Teachers at Buna Schools

 I hear fairly often from Buna teachers. Many times through back channels. 

Often, they are afraid that the administration will know it is them talking to me, and sometimes, all information they send me is deleted by the sender. 

And I can't say that I blame them. 

Trust me, I understand. 

It is the old phrase as one told me....

"Too many chiefs and not enough Indians." There are people who have been advanced so much, they are looking for things to do. 

So, we get micromanagement. 

If you are a teacher worth anything, you are looking for another school to work. Or, in many cases, some of the best and brightest have, " Gotten the Hell out of Dodge> " As one person who is looking to leave told me. 

Of course, this is not everyone on staff, but it is enough that people are wondering what they are doing even in education. 

I know Kerry Don Thomas would be out of Buna in 2026. The district has changed so much that I could not stand the micromanagement. I could not be the Mr. Thomas many of you had in class.

Old Kerry had a hard enough time hanging around when I reached retirement eligibility. I almost quit.....Several times my last semester.  Including me calling Teacher Retirement the Friday during Spring Break and almost pulled the trigger and retired in March. 

I'm afraid I would be teaching certain people new  combinations of adjectives, nouns, adverbs....As I walked out the door. 

But, I could not do it. Mostly because I liked the seniors I had that year.  

As I have told many times before, I was in a meeting with several teachers, administrators when one teacher's cell phone buzzes and the instructor gets up and says, " I must take this call." And they step into the hallway. About 5 minutes later, the teacher sticks their head back into the room, and says, " That was Teacher Retirement, they said I can retire." They leave, don't even go back to their classroom and gather their personal items, instead, they go, get into their car, and go home.  

True story. 

Teachers, I don't know what your situation is, but if you can change districts, and you are miserable, look for that change of scenery. I know I have in the past.  

I couldn't work in Buna ISD today.