So. I didn't blog on Friday or yesterday because, frankly, I was pretty livid.
At school, I have an English room: English Room Two, precisely. It's a big room which I only use half of because the back half is taken up by storage, a stage, and a ton of computers. The special education classes also use the room, and we seem to have reached the agreement, without actually ever discussing it because I can't communicate with anyone at this school, that the back half of the class is theirs to mess up while the front half is mine to keep tidy.
Anyway, when I started teaching here I decided that I wanted my students to sit in groups, so I moved my strange trapezoidal tables into the best groups I could configure. Once or twice a week, I would come into my classroom to discover that my tables and chairs had been moved around. I mentioned this to my coteachers and was told that various and sundry groups used my classroom in the afternoon, so certainly they were just moving my tables to fit their needs, and also could I please leave the boards clean when I left after my lessons? I thought nothing more of it.
On several occasions I would come into my classroom in the morning to discover that things were a bit weird: blinds lifted, the sofa moved around, chairs knocked over. I figured that the afternoon teachers were letting the kids be overly rowdy on their way out of the classroom, something that is certainly an understandable assumption in this country where students hit, kick, and even bite each other in front of teachers who don't blink an eye. I would mention this to my coteachers, and they would, essentially, say "huh." So I let it go.
Fast forward to last Tuesday. I was leaving work (actually off campus already, on the sidewalk in front of the school yard) when an older man I'd never seen before, but assumed from the giant parcel of keys on his belt was a custodian of some sort, came up and started yelling at me. Like, literally yelling, in Korean. I said, repeatedly, that I didn't speak Korean. He yelled "window!" and then more Korean, for about five minutes, until he threw up his arms in frustration and stormed off.
So I asked my coteachers about it, and apparently a window was left open in my English room, and everyone was angry about it. Now, I had checked that Tuesday that my classroom was totally locked down, closed the doors and windows, and left. So, clearly, someone had gotten into my classroom again, and left a door open. Somehow this snowballed into a whole big thing. How was it possible that people had been getting into my classroom (the windows don't latch and the one door's lock is tricky and sometimes jams), Why didn't I tell anyone (I did, many times, and was blown off), Why didn't I make sure everything was closed when I left (I did).
So that started a new "you must check your classroom constantly and so must your coteacher" policy. Never mind the implication that I am unable to effectively check if windows are, in fact, closed on my own. This was a significant new amount of... if not work, then hassle. But, ok, fine. So I did that, and checked my room several times throughout each afternoon and before leaving for the day. In the meantime, the janitors came and wired the windows that opened to the hallway shut, so that students are definitely not able to climb through them any more.
Yesterday I got a phone call at home asking if I'd left a window open. When I got to work today, I wailed on the hallway windows and doors but they would not budge. So, obviously, somebody has a key to my classroom. Why they're going in after four thirty and opening windows in February is beyond me. But the locks aren't going to be replaced because there is no budget for them. I offered to buy the new locks myself, but they want to "wait and see."
The thing that most bothers me is that nobody seems to understand why I'm upset. The understanding that I'm too much of a moron to successfully close windows aside, there is the issue of liability. If someone is getting in here under unsavory circumstances, they could easily steal something. They could break the huge flat screen TV or a computer. Who would be liable for those damages, since I am so clearly responsible for everything that happens in this room even after I've left the school at the end of the day?
Or, terrifyingly, what would happen if it is students breaking in here, and they get hurt? What if they fall out of one of those windows they are leaving open? Who would be responsible for that? Am I expected to believe that the powers that be would accept the blame for not fixing this situation? Or would it suddenly turn out that I had magically never informed anyone of the security flaws?
So, obviously, I'm upset. Everyone thinks I'm overreacting. I was actually berated today, and told *while being berated* that nobody is blaming me or scolding me at all. I feel like this is all some kind of a joke, like somebody will jump out at any second and be like "Hahaha! Isn't this funny? You're on candid camera!" I kind of have to think that, or else I'd believe that they were just trying to stress me and hurt me on purpose.
I don't know. This is my documentation, I guess, if any of those worst-case scenarios mentioned above do happen.
