Lest you think I'm exaggerating...

The teacher next to me has now made it known that she won't be returning next year. She was going to, but she's about an internship away from a master's in counseling, and the school system won't even let her volunteer as a counselor to get her hours in.

Yeah, you heard me right. They won't even let her work for free to finish her internship.

She almost didn't come back after Christmas. And I had a bad feeling all through Christmas that I was going to have to help a new teacher get started from the beginning, with our not-too-well-behaved students. And I'm going to miss her, because she's a wonderful teacher and a terrific friend.

Just 14 years ago, this was a school system that you couldn't even kill for a position in it. Now people are leaving, retiring, and quitting (quitting teaching forever) faster than even I can keep up. Shouldn't that be a danger sign? Somehow I don't think this "3 year study of our school rules" is going to be aggressive enough, or fast enough. Why do we need to "evaluate" our school rules, when what's really called for is a massive crackdown on kids breaking what rules we already have, with their parents holding their hands, grinning evilly?