Today as I was working on the “first priority,” getting kids enrolled (with the three I’m expecting tomorrow, fourteen this week) my principal stopped in to tell me we’re expecting to get audited next week.
Yes, that’s audited. Not by the district, by the state.
What are they looking for? Umm–papers in files. Certain papers, of course, but the existence isn’t the winning factor. It’s the in the files part. So for a month or more I’ve been letting the filing stack up while I put out fires on stupid stuff someone should have thought of six months ago, let the filing stack up while I chased attendance (caught three ditchers today, I’m rather proud of that! 13yo girls don’t need to be wandering unsupervised, in my opinion.) and done other important or completely-useless but required things, and been satisfied that even though everything wasn’t filed, I knew where it was, and I’d get to it when I got to it.
I’m getting to it now. After I spent three hours in that last damn training, of course.
The training was not–quite–as useless as I expected. It was at least given by Latino women rather than white men. I did find the way it was geared to teachers annoying, as between my stress level and my illness (yes, I’m still sick!) I couldn’t figure out how to apply that stuff to my job to save my life. But I did get to meet a delightful man who fifteen years ago was a refugee from Vietnam who arrived here not speaking a word of English. He was a teacher there, here he became a janitor. Then learned English and worked his way through college and is now working with the Pan-Asian Studies dep’t.
It’s an honor to know him. But I’ve changed the siggy in my work email. It did have my name, then “Attendance Avenger,” both in elaborate script. Now it says “Screaming in Frustration” and then my name, still in the elaborate script. It’s slightly funny how few people have noticed the change.