{"id":4252,"date":"2013-06-09T10:20:18","date_gmt":"2013-06-09T14:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/learningbyts.net\/WordPressBlog\/?p=4252"},"modified":"2017-04-08T10:36:41","modified_gmt":"2017-04-08T14:36:41","slug":"from-rifd-to-recall-pitfalls-and-silver-platters-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/learningbyts.net\/WordPressBlog\/from-rifd-to-recall-pitfalls-and-silver-platters-2\/","title":{"rendered":"From RIF’d to Recall…. Pitfalls and Silver Platters"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 What a tumultuous week…. a week ago I was relatively calmly teaching the last couple of days of school, hanging in there with the 8th graders who had just experienced their first formal dance and were impatiently waiting to move on to high school. \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0Then the last day of school, I was presented with a piece of paper by a man in a\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0suit \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0from\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0Human Resources, who calmly stated that my position was being\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0cut,\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0and that after July 1st I could collect unemployment, and my benefits would end at the end of August. The principal got me coverage for the afternoon classes, and I headed home to research my options.<\/p>\n

Those options included retiring since I am 62, and have enough years in the district to collect a pension. \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0However, there are some steep pitfalls to retirement as I’ve found out. First off, it’s scary letting go of the person you’ve been for many years. \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0Teachers tend to say “I’m a teacher” like that defines their role in life, even though they are a parent, sibling, child, spouse, etc., their job seems to define them more. So letting go of who you are and trying to define a new you without what has consumed your life for decades is scary. \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0I found myself putting in job apps for more teaching jobs, or trying to figure out how to volunteer in\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0schools,\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0or develop my own business around what I’ve created over the years.<\/p>\n

The second pitfall was the “benefits” which were not an option of my contract. This option was removed for several reasons, the first being that \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0I was in a district that has been whittling away at our contracts with each negotiation. Because I came back a month and a half into the new contract, \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0and because I took a leave of absence to pursue my own professional growth which brought me back to the district only 6 years ago,\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0benefits \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0would\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0not be offered to me. Therefore, I began the journey through tons of medical companies trying to sell me their “cheap” policies. \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0Of\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0course\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0they were cheap \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0— one of them only paid $10 for each doctor visit… what normally is considered your co-pay! \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0And\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0because\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0my husband and I, being the ages we are, have “pre-existing conditions” \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0some of the more reasonable companies could reject us. \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0The “silver lining” \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0was that come January 1st when Obama care kicks in, they could no longer reject us. \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0However, one doubts that politicians ever create silver linings for us\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0middle class\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0folks, so it sounds suspicious.<\/p>\n

The third pitfall was the limitations the\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0pension \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0and\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0Social Security would put on my earnings at this time. \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0With the pension, I could only make a certain amount of money working in public schools or the university system in the state. \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0I could work at private schools, or on my own, but then Social Security would limit that as well. \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0Social security would at least add any money I made above my small pittance back into the pot for when I turned 66. \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0So I would have to juggle my finances carefully and live simply. \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0That part didn’t bother me, particularly if I was able to do something I loved.<\/p>\n

So with all these pitfalls, when I received a phone call from HR that I was being “recalled” only a week later, I had very mixed feelings. \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0I had already worked through all the paperwork for\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0retirement,\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0and was working on what that might look like. \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0If they had asked me to take a position in another field, I would have gone on with the retirement. \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0However, since I was already looking at jobs elsewhere in my field (the one that I spent so many years getting and recently achieving a doctorate in), and they offered my old position back to me, I had some real thinking to do.<\/p>\n

As I thought through my decisions and the path of the last week, I realized that I was still looking for jobs in my field. \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0In other\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0words\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0my “heart” was still in the classroom teaching technology. \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0So if I had that chance, and the chance to return to a place where I was needed and used to, then I should do it. \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0It also makes my pitfalls lessen with each year that I can continue. \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 So even though when the riff first happened I felt that I\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0was \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0handed\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0the chance to retire and should grab it, it\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0was’t\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0given to me on a silver platter. \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0It was given on a broken platter, and at least returning to the classroom will get me a complete platter, but it will never be a silver one —- because I’m a “teacher”.<\/p>\n

3 comments:<\/h4>\n
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Anonymous said…Sorry to hear of your RIFF. It is truly a travesty what is happening to schools, teachers and kids. Yes, kids know how to use technology as a toy – but they need to be guided to use it as a tool, an avenue for critical thinking, an instrument in collaborative learning. These things do not happen by accident. Best wishes to you – I hope you stay active in the fight for better education for all.Tue Jun 11, 08:50:00 PM EDT <\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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Jenny Sams said…Barb…I am so sorry to hear this news. Although I have only worked with you for this past school year it has been a pleasure and I wish you only the best. It is extremely sad and disheartening at the very least.Tue Jun 11, 09:44:00 PM EDT <\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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Anonymous said…Sorry for the loss of your job. It is truly a travesty. I completely agree that our students wont be prepared for local BRAC jobs without computer science. The BOE is the cause of the problem. The county provided the same amount of funding to the boe as it did last year. The state did cut $4 million in education funding to the county. \ud83d\ude41Thu Jun 13, 08:35:00 PM EDT <\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 What a tumultuous week…. a week ago I was relatively calmly teaching the last couple of days of school, hanging in there with the 8th graders who had just experienced their first formal dance and were impatiently waiting to move on to high school. \u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0Then the last day of school, I was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[882],"tags":[892,362,422],"class_list":["post-4252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-professional","tag-myth","tag-teaching","tag-tenure"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1492,"url":"http:\/\/learningbyts.net\/WordPressBlog\/from-rifd-to-recall-pitfalls-and-silver-platters\/","url_meta":{"origin":4252,"position":0},"title":"From RIF’d to Recall…. 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