Teachers Deserve Tenure

I know my blogs have mainly involved my life, but this time I feel a real need to express an opinion and defend teachers who seem to be under attack as of late.  Please know that my point of view and thoughts on this actually come from having taught in public schools for 5 years and 1 year at a charter school.

Teachers and tenure are a good combination.  Unfortunately, the general public has a general misconception on what is involved with tenure.  They seem to be under the belief that once you get tenure, a school can never fire you or get rid of you in any way.  This is simply NOT true!!  Tenure is basically a measure that allows a teacher some job security from school year to school year.

Let me explain what it is often like for a non-tenured teacher.  In my 6 years of teaching, I never reached tenure.  I was close, but then I moved to a different district and therefore had to start all over again to establish tenure.  So, I am quite well acquainted as to what it is like to teach without tenure.  Many private school teachers are also in non-tenured positions and experience what I did.  When you are working toward tenure, most school districts consider those employees annual contract teachers.  What that means is that they decide if they are going to hire you again from year to year.  Unlike most jobs that will only get rid of you if lay offs are needed or you are doing a poor job, an annual contract teacher could technically be told that they won't be hired the next year for no reason at all.  In fact, you could have a satisfactory to outstanding review on your performance evaluation, but not be hired back the next year.

I've worked in other jobs that didn't have me on an annual contract where I knew I had a job the next day, week, month, etc.  For a non-tenured teacher, he or she never knows for sure if she or he has a job until they are offered the position again.  I hated the uncertainty of not knowing.  I knew it could be a matter of a personality conflict that could lead me to lose my job.  I wanted tenure so that if they let me go, it would have to be under a justified reason.

The biggest misconception is that once a teacher reaches tenure, they can't be fired.  Like I said before, this is completely untrue.  A tenured teacher can be fired.  If a bad teacher is on the faculty at a school and they have a job to this day, it is not the fault of tenure....it is the fault of administration.  All tenure does is to guarantee teachers a job from school year to school year AND provide information on what would need to be done to terminate their employment.  The tenure contract outlines what needs to happen and in what order to lay off teachers, even those who have tenure.  It also outlines the steps that administration needs to take to terminate a teacher's position for poor performance.

One of the most common steps you will find is if the teacher gets an unsatisfactory performance evaluation, what steps need to be taken in order to get the teacher back to satisfactory.  The reasoning behind this makes perfect sense.  As long as administration did their jobs right, the first time, by accurately evaluating teachers before they are given tenure, the teacher was probably a good teacher in the beginning.  So the first effort the school and district will want to make is to see if they can get the teacher back on track.  It may be a combination of requiring new training and extra evaluations/observations and even having them observe other teachers.  If that still doesn't work and the teacher is still doing a miserable job, the administrators are guided by the tenure contract as to what documentation is needed to fire them.  It may take up to a school year or so, but it can happen.

Unfortunately, people really believe that bad teachers are out there because they got tenure and are allowed to stay.  Instead, I blame administrators who are unwilling to either see what their teachers are doing wrong and/or are unwilling to go through the steps to get rid of a bad teacher.

Plus Size Pregnancy

I am a plus size pregnant momma-to-be.  I'm not necessarily proud of that fact.  I wish I had started off thinner and had never gained the weight I did in the first place; however, it is a fact of my life....for now at least.

There are some challenges to being a plus size pregnant woman.  Namely--clothing.  Here, in the Springfield, IL area, there is only one store with one rack of plus size maternity wear--Sears.  Yuck!  I've never been a fan of Sears' clothing (despite their ads, etc....it always seems to be mainly polyester) and their maternity selection for a plus size woman is the worst.  Finding a store to actually carry plus size maternity wear inside their store and not just on the website is REALLY difficult.  It is quite ridiculous actually.  And many stores that may carry plus size clothing in general, do not offer plus size maternity wear.

I take one of two messages from this.  Either, (1) Plus size women aren't attractive enough to hope for sex much less hope to get pregnant, or (2) plus size women don't require maternity clothes since what they have is big enough already.  It really irritates the bejesus out of me!  Honest to goodness.  I wish I had some gumption (and business talent/designing abilities) because I think I could make a mint designing and selling plus-size maternity wear.  There are many plus size women out there like me who would like fashionable clothes in the first place and to have some fashionable maternity wear.  But, unfortunately, it is hard to find.

I got some of my maternity wear (at the store even) at Motherhood Maternity in a different town and later online.  I got some basics (like long sleeve Ts and turtlenecks that were cheaper than Motherhood) from JcPenney online.  I have seen all sorts of cute clothes, but none came in my size so I've had to make do with the selection I have---which is very limited.

A new issue I have run into is finding a nursing bra to fit me now.  This goes to being plus size, but also I know there are some women who aren't plus size who have issues with this as well.  While I've been pregnant, I've been able to get regular bras at Lane Bryant since they do carry my size (and larger).  However, a maternity bra was out of the question because even Motherhood didn't carry my size.

Now, I need a couple of nursing bras to get me started once the baby comes in 6 weeks.  I'll be quite honest about my size....I believe I will need a 40G or possibly 40H (I'm currently in 40DDD, but that is actually at least a size too small).  I've tried online looking at JcPenney.  Not even they carry my size.  They stop at DDD (E).  I've even tried Motherhood, and nada..... I recently went to a breastfeeding class held at the hospital and the instructor told those of us who were large busted to come up and talk to her at a break.  She had 2 stores that we could use.  Of course, the closest store is 1 1/2 hours away.  The next closest is an hour and 45 minutes away.  Apparently, anyone carrying large size nursing bras is hard to find.  I felt especially bad for a woman who said she started the pregnancy as a 38H.  I can only imagine how hard it is for her now, knowing how hard it is for me.

I wonder what stores are thinking when they don't sell clothing for plus size pregnant women, much less having a variety of larger bra cups available to women.  Do they really think that the only women to get pregnant are skinny minnies?  Really?  Or that a plus size pregnant woman is satisified with staying in plus size clothing?  I wasn't.  It was cheaper for me clothing wise to get maternity pants and shirts that have allowed my body to grow without having to buy bigger sizes the whole way through.  As for bras, do they really believe that women never get larger than a DD or DDD when pregnant?  Do the designers really operate this way too?  It really annoys me to no end.

Anyhow, my lovely husband will drive with me an hour and a half away in a couple days so we can see if I can find a bra.  Hopefully, it won't cost a mint, but I doubt it.  Apparently finding something my size is rare so therefore will likely cost a lot.  Lovely.

The Big 3-0

Wow....today I hit the big 3-0!  30 weeks!! (Not 30 years...I wish since my big 4-0 birthday is only 8 months away).  It is hard to believe, in some ways, that I'm this far along.  It often feels as though the days and weeks have been dragging along and that I've been pregnant forever.  Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful! :-)

The odd thing to know is that we found out we were pregnant when I was 4 weeks.  So, we have known for the past 26 weeks that we will be parents.  Half a year!!  The nice thing to know is that we only have 9 weeks more to go until we deliver (9 weeks plus a day or two, possibly).

Chris and I are so looking forward to meeting our little gymnast.  The baby seems to love doing acrobatics.  I'm looking forward to the birth for more than just seeing our little angel.  I'm also excited because it will finally mean a complete end to morning sickness, back aches, and the need for Tums (which have recently become my best friend)! ;) I would say it will mean the end of fatigue (which has recently restarted), but, while technically true, we will soon go into sleep deprivation mode.  However, to me that is more than worth it.

Happy 3-0 to me! :-)