Seniority

This should have posted on 3/27/09 - (sorry)

Yesterday we had parent-teacher conferences, where parents come in to discuss their children's report cards. This meant that the students only had a half-day of school. Technically, staff had the rest of the afternoon off and we had to report back to school by 5:45 for the conference, but I stuck around a little bit late and tried to finish some work. I headed home, walked and fed the dog, relaxed and then headed back to school at around a quarter after 4. I arrived, checked my mailbox and ran into my principal. She told me that she needed to talk to me, so I followed her to her office. Usually when she says that she needs to speak with me, it's usually about a student and she wants me to follow up on an issue. So it came as a shock that the subject of our conversation would be me.

We sat down and she told me that she had just returned from an administrators' meeting with the superintendent. The topic was the education budget that the board of ed submitted to the mayor. The mayor has cut almost $1.7 million from the education budget. The superintendent basically told everyone to prepare for the worst. In order to adjust for the deficit, she would consider everything from closing schools, redistricting, or eliminating classes. It would be brutal if it went through. In preparation for the worst, the superintendent announced 27 people would be laid off. This number included one new teacher in each school, and one new person in each department. My principal told me this and then asked me the question that gave me a chill, "Are you the last person hired in your department?"

At first I had to think about it. I breathed a sigh of relief when I remembered that a colleague left her position last year and someone was fired a few months after I was hired. My feeling of comfort was short-lived when my principal outlined how some people would get lay-off notices and mentioned that anyone on leave would be guaranteed their position. Well, what did that mean? I knew that there was one school psychologist out for an extended leave, so then, would they eliminate 2 positions? Then I started to worry again. We have someone out for an extended leave, so if she returns, does that mean I need to start looking for another job?

I went home and tried not to think about it but it was hard. I ended up trying to keep my mind occupied, but it didn't work. I kept vacillating between "I'm going to be laid off" and "It won't be me on the list." My principal had a meeting the next day, where the list of faculty was released to the administrators. When she arrived at school she broke the news to me-I was not on the list.

That day I learned a valuable lesson: always know your seniority. My principal showed me a list (where was I supposed to know where to find it) of every employee in the district by order of seniority. I was third from the bottom, so I think I'll be safe for a while. In the end, someone from my department decided to retire at the end of the year, so in a way everyone was spared.

BBC