Nonsense

So I'm not technically slacking because although I am at a meeting at work, I am also working through lunch. K, now that we have that cleared up let's talk about random nonsense like why spammers have infiltrated my blog. I mean, who really cares if you got an inheritance of millions of dollars. It's not mine and it's really not nice to brag. In addition, why did you put some of it in an account special for me? And, if you have so much money why do you need me to pay for the fees? What do you take me for, a crazy gecko? Take your money and leave me alone and stop spamming me. Spam is food, not fraud. Well, technically it is food.

Randomly nonsensically speaking, I read the online paper for the first time in a long time again. There is a lot of negativity and blamestorming going on there, no wonder why I stopped reading it. Nobody uses their real names when commenting so I don't know if I like them or not. That's because I base my decisions on real people who have names and not anonymous people who can only share their opinions behind a mask of pretend. I liked to pretend when I was eight. Now I'm older and if I have an opinion I'll give it to you.

I also perused...he he he...I mean lurked on blogs today. There are still a lot of really good bloggers in the CNMI even though most of us have kind of decided we'd rather do something other than spew our life stories to the world. The world of islands. The island. Maybe just to pooper scoopers. That's what one of my FB friends calls them, pooper scoopers. People who lurk on your page to collect the latest happenings then distort them for their purposes. Their purpose usually turns out to be full of shit. As I was saying, I found some new blogs (to me) that I liked, some old ones that I missed somehow and rekindled my love for my faves.

That song from the Eagles is stuck to my brain "...Well I'ma runnin' down the road tryin' to loosen my load, I got seven women on my mind..." except I have about four things on my mind, they aren't women and I don't know how I'll ever get them done before deadline. "Take it easy...take it easy...don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy..." I have decided that I need a red DONE button like the one in the Staples commercial, except that's an EASY button. I prefer done to easy because no matter the amount of effort I put into things I like to be eventually finished with them. This never pertains to dishes, laundry or cleaning, sadly.

Lots of people like to say "not ashame" a lot. It's like how "fer real" was popular before, remember? I want to say it too, but I never felt it was really appropriate until this morning when my friend told me a story about how some self-absorbed butt-head obnoxiously invited themselves to something and had people at the table wondering more appropriately, WTF? Not ashame! I didn't say it out loud though, but now that I'm blogging it, I wish I had. Names and details were omitted to protect the identity of everyone. Sorry that was so ambiguous.

The other morning my son said out of nowhere, "I think Peyton is the most beautiful out of all of us. I think Hope is most like you, that's why you fight so much." Just out of the blue, just like that. Then we talked about all sorts of things like why grandma is never wrong, why auntie Yvette is just like grandma and why I'll always be the best girl in his life. Ok so he didn't exactly say that, but as we were talking I got a vision of him at 6 years old saying, "mama you 0-ways be my bess girl." Sigh.

Meeting's about to start up again and I have myriad thoughts running through my mind, especially about MLK Jr. and things not seemingly related him, but important nonetheless. That's another post I suppose because it's finally sunny outside and I want to be able to stand in it for at least ten minutes before I have to start thinking again. Thinking hard, like about the four things I have to get done that I have only recently started. Okay so I haven't started on them yet, but I'm thinking about it.

I should have asked for the Trib

Jeff's article is out, and now I can claim the title "mamarazzi" because it's been printed - and so it is. Now I feel pressured to write something brilliant, NOT!
*****
Mommy: Hope, please get down and check if they have variety
Hope: Of what?
Mommy & Zalika: chuckle...
Hope: What?
Mommy: The Variety Hope
Hope: OOOHHH! MOM! You're gonna blog that aren't you?

WHAT?

Borja exempts principals, vice principals from pay cut. I take no offense in Congressman Quitugua's assertion that administrators should share in the crusade to save our government much needed funding by taking a voluntary pay cut. In fact, I have made suggestions during our princpals' meetings that administrators be included in the austerity efforts and that support staff be exempted. While it is important to have someone on campus to ensure that operations run effectively and efficiently, this week has been an eye opener for me. Spring break is a time, like in all homes, for schools to do some much needed cleaning up. I have learned to do many things in the 13 years that I've been at GES, but operating the riding mower and servicing the air-conditioners is not one of them. Sparing the support staff would greatly increase morale and provide the much needed services to our facilities that are required to keep a school running safely and orderly. It would cost the PSS the same amount of money too.

Getting back to the article however, I have to argue that this austerity holiday plan has become a major nightmare, and that it is not just in the PSS that there is so much confusion as to who is vital or not, who is exempted or not. If our CNMI is going to band together and work in unison, then for crying out loud, let's ALL take a cut together. ALL of us!

What the exemptions have done is pit people against one another and cause such a feeling of animosity between agencies and colleagues that it becomes detrimental to the proper functioning of any organization. What this plan has also done is decrease the effectiveness of the government as a whole. NO ONE CAN GET ANYTHING DONE NOWADAYS. If austerity holiday falls on Friday, Thursday is off too? Give me a break. Oh wait, you did. Twice. The essential public services we rely on are anything but dependable anymore. Is the idea to save money at all cost? Even productivity? Even our reputation?

I must also air my own vehemently frustrated opinion about Congressman Quitugua's statement that "principals and vice principals are highly paid and they should join other personnel in this sacrifice". Has the good congressman ever reviewed the PSS pay scale? There is about a three thousand dollar difference between a Highly Qualified Teacher's pay at the top of the scale and a principal's salary. Not to mention the number of working days (teachers get breaks) and the opportunity that teachers have to earn extra pay. I have much respect for teachers, especially having been one myself. Teachers who receive HQT salaries deserve them, there is no question. Administrators in the CNMI make 25 grand less than the average principal on the mainland. I have stood before the PTA and said things like, "spend quality time with your children...only 30 minutes a day reading to your child...your role as a parent is crucial to your child's development..." and wondered if my own children had eaten dinner yet, how my daughter was doing on her school project, when the last time I read to my 2 year old was. My vice principal is making the same amount of money, like others I know, than he could in the classroom. The same salary, minus the intersessions and vacations. The same salary, plus the extra time he has to spend away from his family. But/and, like the teachers, both of us have been diligently working towards (administrators') certificates, spending our "big bucks" on classes that begin as soon as the work week ends and continue into Saturday morning. And yes, we both hold valid teaching certificates and have passed Praxis I and II.

I also respect the Board and it's members, but come on! We don't make decisions in bubbles. I am so tired of directives coming down the mountain like they were sent down from heaven. Real, flesh and blood people are involved here. At least our commissioner has given us the opportunity to air our concerns and speak our minds. We don't always get what we want, but we get to bitch and moan about it and dig our teeth into things until we are satisfied or outright denied. But the legislature? The board? How many of you have set foot on my campus asking questions about how we're doing, getting to know us, asking for our input? Today, Congressman Dela Cruz's staff is cleaning our fence area, because our maintenance is on their austerity week. Sometimes, Congressman Waki's folks are cutting tree limbs and bush cutting. Senator Reyes (say what you will) and Congressman Yumul share their own limited funds with us so we can buy toilet paper that isn't in our budget! Lee Taitano has often cornered me and asked me some brain-crushingly hard questions. We don't always agree, but we agree that it's important to talk. If anything, these people are qualified to wag their fingers at me, they've atleast built relationships that earned them as much right.

Congressman Quitugua: tell principals and vice principals that it is our job to multi-task, that it is our responsibility to manage every aspect of school operations, even that the success of our system lies heavily on our shoulders. But, don't ever make the foolish and presumptuous mistake of flippantly telling us that, "that's what we get the big bucks" for! Especially until your all your colleagues walk the talk!