Last day

Today was the last day of my yearly work contract--my first year at the elementary school is finished! I'm so pleased with the job and the environment, as you all know. I go back to start the "new" year July 8th. For the next 10 days, I'm on vacation!

Or should I say, "Staycation"? It's too damn hot to go anywhere. Today it got up to 99 degrees with a heat index of 108, thanks to the humidity. Going outside at any point, day or night, is just unbearable at the moment. The humidity hits you like a suffocating wet blanket. Check out these temps:

But looking on the bright side...

Last day

My last couple of days at the middle school were somewhat anticlimactic. I felt only relief this afternoon when I turned in my keys and left for the last time. 

I'm grateful for the six years I spent there, and even more grateful to be moving on to something better.

Goodbyes

Whew, what a week I've had. My feelings have been all over the place.

There is, of course, the end of my one job and the beginning of the next looming. This was the last week of school for students. Several of my favorite kids came by my office to say goodbye, and one boy, Caleb, spent most of his last day hanging out in my office, talking. (He's mildly autistic and one of his accommodations is that he's allowed to find a quiet place to work outside of his classroom when he needs it). 

All year he would occasionally stop by my office and ask to sit with me and finish up assignments. I said yes whenever I was able to (and he didn't mind the times when I wasn't) and we'd do our respective work together.  I kept gentle guitar music playing softly in the background, and it was a peaceful, quiet atmosphere for work. He'd also come to me when he was upset about something or worried about his grades. Sometimes he just needed to talk, and I'd be there to listen--we've been firm friends throughout his middle school years. How I'm going to miss him! He's headed to high school in the fall, and I'm proud of him. He's worked hard to get there, and he's a really good kid, to boot. His parents must be proud. I hope they are.

The mother of another boy sent me an email on Tuesday asking about his attendance on the last two half days and ended it by saying "thank you for being a constant in John's middle school years and for being so easy to work with". Then later in the afternoon she actually showed up and brought me a gift: this beautiful orchid!

It's going to look wonderful in the window of my new office! In fact, it will replace a yellow orchid growing there that belonged to the outgoing secretary. How perfect is that?! It was awfully sweet of her.

There were a few phone calls and visits from other parents, too, and I appreciated it all. The end of the school year is always a bit bittersweet, with kids growing up and moving on and all that, but it seems especially so for me this year since I'm leaving. Next week there's two teacher and staff workdays, Tuesday and Wednesday, and then that's it. I've finished all of my work and packed up my office, so I won't have anything to do, really. I may bring a book. Then on Tuesday afternoon, when it's time to go home, I'll turn in my office keys and building entry key fob, and that's when I'll be officially done. This month of goodbyes seems to have dragged on, and on, and on....so I'm beyond ready. 

Onwards and upwards from here (hopefully).

Year five, done!

It's really hard to believe, but as of today I've finished five years at my "new" job. I guess I need to quit calling it "new"! 

This was, without a doubt, the worst year I've had yet, but I'm hopeful that next year will be better. We'll have an almost totally new staff. We'll be getting a new principal, one new assistant principal, one new guidance counselor (Little P.'s mom is leaving due to being treated terribly, and has accepted a job in another city about 20 miles away), head librarian, library assistant, and head custodian. At least a dozen teachers are leaving, too, and must be replaced. I keep hearing that the secretary won't be back, either. She's one of the rude and awful office women that helped make me miserable all year, so I haven't confirmed if that's true or not. (We don't speak unless it's necessary). Of course I hope it's true, we'll be better off without her. And finally, my favorite of the two school nurses told me this morning that she's leaving, too. It's very telling that we're losing over half of our staff; it shows what a terrible year it's been for us all. Hopefully some new blood will make a big difference going forward. If it doesn't, I plan to find a new school to transfer to next year.

But all that is for another day....for now, I am free! Free for seven whole weeks and I'm so glad! Having summers off is one of the best perks of working in the school district. It never gets old, leaving for two months at the beginning of June and then starting fresh in early August. The prospect of the summer off makes me feel a little like a kid again!

Hooray for summer vacation!

When we got the announcement at 2:30 today that we could leave, this is what we looked like! One of the teachers said, on the way out the door, "Good God! It looks like someone pulled the fire alarm!" Haha.