School Gossip...and a Faculty Meeting

So, if Sandra were not at Rafael Buelna (my school), I would be totally out of the loop!  She saves me from lots of unnecessary drama (aka let me know about two days off so I could go to Tucson), and fills me in on things.  She explained on Friday what the faculty meeting would be about.  I can usually follow the gist of what's going on in these meetings, even as everyone is talking that the same time.  However, often there are words I don't know (usually about policies or things they do that we don't do in the US), so I miss out on some of the details.  Having heard the backstory from Sandra beforehand made a huge difference in understanding the meeting.

Brace yourself for the local gossip.

Sandra (computers) told me that the main reason for the meeting was that Lety (4th, and conveniently absent Friday) was not performing her duties collecting money.

Here's one of those major differences in our schools.  In Mexico, or at least Primarias in Culiacán, schools ask parents for money all the time (that may not seem all that different) for things like the internet, the phone bill, etc.  Each teacher is responsible for collecting the money from his/her own students, but then one lead teacher is in charge of an area.  For example, Martha (favorite 1st grade) was the teacher in charge of uniform shirts.  Teachers collected money and size information from all their students and then gave the money to Martha to record and then order and pay for the shirts.  Guillermina (6th) is in charge of the food stand.  The ladies who work the stand get to keep a major portion of what they make, but they pay some "rent" per day based on a percentage of what they make.  Guillermina collects this money and records it, but then Lety (4th) is kind of the main treasurer of all the money that the school earns.  Each week a teacher is in charge of selling the popsicles and collecting the money during recreo.  After that week, they give the money to Lety.  It's a fundraiser for the school.  Any money that eventually ends up in the school's pockets goes to Lety.

Probably information overload at this point, but I wanted you to see what all they're in charge of.  Lety, according to Sandra, is kind of whiny about the job she accepted (they all have to be responsible for some job at school, most of it financial) and had begun refusing to deal with the money.  There is a legitimate fear of robbery with "all that money" between school and home or the bank, but that's somewhat true with all the teachers as they manage their money.

Sandra went on to say that Lety was not the brightest bulb on the tree and that she had a few mental/emotional/self-esteem problems, but that she was still required to do her job.  Sandra also mentioned that the principal (Prof Roberto) was also bothered that Ulises (3rd) was doing his job of judging the classroom for cleanliness and giving the weekly award.  If the kids don't have a reward to work for (there are 3 ribbons that get passed to the appropriate class each week), they stop working.  The teachers are having to do more cleaning (again, what's Hernán's job?) since the kids are no longer motivated.  Furthermore, Rocio (2nd) is in charge of something else (I'm already forgotten) and wasn't doing her job.  

Basically, Sandra said this meeting was to decide what to do about Lety and they money situation as well as those who weren't performing their duties.

At 11, the bell rings, and I'm just frustrated that I have to stay.  I have a check burning a hole in my pocket, and Sandra seems to think I can just go.  (I think I could have, but I was stupid enough to ask Prof Roberto if I should stay and he said yes.)  I sit with Prof Roberto and we wait.  And wait.  And wait.  The next person (Arcelia-5th) comes in around 11:12.  At 11:20, we finally have a majority and start the meeting.  Martha (1st) starts by reading the minutes from the very first faculty meeting in August.  With each of the goals mentioned, Prof Roberto asks for comments and updates on how we're doing with that.  Included in the (extremely boring and long) minutes is the list of teachers and duties (aka the money situation and room cleanliness competition, etc).  This follows the same format of who is in charge, how are you doing with this, etc.  I got very frustrated for several reasons at this point (never mind the fact that the teachers' children are in the computer lab with the volume turned up on all three computers, and that many teachers are carrying on their own conversations while Prof Roberto is talking) because I started seeing all the excuses they had for not doing their jobs.  There was very little accepting responsibility.  I have seen these teachers do very creative projects and handle their discipline in ways that boggles my mind (yet works and the kids learn, respect their teachers and have fun to boot!).  I got so frustrated to see that they were not owning up to things and were making jokes about it.

The only school I've ever worked in is just so close to perfect.  The teachers are for the most part young.  But even those not-so-young are young in their teaching.  Everyone's work ethic at Lockeland is ridiculous!  The kids come first.  Always.  We are a building full of overachievers.  To see people do less than is expected and then skirt the issue was a bit depressing for me.  I know that that's common in most schools.  But I'm just not used to it.

I was glad at 12:30 when I finally got to leave (to think we cancelled classes for the kids and got out later than we would have had they been there!).  I took my reimbursement check (the one in pesos) straight to the bank and stood in line for about 15 minutes.  Welcome to Mexico!  And this was December 5, a full week after the city had received paychecks.

At home, I chatted some and then got ready for the birthday party.  I wasn't sure what time we were leaving, so I wanted to be ready!