[LM_NET] What to do with incompetant colleague?

[Sharon Dalton <chenapanyaya@YAHOO.COM>]

I come to you with this question because I am really at a loss. I have created a 
new email address and have subscribed to LM_Net on this email address, too, just so 
I can ask this question. I don’t want to offend the person involved, not that she 
subscribes here, but who knows who might know her?

Anyway, I work in a 2-librarian high school library. The person that was hired last 
school year does not know what she is doing.  She was a teacher before, but she 
possesses no teaching skills whatsover, no "with-it-ness", and has no management 
skills.  I could go on and on with examples of things she does wrong, things she 
doesn’t know that most high school students know, and so on and so forth. Today a 
class was in doing their term paper.  She had watched me teach the same lesson 
THREE TIMES last week, yet when she got up there she said everything wrong, told 
them incorrect places to look, and left very important things out.  The teacher had 
to take over and tell the class what they needed to know because she didn't know 
what to do with them. I watched from the sidelines and had to walk away because I 
wanted to cry.  How can a person make no progress in a whole school year on a job?

I also have to say that I am really kind of sick of spending my days watching her 
work on her school assignments or reading the newspaper while I assist all of the 
students and tackle projects. She hasn’t come up with a single good idea (or even a 
bad idea) or produced anything for the library.

I thought maybe she would improve this school year, but it hasn’t gotten any 
better. Finally, in October I had to go to the Principal and explain the situation. 
He seemed concerned and said he would have to get in and start observing her. Well, 
this is February and no observations yet. I should say here that most of the staff 
have noticed her lack of ability and have gone so far as to request I teach all of 
their classes when they come in. Needless to say, I am rather discouraged and am 
not sure what to do. She is a really nice person and we get along, so this isn‘t a 
matter of there being a personality conflict. I am really concerned because it 
isn’t fair to me or the students to have someone in the job that has no idea what 
she is doing. I am at a loss and am not sure what to do now. I don’t want to leave 
this job as I have been here for years and I love the school. One of the teachers 
in the libary today asked me how it was going and when I told her I was thinking of 
leav!
 ing she
 begged me not to because if I left "the library will fall apart."  Everyone knows 
she is clueless, but nothing seems to be happening.

Is there anything I can even do about this? If so, what? I guess you could say I am 
really at the end of my rope. Springtime is really busy with a lot more term papers 
than the Fall. Right now I am looking at another Spring like last Spring and, 
frankly, it makes me tired just thinking about it. I am getting really panicked and 
stressed.  I am afraid I am going to snap and when I do, it isn't going to be 
pretty.

I am signing this anonymous so I don’t embarrass her or cause any problems between 
her and I, in case she sees this somehow. I may have to work with her for the next 
20 years.



Fake Identity, Librarian

A High School

Somewhere, USA

ChenapanYaYa@yahoo.com



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