Beginning of the End

Dear friends, family and countrymen,

We are DONE! Well, at the end of the school year, but we have officially resigned.  I guess the gig was up when I asked for a letter of recommendation a few weeks ago (which they refuse).  They called us in on Thursday and wanted an “honest” answer – strange that they would want an honest answer when they really only want to hear lies.  So, we told them we wanted to be closer to family (true part) and that we hated to leave such a great school (the lie part).  I guess you could say we mixed it up a little – we need to get our money! 

This is going to be an interesting next couple of weeks.  So far we are 2 of 4 that have resigned and we know of 6 more for certain and about 6 more that are about 80% sure.  Since Missie is the Science Department in Middle School and they will be adding 8^th grade next year, the whole department will need to be replaced.  I am half of the English department and the other half is resigning as well – they will be replacing MS English department.  Both art teachers are leaving which is the art department for the whole school.  4 of the 8 KG teachers are leaving with more possible. 

All this in the middle of trying to become MYP certified and accredited by Middle States (USA accreditation).  That means that all the Middle School teachers that replace us will need to be MYP Certified or the process comes to a halt.  Of the teachers leaving, all are certified teachers in North America or UK – that will impact the ability of the school to go forward with accreditation process.  Last year, they had to hire 5 people (with unrelated degrees or still in online University) to fill teaching positions that have never been in an education program – couldn’t get teachers to apply.

We will be talking and searching for the best options for us.  We will be attending another job fair in London in late January to see all the options and we will be looking in AZ when we are home for Christmas.  We are leaning more towards coming back to AZ, so Missie can finish her retirement.  All we know it that we will be some place better than this – money is much less a factor in our decision this time.

We both feel really good that the decision is made.

Lesson of the Week: I hope they find what they are looking for – it wasn’t us.

Love to all,

Doug and Missie