Sunday, December 05, 2010

I Blame Cathie Black

At 8:15 on Thursday morning, I received a phone call from a public school in Brooklyn. They wanted to know if I was available to sub that day. What? I asked the woman how they had my name since I hadn't ever subbed in the public school system. I explained that I had tried to sub last year but due to the hiring freeze, I hadn't had any luck.

She explained to me that a principal had to write a letter nominating a teacher to sub for the school. I knew this information already because I had unsuccessfully tried to get one from a few schools in my neighborhood last year when I wasn't working. I explained that I now had a job in an independent school so I wasn't available to sub.

I asked her how she had gotten my name though. She mentioned that she had my resume. I asked if there was a letter attached to the resume. Sure enough there was. It was dated March 2009. So basically, they had my resume from when the school was one of many that I was trying to get a job at before the hiring freeze. Sometime between March 2009 and now, my resume had been transferred from possible applicants for a head teaching job to the sub folder.

I thanked her for the call and she mentioned that I should keep trying to sub since the principal at their school did write nominating letters. I reiterated that I wasn't looking to sub any longer and the call ended.

After the call, I really began to think about it and I have a number of questions.
1. Why didn't they call me last year? I would have loved to have received this call in December 2009 when I actually wanted to sub.

2. How could I possibly have subbed for them if I hadn't gotten a nominating letter from the principal?

3. They wanted me to work that day, no questions asked. I never interviewed with anyone at the school. All they had was my resume, yet they were going to allow me to come in and be alone in a classroom with a bunch of kids? What the hell?

Actual photo of the woman I spoke to.

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