". . . only a librarian . . ."/our image

[Nancy Zack Bell <nzb@TENET.EDU>]

I just have to blow off a little professional(?) steam about three things
that have happened to me in the last 7 days:

1.  Our fourth grade team leader(?) asked me last week if I was going to
"make up" the class her class missed due to a Monday holiday by keeping
them for a full thirty minutes on Tuesday *so she could work on her
report cards*!  (No, we do not flexibly schedule I tried to "inservice"
my teachers - even had a guest speaker - but my principal would not go to
bat for me when the teachers balked about giving up their "free period"!)

2.  A sixth grade teacher sent her class five minutes early last week -
without prior notification - saying, "I don't care when you go to the
library"!  Fortunately, my assistant was there to subdue them as they
came streaming in as if after recess!

3.  Our counselor - with whom I have taught several years and who, as a
fellow "support service" person, should have known better - asked me
today if I was coming to open house tonight.  I replied, yes, just like
every other of the ten years I've been here.  He then informed me that he
would be "kicking me out" halfway through the open house because he would
be discussing the TAAS tests with parents.  Was I asked/told/otherwise
notified in advance that this would be happening?  No, and during open
house is one of the times I can count on parents visiting the library!
And now, when funds are shrinking, I really need that public relations
opportunity.

Like the velveteen rabbit, I wish that some day I could be a *real*
librarian and teach in a *real* school . . . one of those model/exemplary
schools one only reads about in professional journals!

There . . . now I feel better!  Thanks for listening, fellow cyberlibrarians!

Nancy Bell
Butler Elem. - Arlington (TX) ISD
nzb@tenet.edu