On a Teeter Totter

Up and down, up and down.

Carrie told me today that I should prepare a statement to read to the board on Wednesday. What should I say? I don’t even know what I want.

I’d like to stay full time to keep my same income, to continue to contribute to my retirement fund and to have another year of fulltime salary to go towards retirement. Oh my gosh, it’s all about money.

There are other more altruistic reasons to stay fulltime. I am a good influence on the kids. They are, after all, my mission field. We’ve done some outstanding service learning projects: the Beanie Babies to Iraq, Health Kits to Haiti, and backpacks for kids in crisis. What are the possible future projects?

What is in the future indeed? Does God have something new and different for me? I kind of feel like He does. But how can I go down a new path if I stay where I am? Security vs. adventure.

I saw on the news tonight that Fletcher Public School made a bunch of cutbacks this evening. Their special ed teacher was cut to halftime, the elementary PE teacher and high school baseball coach lost his job, a support person was let go and the superintendent took a $20,000 cut in pay. Should I mention that in my statement?

I am trained to teach pre-teaching and jr. high leadership classes. It wouldn’t be right to RIF me and have someone else teach them. We get $500 for each class. Not a bucket of money, but something.

And what about other people? I’m the only teacher being cut back. How is that right when we have people who've been here one year and I have been at this school since 1988? How long is that? 22 years. Maybe that’s long enough. Maybe it is time to do something different.

These long days of activity from early morning to late at night (6:30 a.m.-11:15 p.m. today) are wearing me out. I could enjoy more free time. Time to create, to learn, to rest, to be with friends…

It’s late, I’m tired. If you’re reading this, do you have any advice for me? I think I’ll sleep on it. Maybe tomorrow I’ll find a way off the teeter totter.