Wednesday, March 8, 2017

2017 SOLC Day 8: Not my place

I am taking the day off.  Not as a form of protest (though it's an added benefit), not for illness (though I am still dealing with the aftereffects of that nasty respiratory ick from three weeks ago).

Nope, I'm home today because, for the third day in a row, my library is being used for non-library reasons.  The last two days have been for testing English language learners.  Today is the district-wide "Kindergarten Roundup", so the library will be filled with parents enrolling their five-year-olds for the 17-18 school year.

I understand that in my overcrowded school, the library is the only large-ish space available to host such hours-long events. Our cafeteria is in business from 1030a to 130p feeding our 1200 students.  Same goes for the gym, where our PE teachers see multiple classes at once. So I planned ahead and let my usual Tuesday and Wednesday visiting classes check out extra books last week to get them through spring break.  

Today, I'm taking a personal day, one of only a handful I've taken this year.  I'm going to give my husband a break from morning chauffeur duty and take my son to school.  I might go for a walk before getting my biannual haircut.  I will lunch on my own, and have a few blissful hours before heading back to work this afternoon for test administration training.  (To my administrator's credit, she was willing to let me reschedule, but I just want to get it done.)

But I won't be there today, when my library is not my classroom, my refuge of literacy.

2 comments:

  1. Wow. This is hard. Unfortunate that your space is not able to be what it needs to be everyday.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Spring is hard, in general. Testing season takes a toll on our usual schedules. Sigh.

      Delete