Help me word this bullshit in a professional way

[meganew]

We have progress conferences this week, which means kids get out at 12 Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Last year we were told that if you stay late on Wednesday and Thursday, if all your conferences were done you could leave with the kids on Friday. It was great! We did it all year!

This year we obviously planned to do the same thing, and when I mentioned something regarding leaving early with my principal she got a very concerned look on her face and said, "Oh, why would you think you could leave early?" When I said because we did it all last year at your suggestion, she claimed not to remember and said she'd have to check on it.

An hour later we get an email saying that we can leave no earlier than 2:30, feel free to ask questions.

Why yes, we do have questions. Like why? Why is it different this year? Why does our other campus (under the same principal) get to leave at 12? Why do you hate happy hour so much?

It might not seem like a huge deal, but leaving at 12 would give me the opportunity to sit in my house ALONE for a brief amount of time before picking my kid up. And I could get lunch with my coworkers (community building!)

But even though she said "feel free to ask questions!" we all feel like its disrespectful to call her out on the fact that we know the other campus is being told something different.

I'm fucking pissed. I wouldn't have stayed until 6 both nights if I knew we couldn't leave early. Now I'm going to be sitting there on Friday with nothing to do.

[5thofjuly]

Honestly, for 2.5 hours, I'd let it go. Take a book or trashy magazine and read in your office or get an early start on next week's prep. It's annoying, but not worth fighting IMO.

[meganew]

Sept 26, 2013 5:54:23 GMT -5 5thofjuly said:

Honestly, for 2.5 hours, I'd let it go. Take a book or trashy magazine and read in your office or get an early start on next week's prep. It's annoying, but not worth fighting IMO.

I think we're all just tired of it being so different at both campuses. We found out last year that they were getting paid extra for something we were told was "just part of the job" and when we brought it up to our principal it was like, "Ohhhh I didn't know that! Thanks for catching it!"

Uh huh. Yeah. It was over $300 of money that we would have lost out on had we not checked with the teachers at the other school!

[bonnie]

Sept 26, 2013 5:57:33 GMT -5 meganew said:

Sept 26, 2013 5:54:23 GMT -5 5thofjuly said:

Honestly, for 2.5 hours, I'd let it go. Take a book or trashy magazine and read in your office or get an early start on next week's prep. It's annoying, but not worth fighting IMO.

I think we're all just tired of it being so different at both campuses.

This sounds like the root of every issue. I think as a staff you're better severed to find a professional way to bring this issue up with your principal (if it's that big enough of a deal). Your current issue of working later on Friday could be used as an example.

[auntie]

Sept 26, 2013 6:28:40 GMT -5 bonnie said:

Sept 26, 2013 5:57:33 GMT -5 meganew said:

I think we're all just tired of it being so different at both campuses.

This sounds like the root of every issue. I think as a staff you're better severed to find a professional way to bring this issue up with your principal (if it's that big enough of a deal). Your current issue of working later on Friday could be used as an example.

I think you'd have more of a professional leg to stand on if you were able to present an argument based on disparity for the students between the two campuses rather than the impact on staff. Getting out 2 1/2 hours early and having lunch with friends isn't a hill upon which I would choose to die.

[zitiqueen]

Did they happen to tell you that you could leave early last year in an email? This is why I use email to follow up/confirm and then save all of that shit.

[meganew]

Sept 26, 2013 9:24:30 GMT -5 namasteak said:

Is there a way (perhaps through a union) you can get the teachers at both campuses together to ensure that there is more equality?

It's a charter school, so no union unfortunately. I was part of a union for a few years which is why this is such a hard adjustment for me.

I will say that we regularly go above and beyond what's expected of us. The teachers at this school are amazing and its very rare that someone is out the door at the click of 4. So when one of the (very small) benefits gets taken away for seemingly no reason, it's more upsetting than it should be.

[speckledfrog]

I don't know the atmosphere at your building, so I can't say whether it's best to call her out on it or not. If you DO end up staying, what about ordering lunch in with some of your fellow teachers and then you can spend some of your alone time in your room. Not working on anything in particular, just being in a nice quiet room. Not as good as being at home, but there is something tranquil about an empty classroom.

[isabel]

Sounds like principal didn't realize the error between the two schools in your other example. I would probably write back and say something about how you heard a couple teachers at the other school saying they were going to leave early and was this rule going into effect at both schools. Of course, I'm generally a pretty snarky person and probably wouldn't have an issue with calling her out (perhaps indirectly) if I had no concerns about my job security otherwise.