this post is way more civil than i feel

Tough working environment today. I've actually been feeling good about the overall improvement in class behavior since the return from break, but feel like I'm being sabotaged by peers. My students were pretty cooperative today, focused on taking their iLEAP pre-test in preparation for the LEAP blitz and review. A fellow teacher, however, has walked all over my kids and myself quite enough, thanks.

It's little things and it's big things. And I wish I could say that this was a recent development but I have to admit that I was shocked when this person was asked back to teach this year. This is a teacher who stole my classroom rules and consequences (when I was a first year teacher and knew shit about class management!) and still has that plagerized material hanging ineffectually in her classroom. A teacher who openly admits to never taking work home, leaves during her planning period, comes to school late, and does not do paperwork for their students unless it is a referral for a parent conference or suspension.

All week, I've been taking my students to the computer lab during science to do research for a project and cleared the class time with the technology director in advance. Yesterday, I made the mistake of mentioning this to my coworker who conveniently beat me to the lab this morning (so that my students could not work on their project today). I was pissed that they did not collaborate with me or double check with me or technology about the lab use - especially considering that I'd taken the time to clear everything officially. Now my planned lesson got fucked because another teacher hadn't planned at all.

And I might have been able to smooth this over with the kids and play it off, if it weren't for the fact that the other teacher's yelling and abusive language could be heard next door all through class. Calling kids stupid (and when I say "stupid" that is without the extra adjectives), screaming at them for no reason at all, and then not sticking to the rules that actually effect the rest of us (effectively undermining all my behavioral crafting and progress just by walking into a room).

On top of this, I'm getting an administrative conference next week over paperwork that is not finished because we were supposed to split it. But now it's not done because I have to do this teacher's half, too!! I wish it were a one time thing, but I've been picking up the slack for going on two damn years now and I'm sick of this bull.

When students got put out of the other class today, I could not in good conscience do anything but tell the disciplinarian that it's no damn wonder the kids curse and mock this teacher. If someone spoke to me the way this teacher speaks to my students, I'd be kicking chairs and cursing and talking back too! The disciplinarian was getting on one student's case in the lunch line about her behavior and I had to step in. It's not the student out of line here, it's the teacher. I know these aren't things you are supposed to discuss in front of students, it's not professional. But this situation is so far from professional it is disgusting.

And finally people are taking notice and hearing these complaints and I just hope that finally something can be done to get this toxic sorry-excuse for an "educator" the hell out of my kids' lives. This person is a two-faced, lazy, lying, irresponsible, bully of a teacher. I could hardly bring myself to speak to them, let alone look them in the eye today without the urge to scream.

I lost my cool with the assistant principal after school today (not at him) because it's too much to expect me to deal with in addition to the other crap I deal with from the kids on a daily basis. I expect that my teenagers will act like brats and bullies from time to time but a TEACHER? And don't even get me started on GRADES.

I have to paraphrase something that got one of my students suspended last year (because his sentiment fits perfectly right now): this teacher is a bad person and they are going to hell. I'd never been so proud of a kid for being disrespectful to authority.