Mrvaudrey

Tag: Pi day

  • Getting Pinked, riffed, or “having probationary status terminated”

    bDid you hear? Mr. Avery got RIFfed!b

    bYeah, I got pinked again this year.b

    bMr. Vaudrey? Hi, we got the listb& and youbre on it.b

    Non-teachers, you have no doubt heard one of the above terms used around this time of year. Herebs what they mean for teachers:

    Beware the Ides of March

    Every year by March 15th, the California Education Code (bEd Codeb for short) states that teachers must be notified if their contract isnbt renewed for the next school year.

    This could be for several reasons:

    1. The teacher is brand new to teaching and itbs just not a good fit. This way, he or she can get a new job, a fresh start, without saying bI got firedb.
    2. The state has no money, so schools have to make the same services available to kids, but with less staff, so itbs a Reduction In Force (bRIFb for short)
    3. The district has no moneyb&
    4. The school has no moneyb&
    5. The city has no moneyb&
    6. The teacher is new to the school and this is a good way to see if they will work out: Fire them after a year, then if you want them back, you re-hire.

    In our district, we have over 300 positions being cut.

    Thatbs a lot. Itbs about one in five.

    “Anybody with levitation skills gets pinked. It’s a new district policy.”

    Herebs why teachers make a big fuss about it:

    Suppose you work at the GAP.

    “Hi, I’m Devon. Can I get you a pooka-shell necklace?”

    You were brand new to the retail business and hired on a bProbationaryb basis. You work very hard and sell a lot of modestly priced polo shirts.

    Then March 15th comes, you are told that you might be fired, for no reason, in June. Do you keep working hard until then?

    “These pencils aren’t going to perch themselves.”

    b&cuz itbs really tempting to take your time stocking the capri pants after that. Whatbs the point? Youbre out of a job in a few months.

    Some of your co-workers start using up their sick days and some outright quit.

    Still unclear?

    Suppose you play football.

    Your season ends and you are told your contract is over. Itbs pretty common, but you canbt help feeling that youbd be kept if youbd made more tackles or touchdowns.

    You quite enjoyed playing for your team, the Colts, but they may not have the money to hire you back.

    Do you snoop around other teams for a job? If you find one, youbll just be starting out there at the bottom of the ladder, ready to have the same thing happen next year.

    Do you wait it out and see what happens? They all like you on the Colts, but what if the season starts and they canbt afford to keep you? You then have no team to play for. Is that better than playing for the Redskins?

    [This is probably a good place for some snide remark about the Redskins.]

    My first year teaching was a disaster. It was so bad, that I got pinkedB in late January. They didnbt even wait until March to let me know that I was done.

    I stuck it out, though. I worked just as hard all the way to mid-June, harder perhapsbknowing that I had nothing to lose and I could try new things.

    At least this year, I made it all the way to Pi Day.

    Also, if you work at a charter school, as I previously did, they are exempt from the March 15th rule, as I wrote previously in anger.

    **Credit to Laura, from whom I stole the bold formatting idea.