Clearly, this is not uniquely Moldovan. It does seem uniquely Moldovan to not look for solutions. Also, for people of power to fuck with their underlings as much as possible.
Claudia, for example, has seen me working in the office and decided to take the office away from the English Dept as soon as I am gone. Instead she wants me to write a grant for a room with 4 windows because she wants to get the bang for her buck (me being the buck). Fine, fair enough. Sounds reasonable.
Last time I talked to the big C, it was in her office. The office that has hoarded 6 desktop computers for 2 years now. Brand new. refuses to let people set them up in classrooms or offices or even the computer lab. The weather had been freezing for 3 weeks and her office with the computers was the only heated one. This whole time.
A week ago was Halloween. The 12th graders, my darlings, organized a party for the high school with music and dance and games and competitions and costumes and decorations and mood lighting and mood music. We held it in the sports hall since Claudia had the Festival Hall refinished over the summer and now won't allow people in it. Even for it's purpose. Which is for the student organized things like this.
I would go into the Teachers Day Fiasco, but I think I have a blog about it already.
Claudia routinely does undermining of all projects presented. And undermines the authority of everyone around her. She publicly humilates bad kids, which in the Catholic sense of "whip, sit" might actually work, but with 20 minute orations on the badness of not acting in a frumos manner, FOLLOWED IMMEDIATELY by praise and nice touches for the bad kid in question (unless it's a girl. Girls get talked about in teacher meetings, the teachers all go out and immediately regurgitate this gossip like she were a fully defensible adult. Even if she were an adult -- I, I... What the Fuck?)
Last winter she discounted my Language Lab series of grants out right. Do English first, since that's what you got me for, and then, when I am gone you have a ready made proposal, you just have to send it out and present yourself and Boom! a French Lab. After that, who knows. The grant is designed to be adaptable to any subject needed. The teacher of that subject need only fill in the blanks, basically.
Nope. Don't want it. Do a toilet project. Take Olga to Chisinau to learn.
Ok. I can do two.
Research reveals it will cost $10,000. Work only with Olga, yes, I could, except she'd fold under Claudia as soon as I leave. The problem here isn't the money, it's the length of time it will take to raise that much money. It will take longer than the year and half I had at the start.
Late last spring, after rejection #1 I went to Tatiana, the vice pricipal. She loved the proposal and the idea. She gave us a room, a good one with a working soba, two windows and a door to replace. It's even right next to the main offices, prime real estate. Great.
Claudia gave the room to the new 4th graders and their diriginte after a squabble of some sort.
We still had our office. I thought, I'll start with that. I installed a door with money out of pocket. Adriana, Matt and I refinished the existent furniture and made new furniture. MADE. From scratch. All the materials from Laurel, Colleen, Kelsie/Andrew, Billy are all now safe and secure here behind the anchored and elaborately locked door. We even have art work, provided by me, Bob and Renata. Flowers from Natalia (they're dying though) a fake christmas tree from Colleen, and I bought coffee cups, coffee, tea and brought in Billy's old ceainic. I taped the window and I am just cold enough I decided to shell out from my travel funds for the $300 it will take to get a real window that has all its glass intact and latches that acutally close.
At the beginning of this year, we were given a different room. The Planet Hoth of classrooms. Remote, without heat, 2/3 of a chalkboard, half a floor (literally, it crumbles under plain walking) a box of rocks (flint and fools gold) and half as many chairs and tables as necessary. No teacher's desk.
However, I am farming the older students, and bringing Ren and Nat, and possibly Valentina the French teacher who speaks a little English, into the project getting enterprises. I'm not a snob about English speakers, it's just most grant foundations accept proposals in English. Some from the EU will accept in French, Ren and Valentina speak French. It's all good.
So, that's happening. In the mean time I have a fleet of 6 12th graders about to start fundraising for the Language Lab thing. SPA grant presentations are in March. I'm tailoring the proposal to an example proposal I have. I'm taking Grigore and Corina or Olga with me to present. I'm very excited.
The Toilet Project I'll get written before I go, and have the students ready to go with fundraisers for the year and a teacher or two to oversee them.
So, what happened now?
Claudia said we can no longer have this office. In exchange she will give us her room with four windows that faces the front of the school. It's well heated and catches all the sun. It's a great room. It's even beautifully painted. and heated.
However, she will only give it to us after the money arrives.
Unfortunately I don't trust her.
If she can take and give hypothetical rooms at will, and this one is hers, and has been for over a decade, why would she hypothetically give it to us while we work on a grant and then not take it back for herself when the windows and doors are installed?
Not to mention the door in the grant is already paid for. I won't mind giving that money up to the greater cause of the school, if only I knew this new other door would stay with Renata and Natalia and Corina.
2 comments:
sounds like a door-slammer farce!
anyone?
That guy, he knows.
he has eyebrows
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