Previously "Unpublished" Posts

Here are some ramblings that I wrote while in Kwethluk but didn't dare publish on my blog while I was living out there...

September 29, 2010 (unpublished)

Parent Teacher Conferences
When I got to school this morning, I realized that tonight was parent teacher conferences, 4-5:30. Keep in mind that we have to stay an hour past our contract period tonight and tomorrow night but don’t get that time made up to us anywhere – it’s considered part of the “other duties as assigned.” I have not been given any information about how these pt conferences are supposed to work. Apparently the secretary is working on some sort of schedule, which I never received. I was given the grade reports for my study hall students and told that those were the parents with whom I’d be meeting. What? I don’t even teach half of my study hall students. Why would I even want to conference with parents of children I don’t teach? Whatever. Everything else in this school is messed up, so I should expect the same from pt conferences, I suppose.

5 minutes after conferences were scheduled to start, I was given a box with miscellaneous test info, grade reports, student handbooks, etc. They were left in my classroom since I was in an IEP meeting. When I got back and saw the box, there was no note, no instructions, nothing. Okay, so I must just hand this stuff out.

???'s dad came first. An Asian man with very broken English and 4 small children (one of whom was Down’s) tagging along. He was worried about ???'s grade in my class, British Lit and Comp 3. I apologized to him telling him that I didn’t have ???'s grade report and that he’d have to go to ???'s study hall teacher to get that information. This is exactly what I thought would happen! The father and I had a good discussion (I guess you can call it that) about ??? needing to get caught up and stay caught up on his work. The father wants ??? to go to University of Oregon next year but ??? doesn’t want to go to college.


October 16, 2010 (unpublished)

We arrived at our new home in Kwethluk to find it filthy. There were dead mosquitoes dried to the walls and ceilings where they had met their demise at human hands – blood smears to boot. The linoleum floors were grimy. The carpet was dirty (I even had to clean out the vacuum before it could be used). The kitchen cabinets were covered in a greasy, sticky film. The stove/oven looked like it had never been cleaned – by the time I finished cleaning the brown grates from the top of the gas stove (which is only 5 years old), I discovered that they were actually a slate blue color but had probably never been cleaned. The tub/shower was brown, but after some Ajax and elbow grease, it is now almost white. The washing machine was in the same condition but has now been revived. The bathroom sink had whiskers all over it and a ¼-inch ridge of soap scum where a bar of soap had been on the edge of the sink. In addition, trash and old junk was left everywhere – empty boxes the bedroom, an old dirty dish rack and miscellaneous junk in the front entry, a floor to ceiling shelving unit filled with broken electronics and junk boxes in the back entry – even a bag of trash. First of all I don’t understand how people can live like that, especially people who are supposed to be educated teachers. Second of all, they knew that the new teacher would be moving in and have to deal with their mess – not a very good first impression.

The kitchen sink had a leak around the edge and it dripped unless you pushed it slightly off left of center. The tub drained slow and eventually stopped altogether. I have since had Adam, the maintenance man, come fix both of those things. Then, one day, a couple of weeks ago, our cold water seemed to have disappeared in the entire house. It was most noticeable in the shower because it had become scalding and there was no way to adjust the temperature because there seemed to be no cold water. I stopped Ira, head maintenance man, in the hall at school one day to talk with him about it. We happened to be just outside ???'s room (remember that there are no doors or walls) and ??? overheard us and came out into the hall, laughing and saying, “Oh yeah, forgot to tell ya about that. heehee.” ??? and *** were the previous tenants who had left the place in such a mess. What a jerk. As Ira explained it to me, there are heating coils that run alongside the water pipes and he turned them on a couple of weeks ago when the weather started to get cold. They keep the pipes from freezing. The side effect is that there is no cold water until Spring. Great! I also let him know that there was no heat in Sarah’s bedroom – another thing that ??? knew about. Ira saw me later that day and let me know that there was some faulty valve in the heating that was hooked to Sarah’s room, so he fixed it by rerouting the kitchen heating valve to Sarah’s room. So, now the kitchen heater doesn’t work, which isn’t a big deal since the kitchen and living room are one big room and the living room heater does work.

