After the slightest hesitation, probably just to squelch a hop-inspired belch, I tried to play it all cool and composed, responding, "Oh? Do you mean the proposal that I submitted back in 2012? Ummm, yeah, I think so..."
Annually (usually the time frame is December through February), in accordance with the teacher contract, the Rochester City School District solicits sabbatical proposals from any teacher who has served in the district for a minimum of five years. A committee consisting of teachers and administration convenes to review all submitted proposals, and then makes recommendations to the school board. Everything is kept hush-hush, and applicants don't find out their fate until it's made official at the April or May board meeting.
So basically you're sitting on pins and needles for several months to find out whether your proposal was approved, and I remember how agonizing the wait was several years earlier, when I submitted a full year technology-oriented proposal. It was quite a disappointment to read the board minutes the morning after, and to discover my proposal had not been mentioned.
And for what ever reason, though I imagine it involves lawyers, there is no procedure to provide feedback from the committee on inadequate proposals, nor is there any form of notification that states you've been rejected. So you wait, and wait, and wait, and wait (for Godot!)
Since 2000, the district has granted anywhere from three to six sabbaticals per year, some year-long, but more frequently one semester in length. I have worked in the same building as three previously approved teachers. So yeah, sabbaticals in the district are for real,and it's not just a myth.
And yeah, it's competitive. But hey, I've written two successful applications for highly competitive national NEH fellowships, I should be able to compete within the district!
But a strange phenomenon occurred with my second proposal. Behind the school board's closed doors, it was unilaterally decided that no sabbaticals would be granted...and I had no clue whether the proposal had even made it out of the screening committee. So April's board meeting rolls around, and no mention of any sabbatical approvals.
Okay, I say to myself, I'll have to wait another month for the formal announcement at the May board meeting. But again, no mention of any sabbaticals...so at this point I'm scratching my head and thinking, "WTF?" So I eventually called the union.
They stated that the union was filing a class action grievance against the district, and that was the last I heard about it...
Okay, okay. I confess. I badgered Human Resources (such a dignified euphemism) with an email the following year when they announced the window for submitting proposals was open again. And when that went unanswered, I followed up with a phone call. The district's response was pretty much a "no comment" and I obviously didn't have "need to know" status.
So to be truthful, I had quite given up on any chance of a sabbatical, especially as I am now just a hop skip and a jump away from cashing in early on a pittance pension and a future life devoted to cab driving or some other venture equally divorced from today's pathetically dysfunctional system of secondary education.
Last Friday I received an official district email stating that my sabbatical proposal to travel to the former Yugoslavia was approved for the 2016 fall semester.
Thanks to the class action grievance filed by the Rochester Teachers Association, the district lifted its moratorium on teacher sabbaticals, and previously approved proposals were allowed to proceed.
Thanks to the class action grievance filed by the Rochester Teachers Association, the district lifted its moratorium on teacher sabbaticals, and previously approved proposals were allowed to proceed.
Now, reality is setting in. I'm excited, I'm scared, and I’ve got a load of prep work to do.
