The Camel's Back: Broken and Battered

Okay, Here's My Deal...

The old cliche, "The straw that broke the camel's back." pales in comparison to what I feel like what is happening at my school. If you aren't quite up to speed, I am the camel...not to be confused with the walrus.

(If you do not know that there was a song called "I am the Walrus" by the Beatles, then you probably didin't get that reference and you've made me feel even older than I do.)

Not only am I the camel, my colleagues are in my herd and we want to stampede over the shepherds that are busting our collective humps.

Yesterday, all my troubles WERE NOT so far away (again, there is a Beatles reference...I don't know what's my deal with that...sorry) and it ranked up there with one of my worst days in the 15 years I have been teaching. Why? Because you can count on probably one hand the number of teachers, no, include assosciates as well, on ONE HAND that are able to muster up a smile to even greet each other. There are 32 certified teachers...4 are taking early retirement, I am activley seeking a new job, one new teacher has stated they don't want to come back, a second year teacher does not want to come back and at least 3 others have placed bids on other jobs within the district. That is 10/32 or 31.25% of the staff that I am aware of that wants to get the heck out of here. How crazy is that?!?!