It's a Conspiracy!

You read earlier about Mr. Principal believing a substitute teacher's accusation over what he knew about me as a teacher. That just aggravated me, and I felt my opinion of him plunge to new low-levels. So low, in fact, that I don't see it ever rising back up. Between my other building union rep and myself, we have just been inundated with unhappy staff coming to us this year to complain about our principal and the low morale at our school. A few weeks ago I just thought, "This is enough." I sent an email to Ms. Union President. I told her that I felt things were so bad at my school for the majority of the teachers, and I wanted our union to step in. I told her that I wanted her to handle it, too, as I knew if she didn't, it would come back to me that it was all my fault, that I was the one creating a problem when there wasn't one. Mr. Principal would be telling me that teachers were happy until I started to make an issue out of everything. He doesn't see the unhappiness around him. So our union president began to take some action. She sent me a survey that she had done in another elementary building so I could look at the questions and see if they seemed appropriate for our school. I also gave a copy to my other building rep, and to our music teacher who has been a building rep in the past. We all thought it looked pretty good, made a few minor suggestions, and then the survey was sent out to our union members to their home emails. The day Ms. Union President sent out the survey, she also sent an email to Mr. Principal telling him this step had been taken. She also contacted someone at the district level to tell them that a union climate survey had been sent out to the union members at my school. That very afternoon I had a "Union Communications" meeting with Mr. Principal, who by that time, knew the survey had gone out. The meeting started innocently enough with me bringing up some minor issue to be dealt with. Then the tone changed. Mr. Principal began to tell me that there were staff members who didn't like to send out staff emails because Ms. Union Rep (me) would be pissed...He made it seem as if many staff members complained about me, which I do know to be false. Later as I pondered this statement, I realized that if someone sent out an email that they thought would piss me off, then most likely the email was asking or telling teachers to do something that was against contract. That's the only time I get pissed off...But I digress. I sat in sort of stunned-silence, feeling as if he was chastising me. Then he launches into some video he was planning on showing the staff about seeing red cars because you just bought a new red car...I began to zone, as I always do when he begins to go on and on. But I did finally leave, with the distinct impression that I had been scolded and I knew it was due to the suvey. I went home angry. I thought, "I do not need this crap anymore." I knew right then that the only way I could survive this year without totally loosing it was to stop being the building rep, a job I like doing. But I couldn't just stop being rep if I didn't feel like the person stepping into my place had the balls to stand up to Mr. Principal. There was only one person who could do that: Ms. Music Teacher. She hates Mr. Principal even more than I do, and out of the whole staff, she is the one who would send me complaints the most. She know that contract pretty well herself. So, my plan began to fall into place. I would step down only if Ms. Music Teacher would take my place. I began by sending her a message on Facebook to see if she would take my spot. Her first response was anger that I felt pushed out of the rep position, but I assured her I needed a break but only if she would take my spot. Her main concerns were that she didn't want to have to go to the twice-a-month union meetings. I suggested she speak with the other rep from our building, who never attended those meetings, to see if the two of them could work that out. She did, and the two of them worked out a schedule of how they'd share the duties. So Ms. Music Teacher agreed to take my place. That was step one: lining up an outspoken person to take my place. And boy, Ms. Music Teacher is outspoken! She has no tact! If people (read: Mr Principal) thought I was bad, wait...I was pleased. The second step was to talk to Ms. Union President about my decision. This was a hard one, as I've been our building rep for 6 years and have been active in our union. But we decided that actually this would work out well; we'd get a new person involved in the union, and I now had the time and energy to join a couple of committees that I otherwise would not have joined. I think our union president is too soft, and that makes me unhappy, but I don't want to totally remove myself from being in the know. The third step was how to announce this to my building union members. It had to be done in such a way that it didn't look planned when Ms. Music Teacher would step up. See, many of the union members in my building are in Mr. Principal's corner; a small number, yes, but I definitely did not want one of them to be interested in taking my position. There'd have to be a vote if that happened. But every two years, no one steps up to take my place, so I've always just continued to be rep. I was pretty certain no would be interested. That particular day happened to be an optional day where Mr. Principal got 4 long hours of our time in the morning, and then we got three hours to ourself in the afternoon. So at the start of the morning, I sent out an email to the union members at our building. I said in the email that the opportunity had come up for me to get involved in our union at the district level, and I was very interested in doing it, but only if someone was interested in taking my spot. I said the building was my priority. I also said it was a lot of work. I said that if no one was interested, I'd just continue being building rep. If one person was interested, there wouldn't have to be an election. If more than one person was interested, then there would have to be an election. Then I sent the email, and waited for Ms. Music Teacher to respond. She was at a music training all morning (lucky her...she didn't have listen to Mr. Principal), but at noon she came into my room. So this was the final, and best, step: Her reply. She logged on to a computer in my room, and together we crafted her reply. It went like this: Absolutely no one can fill Ms. Building Rep's shoes, but I am willing to step up to fill this position. I will do my best to take care of everyone to the high level that you have come to expect. Then she pushed send, and I tell you, at that moment, a huge weight was removed from my shoulders. The timeing was perfect. The survey had been sent out to everyone, and now I just get to step back and watch the fallout. I will be eager to watch Mr. Principal as her realizes that Ms. Music Teacher has taken my place, and he'll realize that I wasn't the cause of all his ills. That the ills will continue, because he has created a toxic environment where staff are unhappy, no matter who is the building rep. It felt lovely.