A Bump in the Road

So, we've now experienced the first bump on Tertius' academic road...
When I dropped him off at Kindergarten today, there were no parents milling about outside the drop-off location. I found that odd, and assumed that we were later than I thought. I hurried Tertius and his little sister inside, and down to his classroom. All of the parents were stuffed into the room, as well as all the kids, two teachers, at least one EA and the vice-principal. It was chaotic in there, with so many bodies crammed into a space designed for no more than a couple dozen.

Once it seemed that everyone had arrived, the vice-principal thanked everyone for staying and began to explain why he was there. He announced that since the school had had lower than expected enrollment at the primary level, the district had decided to cut a teaching position at the school. As the newest teacher on staff, that meant that Tertius' teacher was being let go. If enrollment had been high enough in the other primary grades, they could have moved her around to another grade. BC teachers are all certified for K-12; they do try to place teachers in settings that they took specific training for, such as middle years or secondary, but they can teach any grade. Unfortunately, at our school, the numbers just weren't there.

My first, and most important question was to find out about Kindergarten enrollment. I had concerns, because I know that there is a hard cap of 22 students for Kindergarten. Still, I had visions of the school having to stuff 55 Kindy students into two classrooms as a result of this decision. The vice-principal assured me that they only have 43 Kindergarten students, so they're just barely under the class size limits for two classes. The VP also said that the school admin had gone to bat for her, but the district had final say. He encouraged parents to contact the district if they had any questions or concerns.

It was clear to me that Ms. M. was visibly upset, but she did a remarkable job of holding it together for her students. She can't have had more that 24 hours' notice of this. I asked the parents assembled to please give Ms M. a round of applause, and I hope that it communicated to her how much we appreciate how well she had prepared our children for school already, and how much we dislike the decision of the school district. I've written up a thank you card for her, and will be giving her a scarf that I made as a farewell gift when I pick Andrew up this afternoon. I'm actually in tears as I type this, and I'm not sure if I'm more upset for my son, or for his teacher.


Now Ms. M. is a DIT (District Initiated Transfer). She is owed a job by the district; if there is no job, she is placed on the TOC (Teacher on Call) list as a priority TOC, which means that she will be one of the first teachers called every day, as the district has to pay her, regardless of whether she works or not. I imagine that the district will want her TOCing as many days as possible, to avoid being out of pocket for a teacher who is being paid, but not working.

This creates a trickle-down effect for every other teacher on the TOC list. Teachers all get bumped further down on the list when there is a DIT on the TOC roster; DITs get first dibs on call-outs, and there are going to be new teachers who will have a harder time making ends meet until she is in a contract position. I know how this works – my husband did his time in the TOC trenches. In fact, while he has Continuing status, he does not yet have his own contract, and this is his seventh year in this district. Our school district is one of a handful that have been consistently showing modest growth over the last decade, but with districts having to stretch the insufficient government funding as far as it can go, classes get filled to their limits, staff get shuffled around within the schools, and that doesn't necessarily translate into more teaching jobs.


But for today, I can't concern myself with the larger picture. Today, I am the mother of a little boy whose school world just got turned upside down. By the time I pick him up after lunch, Tertius will have had to move to a different classroom, acquaint himself with a new environment, learn different routines and spend some time building rapport with a new teacher, along with 20 other kids.

What seems like a small change to the adults making the decisions is actually a monumental adjustment that they are expecting 4 and 5 year old children to just take in stride. I foresee some tears and confusion, and a lot of time comforting and explaining in the near future. And I don't know how long it will be before he can start to feel settled in school.

That's a lot to put on a little boy.