Over Christmas break, all the student desks at my school were replaced with small, wheeled desks with separate (and relatively ergonomic) chairs. We were on break this past week, and all the teacher furniture--desks, filing cabinets, tables, bookshelves, etc--were replaced. We were told not to go back to school until yesterday, so they had time to replace all the furniture, and I went back today.
It's not what I had, and I'm not convinced it's any "better", but I spent a couple hours today moving furniture and unpacking boxes. I can make it work. In what had been my biggest fear, I did in fact get a legal-width filing cabinet, so at least I won't have to re-do all my filing.
I cheated a little bit. I was supposed to empty my filing cabinet into boxes, and let whoever it was take my filing cabinet. No way was I going to risk that, though, so I moved my filing cabinet to the library, which won't get a makeover until Spring Break. Tomorrow, when the library is open, I'll move my old filing cabinet back, transfer all the files, and then get rid of the old filing cabinet.
Why not just keep the old filing cabinet, you ask? Because, and I'm serious about this, in the name of equity, we all have to have the same furniture! We were given a spreadsheet of approved furniture to choose from, and were told explicitly that no personal or other equipment in the classroom will be allowed. In fact, the district people are supposed to come back in a few weeks and check on compliance! Regarding furniture! I kid you not!
I asked if I could get my filing cabinet delivered early, as some of the furniture was being pre-positioned before the break, so that I could easily do what I'm now going to do anyway, which is just transfer my files from one cabinet to another. No, I was told, I'm getting paid to pack the files up, and that was what I needed to do.
Screw that.
Moving all that furniture around, and unboxing all my classroom books and references and supplies, my back is now killing me. I'm getting too old for this crap. The pittance they're paying me to box and unbox my stuff is not worth it.
On the first day of my first year teaching, a teacher in my department came over to the prep room I shared with another teacher.
ReplyDeleteHer: "Give me that file cabinet."
Me: "I don't even know what's in it. Ask again in a year, after I've had time to go through it."
Her: "When I started I had to scrounge for one filing cabinet, and you've got two. I'm taking that one."
Me: "No you're not."
Being the new guy, I don't want to make any enemies, but I know this is a shit test, and if I give her the filing cabinet, then I'm the bitch.
The department chair was a good guy, but didn't want to get pulled into this. I shared the prep room with a sleazy guy who was a friend of the harpy. He had a bookshelf that he wasn't using for much, so I traded him the filing cabinet for the bookshelf, so he could give it to the harpy.
I pat myself on the back for that diplomatic solution.
That is the scenario your district is trying to avoid. As you must know, some teachers can be dicks. Your administration's solution is heavy-handed, but appreciate the problem they are trying to avoid.
I would have to believe that it would be cheaper just to ask what people need and then get it, rather than compelling everyone to give up all their furniture.
ReplyDeleteThat would certainly be cheaper, but the asst. superintendent knows it isn't his money. Your school may be different, but how would that work?
ReplyDeleteTeachers who know that Santa Claus isn't real, ask for a comfortable desk chair and a lockable cabinet. The teachers who lived a charmed life, check all the boxes. Some teachers choose weird hexagonal tables that nobody else will want if they move rooms. When the furniture arrives, some teachers are pissed off that they didn't ask for more. Teachers who didn't ask for much, are looking at the discarded furniture, thinking that it's better than the stuff they aren't getting replaced, so maybe just swap out a few things.
However, if the principal trusted the department chairs, your approach would work.
I came back one year after Christmas break and our supt. had found such a great(?) deal on used furniture that all of my HS wing had new (not) desks. Elementary desks, one piece. For my 6 foot, 250 pound seniors! You should have seen the carpet he found.
ReplyDeleteIt would just require whoever is the Furniture Czar *not* to insist on replacing every single piece of furniture at a high school (or nothing at all).
ReplyDeleteSounds like Communism to me. Back when I was teaching I brought in my own chair because the ones provided were too uncomfortable and one of my woke teachers tried to take it from me because she was pregnant. She actually went to the principal and demanded to have my chair that I bought with my own money. The principal approached me, I told him know and showed him the receipt and the rest of the year I was given dark looks and veiled sarcasm. If you buy stuff for your room, keep the receipts because when you leave, they will look.
ReplyDeleteAlso, when buy supplies for the art room, they allowed a former band director to make all the decisions. We ended up with cheap flimsy furniture totally unsuitable to the activities involved and chairs that were both clumsy and uncomfortable...and as the joke goes "and not enough of them."