At least eight teachers were being moved from one classroom to another today. The students finished on Friday, but today and tomorrow we tie up the loose ends before the long, paycheck-poor summer ahead. I am one of the eight. I teach in an old school, and everything in it is old. We have a mismash of furniture that should have gone to the warehouse surplus years ago and donated to a third world country! But it's still here; it's all we have; and we fight over it like the crazy ladies at a Macy's once a year white sale.
As the last one hired, I don't get first pick of even the leftovers, so I admit to wandering the hallways looking for an abandoned desk or chair or bookcase like a vulture hovering over roadkill. I'm still 15 chairs and 3 tables short for next fall. I'm at the mercy of those higher up in the food chain. I just pray that they leave something that can still be used.
It's amazing to me that we allow teachers and our children to spend all day long in classrooms with old, splintered, wobbly furniture when most of us would complain loudly in our jobs if faced with such inferior furniture quality. Yet, it's okay that children sit in them for most of their waking hours.
The funny thing is that I'm actually excited about the desks I did acquire and the bookcase that has no shelves in it. I have my own classroom this next fall! I won't be floating from one classroom to another all day anymore! To me, this is a gift.
I guess as teachers we're cheap dates. We're relatively easy to please. After all, I am always willing to eat leftovers. I'm not picky. Maybe that's the problem.