jennmcg72
Senior Member
I just have to get this out before I explode! Hopefully someone out there can relate. There is a teacher at my school who I'll call Mrs. X. She has been teaching around 15 years and has become very chummy with our principal, who is about to retire. Mrs. X has become more and more power hungry as the year has progressed. Today it reached the limit when she announced to our entire grade span that she had already cleared it with the principal to plan our end-of-the-year reading celebration and she would be handling that. No question of what we would like to do, no input from any other teachers, just that she would plan it all. She stated that he had given her a certain amount of money to spend and she would see to it that it was spent.
Part of me thinks I should be thankful for this, as it is already a stressful time of year, what with testing approaching anyway. Then another part of me thinks back to all of the little episodes that have happened this year when Mrs. X has made decisions on the behalf of our entire grade span without consulting any of us and had it approved by the principal before anyone could say anything. Again, maybe I should be thankful for someone taking care of those decisions, but does that mean that no one else on our team is allowed to have an opinion on anything?
I'm certain of what will happen if I say anything regarding this: Mrs. X will simply run to the principal and report how her work is unappreciated and then I will be the bad guy. Even if several people on the team approached her, I still see her blowing up about how she is doing all of the work and we are failing to appreciate her "talents." She has a very strong personality, is outspoken and has no problem stabbing people in the back. During faculty meetings, Mrs. X needs to be the center of attention. Rarely do we get out of meetings before 4:30 because she has so many items she must address with the entire staff. I certainly appreciate her willingness to be a leader, but does that mean that the rest of us follow at all times? Do we have no other opportunities to be a leader when she is around?
I realize (more so the longer I teach) that education can be a very cut-throat business, especially when you work with individuals who think it must be their way or no way. But how on earth should I handle this situation?
Part of me thinks I should be thankful for this, as it is already a stressful time of year, what with testing approaching anyway. Then another part of me thinks back to all of the little episodes that have happened this year when Mrs. X has made decisions on the behalf of our entire grade span without consulting any of us and had it approved by the principal before anyone could say anything. Again, maybe I should be thankful for someone taking care of those decisions, but does that mean that no one else on our team is allowed to have an opinion on anything?
I'm certain of what will happen if I say anything regarding this: Mrs. X will simply run to the principal and report how her work is unappreciated and then I will be the bad guy. Even if several people on the team approached her, I still see her blowing up about how she is doing all of the work and we are failing to appreciate her "talents." She has a very strong personality, is outspoken and has no problem stabbing people in the back. During faculty meetings, Mrs. X needs to be the center of attention. Rarely do we get out of meetings before 4:30 because she has so many items she must address with the entire staff. I certainly appreciate her willingness to be a leader, but does that mean that the rest of us follow at all times? Do we have no other opportunities to be a leader when she is around?
I realize (more so the longer I teach) that education can be a very cut-throat business, especially when you work with individuals who think it must be their way or no way. But how on earth should I handle this situation?