Change

The last month of school just flew past in a whirl of upheaval. Between state testing, field trips, finishing up required curriculum, and staff changes, I blinked and the school year was finished. I said good-bye to my fourth graders happily waving them away on the buses at 3:15 on Wednesday, June 3rd. Yesterday, I said good-bye to my coworkers not quite sure who would all be in my building at the start of the 2015-16 school year.

Between the district deciding to do some necessary shake-ups, and staff choosing to make move to other buildings and positions, our small building with a staff of about 35 has been in a whirlwind of what the staffing will look like for next year. Here's the rundown of all the staffing changes which caused the upheaval and whirlwind:

1. Art teacher leaving. At the beginning of the school year art teacher's husband received a job in Northeastern Wisconsin. She would finish out the school year and then move to be with her husband.
2. 4th grade coworker/mentor leaves in March. She took a Title Math position in district.
3. 5th grade coworker leaves in March. He also took a Title Math position in district.
4 and 5. Two long-term subs are hired for the end of the year at the beginning of March, one in fourth and one in fifth to replace the teachers who went to Title Math.
6. 4th grade coworker will leave at the end of the school year. In mid-April, she took a position at one of the lower elementary schools.
7. One of the special education teachers will be taking #6's position for the next school year leave a sped position open.
8. Principal will leave at the end of the school year. Right before Memorial Day, we found out that our principal is being moved to be assistant principal at the middle school and part-time principal at the elementary charter school. The current principal at the middle school will be our new principal.
9. 4th grade coworker will leave at the end of the school year. Following Memorial Day weekend, we learn that this coworker took a sixth grade science and language arts position at the middle school.
10. Guidance counselor will leave at the end of the school year. She announced, following Memorial Day weekend, that she took the guidance counselor position at the middle school.
11. Secretary is retiring. She announces this the second to last day of school. She is moving to be closer to her grandchildren.
12. A paraprofessional is fired. On the last day of school.
13. The long-term substitute in fourth grade will most likely not be given a contract for next year.

It's been great to work with these coworkers for the first two years of my teaching career, and it will be interesting to see what my third year of teaching brings. I've learned so far that teaching is never stagnant!