Hopefulness

One more interview down, one more scheduled.

Today’s interview went really well, until the point at which the interviewer casually mentioned that he can probably get back to me as soon as tonight, because they pretty much made their final decision already. Great.

I did get the opportunity to observe a little bit of life in Hartford, though. I entered the building with a woman who had just moved to Hartford with her children. She was registering her children at this school.

The way Hartford Public Schools works is with something called School Choice. This means that HPS students enter an elementary (K-8) or high (9-12) school that is chosen for them by a lottery, based on their top choices in the school network. The better-run schools are more difficult to get into. A student may choose to attend their neighborhood school at any time.

The woman I saw in the office was being told that even though her children had been chosen to attend this school, HPS would not provide transportation because it was not her neighborhood school. She had to decide right then to provide transportation for her children every day, or choose a different school. Of course, it would be impossible for her to take her kids to school every day, so she asked what her neighborhood school would be. This led to a chaotic discussion among high school staff about which school was in her neighborhood, whether that school was still open, whether it was closed for renovations, and ultimately that it had been re-opened as a magnet school and was no longer considered a "neighborhood school" that accepted any neighborhood resident. At that time I was called in for my interview. What a different world this inner-city Connecticut is.

In happier news, I have a phone interview for a different HPS 7-8th grade science position tomorrow evening. Updates to follow.

So, I now have 4 open possibilities:
School 1: Bridgeport, interviewed last week, will hear something when principal returns from vacation on Monday. Very hopeful.
School 2: Super fancy magnet school in Hartford, intense interview Tuesday, just found out that one girl has already been contacted for a "callback" interview. Less hopeful.
School 3: Plain school in Hartford, interview today, previously made a decision, will contact me tonight/tomorrow. Not hopeful.
School 4: Other plain school in Hartford, phone interview tomorrow. Hopeful.

Upon my return from the interview, I dove into a long-term planning session. My assignment was to guess what class I would be teaching (I chose 7th grade science in Bridgeport) and make a year-long unit plan for that class. This has probably been my favorite session so far this summer. I had to sift through the Bridgeport 7th grade science curriculum and count the school days on the calendar to create a schedule of units. The only thing I love more than science is scheduling.