Sub Vision: Schools I go to and schools I don’t

Over the years, I have worked in many of the district schools. When I started as new teacher I was seldom called, and when called it was usually to undesirable schools that were probably rejected by others, higher on the list. Assigned to work at the 6-12 grades, I was mostly called to middle schools.

Now that I am higher on the list I can choose and pick, and leave for the new people my rejects… sorry! Interestingly enough, there is a lot of agreement among substitute teachers which are the desirable schools, and which are not...

When choosing to work at a school, the top criterion is whether it is a high school. Middle schools’ days are exhausting, and discipline is almost impossible. To make things worse, many of them don’t have a full time dean, and count on over-worked teachers and over-loaded counselors to do the job. I have seen schools turn around after hiring a dean, or turning the other way when elimination this position.

Another criterion is the main office staff. Main office is the face of the school. No matter how good school’s reputation is, a lemony office manager, and unsmiling clerical personnel, make it an unappealing work place. Angry, mean, or even just sour faces are not a pretty sight first thing in the morning… Often I choose a bad school with nice office employees over a good one, with lemony personnel...

Another criterion is the bell schedule. Schools that cater block scheduling make substitute teachers’ day unbearable; students have very little patience after forty minutes and start acting out. Schools that don’t have a descent nutrition break, with enough time for restroom and a cup of coffee, are inconsiderate to their teachers!

Of course, we all have our own preferences. I am uncomfortable working at a school that has no gate or one that is wide open... I don’t like messy classrooms, dirty bathrooms or littered hall ways. I don’t like classrooms full of aides that do nothing but texting, or ones that feel they should run the class for me (unless the teacher instructed so). I don’t like nonexistent lesson plan, or one that does not commit students to a concrete activity, to be handed over at the end of the class…

Higher on my criterion list, though, is the existence of staff cafeteria. Cafeteria, for me, is the place to relax for a short time between classes, to be served for few minutes. It is not only the cup of coffee, or lunch, it is having comfort food during a hard day… Schools that adult cafeteria is not high on their priority list, are very low on my priority list. I deem them negligent of their most important resource, the teachers, and it often reflects on schools’ atmosphere…

Sub Vision: Those cafeterias...

Many schools give little or no importance to their cafeterias, especially to the part that serves teachers and staff members.

Students – sure! They receive breakfast in class, free; precious learning time lost, and expensive food wasted. On average, half of the food distributed in the morning ends up in hands of questionable storage keepers, or worse – in the trash can…

Students get free lunch too, on which consumption I know less, but judging from the look of the luncheon area after the break, a lot of food is thrown away too…

When it comes to feeding staff members, however, schools are less concerned, a lot less! There are very few schools that keep a vibrant, fully stocked, cafeteria, catered for the adults who serve the juveniles. Teachers, whose lunch break time is limited to 30 minutes, carefully divided between closing one class and prepping for the next, visiting the bathroom, and eating, often reach the promised cafeteria just to watch the food packed away, longed-for coffee poured (literally) down the drain, and closed cashiers. I can’t count the times when I badly needed my cup of coffee to sustain me, and it was gone, consumed or, worse, drained to the sink…

Those blessed cafeterias that prepare salads and sandwiches, keep supplies available and always have a fresh pot of coffee are friends of the teaching profession. They understand the need of a working adult not only to be fed, but also to rest for few minutes. They are ready to answer to the needs, even if it means running between the students’ window, the kitchen, and the teachers’ lounge.

I don’t know what separates a good cafeteria and a mean cafeteria. They must have budget and resources limitation, but I can tell for sure – every time I encountered a nice cafeteria, there was a nice, generous, person running it. A mean manager translates to bad cafeteria, even if some of its employees are nice and helpful.

I always head to the cafeteria during my breaks, and have seen many lunchrooms. The good ones provide a choice of selections, with a smile and helpful attitude.  Over the years I have seen good cafeterias turning bad, bad ones getting better, good cafeterias staying good even after management change, and mean managers ruining one school, then moving to a different school and ruining it too…

One thing seems obvious to me. The blame is on schools’ administrators. Good and happy schools have good and happy cafeterias. Those who let cafeterias shut services to their staff indicate poor leadership and negligence, preventing this bit of luxury, few minutes of relaxation and adult conversation with peers. This small indulgence sustained me during times I worked at difficulty schools. The knowledge that once or twice a day I would spend few minutes with adults who face the exact same experience was invaluable. Administrators that do not understand that, don’t deserve to be managers of any type, let alone of school staff.

I had one of many experiences at a middle school that used to be a pleasant place, and became unbearable… Students’ bad behavior and administrators’ lack of support are only part of the problems. The school’s cafeteria has not served teachers and staff for years, and knowing that I try to avoid it, not always successfully. Cafeteria with cold coffee, no lunch service, air-conditioned to a freezing point, with outside broken chairs… At the end of one working day there, the office manager made the mistake of asking me how my day was. I told her that it would have been OK had the cafeteria served teachers at lunch. To my surprise an argument had erupted. She claimed I was wrong, and although she, herself, never goes to the cafeteria, lunch is being served! She suggested two possibilities, one, that I may not know where the cafeteria is, the other - that I am lying. No kidding!

Well, not all substitute teachers are very smart… or trust worthy…