Tonight, after having had the stomach flu for two days, I go to take a shower only to realize that there is no hot water! It’s warm but not quite lukewarm – definitely no hot water – quite a cold shower after being sick – I’m not a happy camper. I’m guessing that the cold snap we’ve had for the past couple of days and the 30mph north wind from today have zapped the hot right out of our pipes. Ira must have turned off the heating coils the other day. Geesh!

Add to that the fact that we don’t have heat today. I don’t know why and I’ve left a message on the Site Administrator’s phone, but he considers himself off the clock on weekends – must be nice!



October 17, 2010 (unpublished)

“So much attention is paid to the aggressive sins, such as violence and cruelty and greed with all their tragic effects, that too little attention is paid to the passive sins, such as apathy and laziness, which in the long run can have a more devastating effect.” Eleanor Roosevelt

So much time and money is spent to fight alcohol and suicide and abuse out here. Yet, it’s okay for students to lay their heads down on their desks or take naps during the State Student Council convention. Students consistently don’t turn their work in. I have a student in Journalism class who has a 0% at the end of the first quarter and she’s only missed school 2 or 3 days. That’s right. She does nothing. I try encouragement. I try threats. I try detention. I talk to her mom. I talk to the Dean and her other teachers. I talk to her Special Ed case worker. Nothing works. Apathy.

It’s a worse crime to drink alcohol out here than it is to throw the empty bottle on the ground. How does that make sense?

“Some people confuse acceptance with apathy, but there's all the difference in the world. Apathy fails to distinguish between what can and what cannot be helped; acceptance makes that distinction. Apathy paralyzes the will-to-action; acceptance frees it by relieving it of impossible burdens.” Arthur Gordon

The villagers don’t care. The students don’t care. Eventually, the teachers don’t care. The day that I become a teacher who doesn’t care is the day I retire from teaching. My students do not lay their heads down on their desk without getting detention. Other teachers laugh behind my back. That part, I don’t care about. I feel sorry for them. I am told, “It’s their culture.” That’s bullshit. When those students are in my classroom, they are there to learn about the culture of education which means that they keep their heads up and do their work, or there are consequences. “It’s their culture.” How dare the Natives let the white teachers talk about them that way, like they’re too uncivilized to act appropriately?


November 6, 2010 – unpublished
Tobacco. I’m not sure what all the hype is about. I don’t understand what the draw is to tobacco products. Personally, I have enough vices and don’t intend to add tobacco to the list. However, it is a big deal among teenagers. Students and parents of students who participate in sports and other extracurricular activities even have to sign a TAD (Tobacco, Alcohol, Drug) contract in the state of Alaska promising not to partake in any of the three. Give teenagers a hard and fast rule and what’s going to happen? That’s right!

Kwethluk is no exception. As a matter of fact, the students here are much more bold in their violation of the rules. It could have something to do with their age – many are 18 (few kids graduate at 18 here). I’m certainly not going to try to make excuses for them.

Sarah is Student Council Secretary in Kwethluk this year and when she went to the district Student Council conference in Bethel a couple of weeks ago, along with three other students representing our school, at least one of the students (a girl) chewed tobacco openly when their supervisor (who is white) wasn’t around.

Last night, Sarah was in Adak at a Volleyball Tournament and she texted me saying that Kwethluk students were “chewing” in their classroom (where they were spending the night) and that the coach (Yupik) knew but didn’t say anything. Apparently, it was okay with her. She may have been chewing, too, for all I know.

I don’t understand. Why does the coach allow such a serious rule infraction? Why does the community tolerate the coach’s tolerance? I know I can’t be the first and only teacher to ever be privy to the fact that this is going on. How can the other teachers exist in such a state of apathy?

So, I’m making waves again – have contacted the Dean of the school (who is in charge of discipline) and made her aware of the situation. We’ll see what happens.


... More to come...