I Decided to Play Nice.

 On or about September 29, 2021, I was teaching, and I was pretty much making plans to leave the district at the Christmas break because I had just about had enough of what was happening at the school where I was teaching and with the administration/district.  I live in a state where the is NO MASK MANDATE but the school districts around the state (all Democrat) put up such a stink about everyone wearing masks, and being vaccinated, that anyone (me and a few others) who refused to comply with their stupid and demonic rules, were ostracized and forced to endure rather overt bullying from students, parents, other teachers, administration and board members. Forget that that Governor of our state and the mayor of our city had stated in writing (and yeah, put it into law) that no business (including schools) could force their employees to wear a mask.  Forget that the masks don't work. Forget that it was and is a complete joke to think that the masks work.  I said no. 

    I went to my doctor and I asked him to write a note stating that I had asthma and couldn't wear a mask. He had no problem writing the note. He asked me if I could send him more people to write notes for because as a doctor, a medical doctor, he knew that masks were useless and he was personally tired of the hoax and lies being perpetrated on people.  He was tired of the fear mongering, the threats, and like I said, the bullying.  You would never have imagined in a million years, how much BULLYING there is against teachers in the schools these days.  Teachers (good ones) are hard to come by now, but that doesn't stop the administration and staff from pushing and prodding, poking, and making fun of anyone whose opinion is different from their left-winged agenda. It's amazing how those of us who know the facts are sidelined and told we really don't matter if we don't agree and vote their way. What happened to diversity? What happened to being inclusive? What happened to their precious tolerance? Yeah, joke!

    Anyway, about 2 days before the deadline of October 1, 2021, wherein the district wanted 100% of the teachers to prove they were vaccinated, I was released from my job.  This was the funny part -- they couldn't tell me why.  They came up with a half-baked story about a blog I wrote about killing people; OK.  I'm a writer. They knew this. Hell, I gave the principal and the Vice-Principal copies of my book before they hired. me. They knew I murdered people in print. Two days from the day I was released was the last day that a teacher could be vaccinated and receive a $1000.00 THANK YOU bonus for having agreed to poison themselves with a needless and reckless vaccine that is still not FDA regulated for anything other than emergency use, and being a teacher in a school is NOT an emergency. Not if I can walk into a gym, into a store, into a church, into a restaurant, into a stadium full of fans. The mask they force someone to wear from 7-3 (Oh, except when you're eating because you know C0ViD doesn't attack you if you're sitting down and eating or drinking) will NOT stop a virus. The mask I wore for 2 minutes while they were deciding if my letter was legitimate, had holes in it and you could tell I didn't put any effort into trying to comply; however, it was a mask, and they allowed it. SO WHAT THE HELL are they really saying? 

    Anyway, I was released and put on Administrative Leave. I was paid and I kept my full range of benefits until the last day of the semester, which ended December 31, 2021.  During the Admin. Leave I was supposed to have been given a fair and speedy investigation but due to the various schedules of the district members and Fall break, I was asked if they could overstep the 10-day allotted timeline to have a hearing. I didn't mind. I'm being paid.  I agreed to the postponement of the hearing and met with the Superintendent and his sidekick at their earliest convenience. Naturally, they had their attorneys draw up an agreement that I would never have agreed to. It was one-sided, outrageously incorrect, and I really took a bit of pleasure laughing at them without my mask while my Oklahoma Educators Association rep gave them an ear full.  He's the best.  We left and they had to re-do their agreement to basically state I agree to stay home and be paid, and that they understand I didn't do a damn thing wrong.  They couldn't use the murder blog as a means to defame me either, as I had already contacted my attorney as a back up in case the OEA rep was unable to get through to them. He was able to make them see the light - - so E.W. wasn't necessary. 

    I signed the agreement stating I was not to blame, they were not to blame, I was being paid, and I kept my benefits. I was not to contact anyone at the school or the district until after 12/31/2021 and that wasn't really an issue or a problem because I really didn't have any friends at the school. I had a few kids that would have wondered what really happened, but kids are resilient, and they forget you as soon as the semester is over anyway. It sucked that I was being accused of nothing but I understood. They had to play their hand and I just trumped them...I wanted to use the word TRUMP.  See how I did that? At least I kept my sense of humor.

    I decided to play nice and not blast them a new one after January 1, 2022. I decided to not contact the kids, not contact the parents, not contact the teachers who may or may not have cared. I didn't need to sue anyone since we all kept our end of the agreement. They paid me and I sat at home not teaching. I slept in, I worked on my SIE studies, I passed the exam, and I accepted a better paying job that started literally the day they returned to school on January 3, 2022.  I'm at home being a Financial Advisor Associate working with insurance products currently, and in about six months I'll transfer into the mutual funds arena - - stocks and bonds, foreign exchanges, futures, options...I can't wait. It was a good plan from the beginning.  I knew I was leaving them after the break anyway, but this gave me the opportunity to stay home, be paid, study, pass the exam and get the coveted head start on my new life.

    Several students did reach out to me through social media, but I did not respond. I wrote a little blog explaining I couldn't respond to anyone. That way if they read it they knew I couldn't respond. There's always a way to do something if you really want to do something.  The poor kids were lamenting about how the new teacher this or that - - yeah, well, while I was there I didn't really get the respect I think a teacher deserves either - - so maybe they should be asking themselves if they didn't bring this on themselves. I think it was a student who tried to get me fired in the first place claiming she was frightened by my writings - - yeah, OK.  Grow up kid.  I think the saddest part is I really liked most of the kids and a few of the teachers too. I could have stayed if the administration had a backbone or if the district was willing to follow the law.  Since they weren't up to par I didn't need to play the round.

    I'm pretty happy with my choices. Teachers are leaving the profession by the droves. It's not just in Oklahoma, they are leaving all over the nation. Education is just not what it used to be. As teachers our hands are tightly tied, we have very little say in any of the processes. We don't really even get to teach anymore. We have to meet agendas. We have to meet standards. There are metrics to meet. Kids are numbers to them, and we're forced to comply; or leave.  I left.  I could be really nasty I suppose, and I could bring the evidence, but you know what, I think I'll let the parents be parents and find out for themselves - - that is if they care! (That was the other real issue we have as educators...parents not parenting) Really sad, but really real.  Good bye classroom, hello Jude.

Photo Credit: Times Higher Education