent Tuesday reviewing the material, making certain that I could close out the Stoichiometry unit by Wednesday/Thursday for a unit test on Friday.

While writing this post this morning, I received the plan altering phone call from a colleague who told me not to come into work today due to icy conditions.  Honestly, I was a little disappointed with the cancellation.  Grateful for the day off, but wondering if conditions truly warranted another missed day.  We just returned from break two days ago and I was building momentum.  It will be a Sisyphean task to get the children back on track.  If pushing them toward the peak of understanding helped me lose any weight, I'd be all for it as I presently resemble a small orca.  I do enjoy having a Wednesday off.  It divides the week nicely into two on, two off.  Also, I missed two 90 minute block classes with my eminent blockheads who do not understand how to sit down and ferme la bouche, if you'll pardon my French.  I will have to alter my plans accordingly and push a few things onto next week's agenda, as my general rule for snow days stands as losing one day costs you two.  In my current situation, that rule holds true.  I could see it changing should I find myself in a better situation teaching children who had positive attitudes and expectations about education.  Losing one day might not kill my momentum.  Perhaps the lost day could be reconciled with the next day, hybridizing the plans to counteract the loss of instructional time.  I already stuff ten pounds of excrement in a five pound bag every day, if you'll excuse the scatological metaphor, and I can't see how I could add much more to my lesson plans without causing a near riot in my classroom.

If it gets renewed, we stay open and continue to have jobs.

If it gets revoked, we close the doors, lose our jobs, and send the kids looking for new schools. 

Within these cause and effect relationships surely exists an appeal process that buys the school time to get its act together before being closed for good.  I believe you can get up to two years from the appeal process.  If I remember correctly, another local charter went through the renewal process and was originally denied, then provisionally extended to correct glaring mistakes in their operations.

As part of this renewal process, my particular school mandates that the teachers rewrite certain parts of the charter relevant to their specialty.  I don't remember seeing that in my TEACHING CONTRACT and I cannot recall an additional stipend to cover the time I'm supposed to magically find outside of school necessary to complete work on my section of the charter.  A thinly veiled threat: revise the charter or revise your resume.  I'll grin and bear it, do my part, because heaven knows there aren't any jobs out there.  I update teachWNY every day trying to find myself a new job,  hopefully finding something for someone else in the process.  Yes, I maintain several websites.  More on that later.

What truly burns my ass is the fact that the school is not living up to its charter.  By all accounts, it probably does not deserve to be renewed.  We're ranked near the bottom of the recent Business First school rankings for middle schools.  Shabby.  The kids are likely no better off in our school over the local public school district save for one exception, the fact that they may be safer.  The tumbleweed administration just rolls in the wind, waffling on important academic, disciplinary, and fiscal issues that are never resolved to the satisfaction of the students, teachers, or parents of the school.  

Teachers are not valued.  We are dispensable due to the glut of newly minted teachers that the local colleges pump out every year.  As human capital we are expendable, not to be accommodated, conserved, or respected, because someone else is waiting in line to take our place.  Fine, I'll play along.  I will kowtow to the whims of the administration and fulfill their wishes.  Jump?  How high?  Through hoops?  No problem.  Fire?  I'll eat it like a sideshow daredevil.  

What kills me are the inequities.  Certain teachers are privileged.  Unburdened by bullshit, they do as they please and rule unchecked, acting as pseudo-administrators, eyes and ears and ears and eyes.  They teach less classes, they make more money, this ruling class.  One must be wery, wery careful near these wascally wabbits.  Choose words with surgical precision, say no more than necessary and move on to the next operation.  I don't have a voice.  Speak up - get fired, or as it is so lovingly and dutifully worded in my contract, terminated without cause.  I have no protection, no union backing, not even an established method of airing a grievance.  Worried about their jobs, many teachers clam up and fall in line, happy to be working somewhere.

I'm there for the kids.  The kids are getting screwed.  Sure, I'm getting screwed, but I'm equipped to deal with that.  Even the students sense malfunction.  They voice their opinions without repercussion.  "This school sucks!"  What can I say?  Can I agree?  I see potential wasted every day.  Kids who can't get the services they need,  teachers who can't get the resources they need, and administrators who fail to recognize the needs and instead prescribe this mystical panacea of progress and improvement.  We can't progress or improve if we don't have the things we need.  We can't put more hours in the day to do your work for you.  We came here to teach and the kids came here to learn.  Mind the gap.  Acknowledge its presence.  You want success, then give us what we need to be successful.  You ask for something and you don't get what you want, like getting a band-aid for a gunshot wound.  Cover it up, make it look good, because it's all about appearance.  It's the best of both worlds when private schooling and public education collide!