The Calls

The principal thanked me for taking the time to come and interview.  He said I had been a finalist for the position and that the interview team had appreciated my candor and honesty.  He wished me luck and success in my search for a full -time position but informed me that another candidate had been selected for the full-time Kindergarten position.  

I wasn't surprised.  The interview team seemed exhausted by the time I arrived, I was the last of what I presume to be an entire day of interviews.  They were behind the proverbial eight ball as they had an all-school Open House the very next night where I know they hoped to announce their new teacher.  Several teachers on the interview team seemed to have already made up their mind before I ever answered the first question.  

And it's really okay.  It's a district I've never been in.  It's a great school, I'm certain, but I didn't know anyone there.  I don't know the staff, I don't know the kids. I would have already been behind, with the other new teachers having already started in meetings and orientations several days before.  I would have had a week to get a classroom and curriculum together.   My heart, truth be told, is elsewhere.  At a school where I know and love so many of the students already.  Where two teachers offered without hesitation to write me recommendations.  Where the principal seemed to be an advocate in my corner.  My heart was really hoping for a position there.

Which is why I shouted with glee when that principal called me earlier this evening and offered me a job.  It's not a teaching position, it's a teaching assistant (paraprofessional) position.  But I'll have my own classroom.  I'll see all the classes and all the kids and I'll get to teach them computers.  I'll also gain some experience working one-on-one with kids at risk, working to find the solution to their learning struggles.  In a word, I'm thrilled.  And the principal was too.  "I was so worried we were going to lose you to the other district" she said.  

I start on Tuesday.  I make as much as I made subbing only I'm guaranteed every school day.  There aren't benefits or vacation but I'm going to spend every day where my heart longs to be.  

Tonight, I couldn't be happier.