The Writing on the Wall
Well I received a talking to last night, after class right before the place closed. The short version is this:
When we first got here, we signed the contract. The contract had a probation period of 30 days. This probation period started the day we began work (9/4/06) and was due to end 30 days later (12/3/06). According to the DOS, the probation period per contract only has one difference to the teacher, and that is that you cannot take any paid leave during your probation period. However, he went on to explain that in practice, the probation period is used as a way for the management team to decide if they want to keep the teacher for the duration of the contract, which is usually 12 months.
So what they're telling me (us) is that the management team has been unable to come to a decision if they would like to keep us or not, and have decided to extend the probation period by 1 month, taking us to 1/3/07. They citied that the "resign rate percentage" is lower than they would like it to be. What that basically means, is that the students in the class have either decided not to sign up for another course, have decided to sign up but requested a different teacher, or have not made up their mind yet. Now you can take this at face value (sheepish if you ask me), and run with it... Or you can try to read between the lines, because if you ask me, Management never tells it "how it is."
So here is what I think... I think the decision has already been made to not keep me (us) employed at this time. However, most of my classes still have 4 weeks to go, which means that it would have placed me past the initial probation period of 30 days. So what do they do? They decide to extend the probation period by one month, which allows me to finish the classes that I'm already teaching, because they don't have anyone free that would be able to take over the classes for those 4 weeks, and then when January rolls around, they cut me loose. So why would they feed me some "story" then you ask? Simple, they don't want to completely kill the morale, because there still is work left to do. For example, if someone told you "Hey, in a month you're out of a job!" How well, if even, would yo perform your job during those next 4 weeks? I'm going out on a limb here and guessing that not very well... I know I wouldn't. So anyways, that's what I think... Of course, some would say that I'm being pessimistic, but I've seen things like this coming before in the past at other jobs, and have been right. So I guess we'll have to wait and see.
No one seems to be able to give you any help when it comes to what to do. They just answer your questions with other questions, or say what you've already heard before. I'm once again stuck not knowing what to think... I'm also again feeling the "I Hate My Job!" attitude and hate getting up everyday knowing that I have to come in. Well, some say good things come in ugly packages, so who knows what will happen after this adventure is complete?
Anyways, I've got a class coming up, so I've got to go. I've got some more pictures that I can make another slide show out of.
~Thomas Lane
I like your terminated clock or count down to a new quest.
I am in total agreement on what you think is going on. I told Kevin the same thing last night. They basically made a mistake and you are paying for it. I would be trying to make arrangements for when the time comes as to where I want to be. You mentioned Denton at one time. Maybe Stoerm could check on some apartments, college and even a job for you. I could see you in Austin or Houston. Use your resources to achieve your dreams. If you come home I would get that job of course and then an apt. to have some independence and check on college down here. Anyway I know you will figure it out. Take care,
Linda