On September 3rd, I was officially laid off from the job I thought I'd have until I chose to retire. It wasn't what you'd consider a career by any means, but I enjoyed my work and didn't dread going to work on a daily basis even when it was extremely busy and stressful.
I worked for a Corporate Charter School. I won't divulge the name, but it has existed for a very long time. It existed when I needed help getting my diploma when I was 16 and suffering from extreme social anxiety. I began working for them 2 years after graduating. After 5 years, I quit to finish a Theatre degree at California State University, Fullerton. I could no longer balance my classes with my work schedule.
At the time I graduated, I had just gotten married, and I made a choice not to pursue a career in Theatre due to the hours required. I tried working at a driving school because a friend worked there. It taught me that I do enjoy working with kids, but not to teach them driving. I love the mundane of paperwork and school records. I decided to try and go back to my previous employer.
It took a couple of months, but after being away for 2 years, I was back in a temporary position with them covering for someone on maternity leave. Within a couple of more months, a full time position opened and I was there for over 10 years until this recent layoff.
This layoff came about as no fault of my own, but I do blame the company on how they handled it. I will not go into specifics, but I feel like I've had a bad break up with someone I was in love with and the love of my life ghosted me.
This happened because of a change in California Charter School Law caused by a court case not involving my employer, but another charter school in Northern California. It is known as the Shasta Decision. The decision was about the location of independent study resource centers in relation to their chartering district.
The location I worked at could no longer legally stay open with its current chartering district, and had to close. Thankfully, our students were able to move to a location that did not have to close, and it was only a few miles from ours, so they made sure to take care of our students.
Before my layoff became official, the corporation managed to find another charter and reopen which is why I feel ghosted. 5 locations and each of them with a position I used to hold. I had been the longest running employee in that charter in that position. HR called people to apply. I never received a phone call that any jobs were posted. I had been watching the job posting site too, but they didn't list them how I expected them to. I miss my job.
Not everyone agrees in the existence of Corporate Charter Schools. I personally like the educational choice. I didn't always agree on the decisions made at the Corporate level, but I saw the program working for the students. It worked for me 25 years ago, and the program only improved every year. Most of our students struggled in traditional school. Many had a hard home life, or struggled with keeping up with 6 classes starting to fall behind in credits, and a lot of our students were unable to graduate within the 4 years at a traditional high school. I miss it all. Many of the students would drive me nuts on a daily basis, but I looked forward to seeing them and my coworkers. It has been a struggle to figure out what I want to do next.
My first main decision has been to restart this blog and vent about why I've been depressed the last couple of months. I look forward to sharing the exciting and not so exciting events that occur in my life. I hope you don't find it too boring.
