The Last Day of the Contract Year

I will be here soon...

Today is the last day of my school contract year. (This is one of those job things that do not really affect my professional status but has everything to do with where I work and with whom.) Tomorrow starts the 2021-2022 school year, and I am more than ready to be done with this crazy year. I thought the end of 2019-2020 was bad? This year was so much worse in so many ways. In others, it was a bit better.

Today ends this year of pandemic changes every 6 weeks. Today ends the official reign of administrators who seemed to care so little about what was happening in the school that they disappeared to "work from home" even while maintaining that we had to be present in the lives of our residents. We have new administrators now - folks that were at school the entire time we had to be. Today ends the year of three interns during a pandemic and having to try to juggle their hour completion in a time when every single day brought significant changes to how we do our jobs. Today ends the year where I lost my Dad and my pet, and while the grief goes on, the losses have lost some of their stabby-ness - does that make sense? Today is the end of the contract year.

Now, as I have said many times, I know that this sort of time delineation is an artificial construct. The virus isn't going to simply stop because my school district runs on a July-June work contract. Problems with administrators will not miraculously dissipate due to the date on the calendar, but with the change in contract year, there is a bit of hope established as well.

I do not usually care much about this day. For me, the real start of the school year happens in August when we return to our regular, five-day schedule. That tends to be the time when I have the most energy to make goals and objectives for myself and when it feels like a new year. This year, though, I think I will be celebrating all the things that I possibly can! New contract year?? Let's take a long-distance trip! Whoo-hoo! Return of sick time? Hooray!! I am going to dance a jig. You get the idea.

I still haven't seen or signed my contract, but I know it is coming pretty soon. I am contracted to work 213 days of the year. My school year technically goes 217 days, but I have been here since they changed our requirements and this was one of the perks offered. I like having some days to take off without guilt. Basically, I do not get paid for those days so I do not have any obligations to my work for those four days. I like it lots!

There will be two new teachers starting tomorrow. One of the teachers being replaced is moving on to a better place for him. The other has been promoted so will still be around but in a different role in the school. We are down to very inexperienced classroom support staff members in almost all classes so there is very little compliance to music therapy expectations. I am spending most of my time asking folks to do things and being ignored. Add in a bunch of old lady hormones, and POW! I am CRANKY!!

I spent most of yesterday in frustration...with everything...with anything. I am hoping that today will not be the same thing, but it may be. I need to remember that most of the things that are frustrating me are things that I have absolutely no control over in the moment. I can address the things that I need to address at a time when I am not so emotionally wrapped. I also have to remind myself of the whole Highly Sensitive Person/empath thing and realize that a certain percentage of what I am feeling is not necessarily originating with me but is centered in the experiences of my clients and my co-workers - I'm just the emotional, over-reactive, hormonal sponge that soaks up everything in the atmosphere. Perhaps I am a dehumidifier of emotion...I hope that people feel better after they spend some time in the music therapy room, but I am not sure that I am doing what I set out to do right at the moment.

Meanwhile, here at home I am getting things ready for my trip. The to-do list keeps getting longer and longer and I have no energy to finish all the things. This morning's chores are finishing the laundry transfer from the hallway to the bed, getting the dishwasher unloaded and the reloaded and running, and starting to pack my travel bag with some essentials. Then I am heading to work to try to get used to my small office and the music therapy room that still doesn't have the storage I have requested and still has too many distractions for my students out where they are easily accessed. I am making slow progress on the piles of visual aids and such that are still on the floor of the office space, waiting for a forever home, but not enough to suit me. I really need that additional storage.

Today is the last day of the 2020-2021 school year contract. Thank you all that is good and generous! Here's to the next school year contract! May it be a boring year without many changes or quandaries or surprises. I need that type of year...