strike | Mama Cormier

….it seemed like the longest week ever

I’m sure that the full moon had a lot to do with it. The students were unusually chatty and restless. For the first time it was a struggle to get them to finish their work. Our mayor was found guilty in a conflict of interest case by the courts and stripped of his position. The teachers’ union made work to rule official and is threatening rotating one day strikes across the province. The minister of education is trying to convince the media that the government is putting students first and that the teachers are bargaining in bad faith. City council was caught in the middle of a shouting match between the mayor, with the aid of his brother and a few councillors on issues that turned out to be non-issues. A crazy week, all in all.

So if the mayor’s appeal is denied we might be looking at a by-election and the same judge that found the mayor guilty clarified today that he could run again in the by-election. He’s convinced that he would win again but I’m not so sure and the polls aren’t in his favour at the moment.

I had my fitness test this week and signed up for 24 sessions with a personal trainer and then the next day I found out we are be in a strike position and could be walking the pavement. Yesterday I cancelled the sessions with the personal trainer until things are a little more settled at work.

Last Friday I discovered I have mice in my library office. They’re living under the sink and have been chewing through my paint mixing containers. All week I’ve been throwing away containers that have big holes in the bottom. I haven’t seen them but there’s lots of evidence that they’re around.

I started to mark some of the art projects. I have to use my time more wisely because as of December 10th we have to leave school 1/2 hour after the students leave. This will be a challenge for me and a few other teachers who regularly stay at school till 6:00 most days. After the 10th, no more field trips, sports teams, extracurricular activities, and anything that involves collecting money and administrative paperwork. I marked about 100 projects tonight. Only 320 to go.

Art classes will continue but displaying the work could prove challenging when I have to leave the building early every night. Some of the work may have to stay up longer than it would normally. Here’s what the halls look like at the moment.

Not everything was bad. At the school council meeting this week the parents put my new art cart on the top of the priority list of things to purchase. It was ordered the next day and arrived yesterday. It only has to be assembled.

On Thursday I went to the One of a Kind Show with my daughter and her partner. They made me a great dinner. I had a free pass into the show and parking was free (that’s never happened before).

The weekend looks promising. I’ll start the day with a walk with the dog, workout at the gym and then to an art show opening in the afternoon. My friend’s 91 year old father is exhibiting his work at the Moore Gallery in downtown Toronto. He is a very accomplished artist and has had many shows in his lifetime. Just a month ago he won another award for one of his pieces at the Watercolour Society.

On Sunday we may be taking a trip to the Niagara region and do some wine touring. This is what my daughter wanted for her birthday and it looks like it should be a nice day weather wise. With Christmas just around the corner and winter on our heels we need to make this trip sooner rather than later.

We had a dusting of snow today in the afternoon. By 4:15 it was already dark, partially due to the overcast sky. Of course for the next 21 days it will continue to get darker earlier in the day. How depressing but I can’t let the stress get to me.

.…. it’s all getting me down

I’m not used to being in the city this long at the beginning of the summer. I forgot how much the heat keeps me from moving. That depresses me. My classroom is taking much longer to clean than I planned on. That depresses me. The news about teachers is all bad and once again the ‘hate on’ for teachers has begun. That depresses me.

I worked in my classroom for about 4 hours today. We’ve hit record breaking temperatures again and my classroom is situated on the south side of the school and we don’t have air conditioning. I need to clear away as much as I can so that the caretakers can come in and clean the room. I’m feeling the pressure and I couldn’t get it all done today. I need to go back. Sigh!

When I got home today I was so exhausted from the heat that I fell asleep. I need to exercise and I can’t find the motivation or the energy to do it. A few degrees cooler would help.

Our teacher’s contract is up at the end of the summer and for months we’ve been hearing the word “strike”. The provincial government has basically come in and told us that there would be a pay freeze for two years. Most teachers are not upset about that. It’s all the other things that they want to take away that took years to negotiate that upsets teachers. What’s the point of collective bargaining if the government can step in and do whatever they want without any consultation or ratification? The school board hasn’t even gotten involved yet and they’re typically who we bargain with.

Of course the media makes the teachers look bad and all the teacher haters come out of the woodwork. It’s always the same old arguments. Teachers get 3 months paid vacation (we get paid for 10 months of the year), they have a great pension (which we pay heavily into) and they only work 6 hours a day (too bad they don’t see the hours after school and on the weekend that most of us put in).

Retirement is looking better all the time but I love teaching and I’m not ready to let it go.