I am in my 40s and grew up in North Carolina, why am I just now learning about CORN SWEAT??

My objections to the school board raise were NOT because I thought they were already paid enough. I said that in my public comment. There are three main issues: 1) Optics. They had to know how it would look and feel to their 2,800 employees (minus the 45 just cut bc of the budget.) 1/

The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors just voted to increase their compensation in line with the raise given to all other county staff, by 3%. Old pay: $20,199, New Pay: $20,805.

The Albemarle County School Board just voted to raise their own salaries from $7,915 to $16,249.00. 👀 In a year where we lost 45 FTEs because of budget cuts, and the rest of us are getting a raise of 3%. Don’t tell me they can’t find money for things when they really want to.

I know it must work (otherwise they wouldn’t do it) but it is so annoying when salespeople knock on my door. I don’t want to know your name and I’m not giving you mine. No, I’m not telling you how much I pay for _____.

We have so little (and almost no comprehensive) coverage of k-12 education in Charlottesville/Albemarle County nowadays and it makes me feel insane sometimes.

Nothing says “Great and Good” like a non-tax-paying, billion-dollar endowed University (which has recently built how many new buildings??) snatching a much-needed property from the public schools that serve the taxpayers of Charlottesville. Unbelievable.

If your money tree looks like this, does this mean you are going to get money, or…?

The best time for sledding is after the kids have gone to bed. 😆

After a few days traveling with friends, I learned a lot about myself. I’m not good at wandering without a destination. I get very irritated by folks who insist on leaving audible notifications on. I don’t drink enough…of anything. I hate mornings (& already knew that 😆 now my friends know it too.)

A big shout-out to all the women who made Christmas happen by thinking what presents would make people happy, shopping, decorating, cooking and cleaning up, often with little acknowledgement.

My husband died this week. He was unfailingly supportive of my writing career, no matter what. Any classes, workshop, retreat, time away, anything--he supported me fully. Every book I have written and published is due to his love. I wish you all such a support. I know how lucky I was.

We lost Chuck Pace today, the school board member who represented my district. My heart is breaking for his wife and 4 kids. I’m forever grateful for his support and advocacy for ACPS employees and our union. He stood up for us when others wouldn’t and will be greatly missed!

Looking at Lakeside and Journey side by side- what do you notice about the sub fill rates? Let’s have an honest conversation about why a lot of subs don’t take jobs at AES, JMS, MVES, and WES. (We know why they don’t go to RHES, it’s way out in the county)

I was thinking today about how the school system is on fire and the folks yelling fire and pulling the alarm are getting more grief than the arsonists.

When I post a message to the private FB teacher group for our division, saying: “please let me know if ___ is happening in your school.” And my notifications blow up and the messages start flying in. 👀

The neighbors across the street are normally the first to have their house lit up for the holidays, but so far I’ve seen nary a light. Their Halloween display was so good. I think I’ll check in with them and make sure everything is okay. Maybe their ladder broke.

One of my 6th graders had stuffed the pockets of her sweatshirt with Monopoly money recently and brought it to school. When I asked her why, she said “to play with!” and rolled her eyes. Sure, I’m the weird one.

Having lived in South Korea, my mind is absolutely blown by what happened there. How did no one see that coming? And what was the end game?

Today I suggested something to ACPS that (if they implement it) could either really annoy most of the staff or actually improve employee engagement. 😆 It’s a risk I’m willing to take. We’ll see what happens.

This is probably only the beginning. The systems of checks and balances that reasonable people depend on are slowly going away, and what will be left?

A lot of people think everything will work out if we just play by the rules but don’t seem to recognize that rules only matter when everyone agrees to follow them and, well, that isn’t our present reality.

I’d love the @neatoday.bsky.social to start using this account! You are missing out on key engagement with not only members, but community supporters here! I wanted to post about the YRO Convening last weekend, but saw the account is inactive. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Left a note for my favorite people in the world, after a particularly hard week for us. My mom always used to leave us notes when I was young, and I loved that.

The last 2 times I’ve needed a sub, I posted the jobs well in advance and they were picked up right away. Both times, the sub canceled at the last minute, (6pm the night before and 2am the morning of…) essentially guaranteeing my classes won’t have a sub. That is such a crappy thing to do. #EduSky

I never expected grief to hit me as hard as it has since we had to say goodbye to our sweet Goose on Saturday. It physically hurts. Being in this house without him hurts. Seeing his bed, his bowls, his toys, his blanket. We loved him SO much, and now missing him hurts SO MUCH. I’m a mess.

Another Albemarle School Board meeting where I am literally the only person in this auditorium who is not being paid to be here. Even the Sheriff sitting in the back is probably getting some sweet overtime pay for this.

Trying to connect with educator friends #EduSky

That's ok! They can all just ride the bus! Oh wait...they can't. Sigh. If only people had raised this concern a long time ago, surely we could have made a better plan, right?

Today I received 2 texts from teachers frustrated at all the extra things that keep getting added to our plates with no additional pay (like more parent conferences & more evening events) WHILE I was at my own school for one of the added evening events. Yeah. We are tired and it’s only November.

BREAKING: The NLRB has just ruled that captive audience meetings are illegal nationwide. These are mandatory meetings where bosses try to persuade workers not unionize, often using coercive tactics.

If you don’t shitpost at least every once in a while, I don’t trust you.

I really am torn about leaving Twitter. I “met” a ton of Cville folks and learned a lot just through reading and replying. I got into a lot of good trouble by using the platform to speak my truth and pressure ACPS to do better. I’m not sure this place can ever really work that way. Maybe one day.

I do not understand Albemarle County School Board refusing to accept a walkway to Agnor Hurt school. And just wrote my school board rep saying so. #albemarle #localmatters communityengagement.substack.com/i/151565866/...

Some students started talking about worries around being deported. It’s gutting. Staff are stressed about public education being under threat of funding cuts, accusations of indoctrination, and who knows what else to come. It’s a tough time to be an educator…actually, it always has been.