Coconut and Rum

Hi Aim (et al)!

I've had so much to say lately about life, it seemed overwhelming to log on and try to write it all out. Luckily, nothing terribly exciting for the good or bad. I'll start with the major stress in life and perhaps save the other bits for another time.

As you (all?) know it is our contract year. I know I have been writing tidbits here and there for awhile now. We've been working on getting everything in order to hopefully straighten out all the injustice that had been done to us in the last contract negotiation. To say it didn't go well is to say the VERY least. We got no help from our Union and pretty much got thrown under the bus to boost the contract & salaries of the teachers. We, however, were not alone. The teacher aides and department coordinators were dodging mufflers right with us.

The injustices hit my boss/co-athletic trainer harder than it hit me. After 19 years he is still paid $10,000 less than a teacher with his same number of years. He works 12 months, as opposed to their 10 months and works holidays and Saturdays. I have absorbed ALOT of his stress and the tension in our office leading up to "here's what your contract says" day was palpable. I'm guessing so much so, that the day we found out, I broke down in tears - uncontrollable tears at work - and couldn't really put a finger on why I was crying.

It was a good outlet, I supposed, as was the 2 bottles or so of coconut rum I drank in 2 consecutive days over Memorial Day weekend (one at a graduation party for a friend who finally finished college and another lying by the pool of a co-worker who felt so bad for me crying at work). This, as most of you know, highly unlike me. More rum and champagne followed at my friend Becky from college's wedding this past weekend. For as good as all the Coconut rum has been, the dissapointment and betrayal is still hard to get over everytime I walk into our school building. We were told in our ratification meeting that "The district does not view you as certified professional staff.". Perhaps it was this comment that hurt more than the $5000 discrepancy in salary between me and a teacher or the numerous grey areas the lack of proposed contract wording leaves for us to sort out, leaving us not doing alot of work until a definate answer is given. It leaves too much uncertainty, animosity and chaos to deal hanging in the air daily. My boss/co-athletic trainer has not returned this week and I'm hoping the break does him some good. I'm holding out for the end of next week and a 2 month break from our building.

Please keep us in your thoughts as we now wait for clarification on issues (like if they don't view us as professionals, we shouldn't be looking at pre-season physicals so they should find someone else to process them. Or if we really are made to "work our contract", this means no working holidays b/c we aren't required to be there and we aren't compensated for them, will our Union support us - they told us to do this - or throw us further under the bus.) and we all hold our breath for fear of losing our jobs because we were made to fight battles our Union negotiator was too chicken to fight for us. 2 weeks before we venture into not getting paid for 2 months is a heck of a time to heap this stress on my shoulders. Anyone see a coconut around here anywhere? I'm feeling thirsty!

Song by Daniel Indart