A Teacher’s Summer (Off) Story…
I got an email from our school’s business manager on Friday at 5:11pm with an “emergency request” to complete a new required training module. The deadline for completing this module? The following Monday morning.
As usual, the “system” didn’t allow me to even start the training module–some sort of IT glitch I assume–so I called the business manager, who was still at her desk on Friday at 5:20pm. She told me she couldn’t fix the problem, but would call the IT department to “look into it.” When I reminded her that this delay meant it was pretty unlikely that I’d be able to complete the training module before the Monday morning deadline, she assured me it “was no big deal,” and “not to worry about it.”
So, I wasted 30 minutes trying to responsibly complete an “emergency request” that couldn’t be completed due to tech problems–on a Friday after the close of the work day, during the first summer I haven’t worked as a teacher since the mid-1980s.
Like me, most of these teachers have not been getting paid this summer–but they have been expected to…
- be available for countless Zoom and Google Hangout meetings, often with only a few minutes advance notice
- respond to an endless string of “reply all” email messages with requests for immediate CONTINUE READING: A Teacher's Summer (Off) Story… | Eclectablog