Well, before autumn break it was mentioned that we follow the Kazakh school calendar, which has the students returning to class on a Friday, and so we, being a private school and thus able to make changes, would not have class on that Friday (13 November), but rather on a Saturday (21 November). Valerie was not at the meeting at the time this was announced, and we all nodded our silent agreement that this was okay.
When it was announced that we would get most of the break off, I really thought Mr. M, the v.p., also said that we would not have to work on that Saturday.
Then, this week I heard that we would have classes on Saturday. However, I wasn't sure, and I knew that the local teachers always work on Saturdays, so I wasn't sure if "classes on Saturday" meant the usual extra-tutoring lessons.
Valerie said she would not work on a Saturday, and if no one told her she had to, then she wouldn't come!
They never mentioned it at the meeting on Wednesday.
On Thursday they posted signs outside each classroom, in English and Kazakh, that there would be a regular school day on Saturday.
So now Valerie knew.
She went to the principal to complain. She did not want to work on a Saturday, she had not been informed early enough to complain or to even discuss it.
Later I learned more from her--they had a huge, blow-out fight. She had left his office, knowing her own temper well enough to know that it was time to leave. "I'm not coming, dock my pay," she said as she left.
He followed her into the teachers' lounge and there was the fight, with students, parents, and other teachers able to listen. (I was in the 3rd floor teacher's lounge and thus unaware.)
She went home and wrote a 2nd resignation letter. She emailed me and I did my best to check it. It was good, I think. Instead of listing her complaints, she summarized her previous jobs in 3 different international schools in 3 different countries. She listed the pros and the cons. She tried to show where she was coming from, why she was so upset at certain things.
She listed 19 December as her last working date, as our contract says we only need to give one month's notice.
She also attached the 2-page "Terms and Conditions" documents that we both were emailed before we signed the contract, as well as the 22-page document titled "Recruitment Handbook" that we both had read while considering the job. She highlighted in red everything that these documents had said that were not true.
As much as I'll miss her--as a friend as well as a colleague who carries a load of 24 lessons a week, that is bound to be spread out amongst us other teachers--I do believe it is in her best interest to go. She is not happy here, her fiance has not found a job, she has money saved from previous jobs and the capability to find other ESOL jobs. She has no reason to stay here.
Just as she had compared this school to her previous schools, I mentally did a comparison. So far, this school wins by a landslide. It's worse for Sophia, the old school--which wasn't that great--beats this school in terms of Sophia--how it responds to her educational, emotional, and social needs. But for me, well, right now I only have 21 lessons a week. I have so much free time!
That will go pretty soon...
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