At school, I have an English room: English Room Two, precisely. It's a big room which I only use half of because the back half is taken up by storage, a stage, and a ton of computers. The special education classes also use the room, and we seem to have reached the agreement, without actually ever discussing it because I can't communicate with anyone at this school, that the back half of the class is theirs to mess up while the front half is mine to keep tidy.
Anyway, when I started teaching here I decided that I wanted my students to sit in groups, so I moved my strange trapezoidal tables into the best groups I could configure. Once or twice a week, I would come into my classroom to discover that my tables and chairs had been moved around. I mentioned this to my coteachers and was told that various and sundry groups used my classroom in the afternoon, so certainly they were just moving my tables to fit their needs, and also could I please leave the boards clean when I left after my lessons? I thought nothing more of it.
On several occasions I would come into my classroom in the morning to discover that things were a bit weird: blinds lifted, the sofa moved around, chairs knocked over. I figured that the afternoon teachers were letting the kids be overly rowdy on their way out of the classroom, something that is certainly an understandable assumption in this country where students hit, kick, and even bite each other in front of teachers who don't blink an eye. I would mention this to my coteachers, and they would, essentially, say "huh." So I let it go.
Fast forward to last Tuesday. I was leaving work (actually off campus already, on the sidewalk in front of the school yard) when an older man I'd never seen before, but assumed from the giant parcel of keys on his belt was a custodian of some sort, came up and started yelling at me. Like, literally yelling, in Korean. I said, repeatedly, that I didn't speak Korean. He yelled "window!" and then more Korean, for about five minutes, until he threw up his arms in frustration and stormed off.
So I asked my coteachers about it, and apparently a window was left open in my English room, and everyone was angry about it. Now, I had checked that Tuesday that my classroom was totally locked down, closed the doors and windows, and left. So, clearly, someone had gotten into my classroom again, and left a door open. Somehow this snowballed into a whole big thing. How was it possible that people had been getting into my classroom (the windows don't latch and the one door's lock is tricky and sometimes jams), Why didn't I tell anyone (I did, many times, and was blown off), Why didn't I make sure everything was closed when I left (I did).
So that started a new "you must check your classroom constantly and so must your coteacher" policy. Never mind the implication that I am unable to effectively check if windows are, in fact, closed on my own. This was a significant new amount of... if not work, then hassle. But, ok, fine. So I did that, and checked my room several times throughout each afternoon and before leaving for the day. In the meantime, the janitors came and wired the windows that opened to the hallway shut, so that students are definitely not able to climb through them any more.
Yesterday I got a phone call at home asking if I'd left a window open. When I got to work today, I wailed on the hallway windows and doors but they would not budge. So, obviously, somebody has a key to my classroom. Why they're going in after four thirty and opening windows in February is beyond me. But the locks aren't going to be replaced because there is no budget for them. I offered to buy the new locks myself, but they want to "wait and see."
The thing that most bothers me is that nobody seems to understand why I'm upset. The understanding that I'm too much of a moron to successfully close windows aside, there is the issue of liability. If someone is getting in here under unsavory circumstances, they could easily steal something. They could break the huge flat screen TV or a computer. Who would be liable for those damages, since I am so clearly responsible for everything that happens in this room even after I've left the school at the end of the day?
Or, terrifyingly, what would happen if it is students breaking in here, and they get hurt? What if they fall out of one of those windows they are leaving open? Who would be responsible for that? Am I expected to believe that the powers that be would accept the blame for not fixing this situation? Or would it suddenly turn out that I had magically never informed anyone of the security flaws?
So, obviously, I'm upset. Everyone thinks I'm overreacting. I was actually berated today, and told *while being berated* that nobody is blaming me or scolding me at all. I feel like this is all some kind of a joke, like somebody will jump out at any second and be like "Hahaha! Isn't this funny? You're on candid camera!" I kind of have to think that, or else I'd believe that they were just trying to stress me and hurt me on purpose.
I don't know. This is my documentation, I guess, if any of those worst-case scenarios mentioned above do happen.
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