Substituting fact for...fact

It is obvious that October 1 is going to pass with me still in my position As much as I want to, events are conspiring against my moving out. As I have written, the income I require to make a move (with the Social Security disability and income limits) is quite low. So my minimal $ requirements shouldn’t preclude a move.

In fact, the state vocational high school in our area is literally around the corner from our house (800 or so feet) and they are looking for substitute teachers. The per-diem is wonderful. Around twice what it when I subbed three years ago.

Why would I want to sub again after my stint with this is a middle school? This could be more lucrative, but still…Being broke and unemployed and with no disability payments at the time, anything that paid anything was an option that was becoming closer to acceptable.

So I applied at Kelly Educational who handles the sub duties in a number of local districts around here and nationwide. After the fingerprints were taken and the background check performed ($49 out of my pocket) I was ready. Ready being a relative term here.

I generally ended up in a music classroom. Why there, when I cannot

• Read music
• Play an instrument
• Sing or act

The reason was that the teacher in question was embroiled in a termination issue that may be recounted here soon. At any rate, with few lesson plans and 6-8 grade students bored, itching for action and a sub with no authority (the past as prologue – how odd that jobs in 2007 and 2010 have the same issues…). I got used to saying to any challenges to the lesson by any student: Hey, it’s not my ‘F’

I had had enough at this middle school. Without too many specifics, let’s just say that I lost my cool with the most disruptive seventh grade class one day to the point that I was asked to not come back as a sub.

I offer no alibi no excuses as to why I was asked to leave. The oddity here is that I had decided to give this assignment up after the previous day’s assignment, but when the assignment call/e-mail arrived this morning, I blindly accepted it and that led to my undoing. Not that the mere $75.00 made the middle-school maelstrom worth it all. As strange as it seems, these situations sometimes have to end in the worst possible way to make sure that it has ended for sure, slay the dragon for real.

So despite the bump in pay and general dissatisfaction with my current employ, could this be worse? Yet any and all issues remain moot until I decide to stay or to go