The tulips I planted last fall are in full bloom today. I am on “Easter Break” as are most other Catholic schools in the area and I had hoped to get out for a bike ride every day, but cold rain has been falling since early this week and I have been inside working on the computer every day. I have accomplished much this week, but still have a few things to do. On the first day of the break I finalized my search for a new car, trading in my 2001 Saturn with 118,000 miles for a brand new 2010 Honda CR-V. This is the newest car I have ever owned; having only 11 miles on the odometer when I drove it off the lot. On the second day of my break I went to city hall to register my new vehicle and obtain a new city sticker, then meet with my insurance agent to arrange to transfer the policy. This was followed by a shopping trip to buy some new clothes.
We are looking for a Physics teacher again. The one we hired last year has a PhD and was hired by a local university for next year. We had hoped that he would stay for at least a few years, but that was not to be. Finding a suitable replacement, even in this time of school staff cutbacks, will be a problem because of the fact that our AP Physics is Calculus based.
Aside from the Physics teacher I do not think anyone on the staff is planning on leaving or retiring this year. The job market for teachers is tighter than I can ever remember. Almost no schools are hiring additional staff; almost all are cutting to save money. The Chicago Public Schools are facing a deficit that could be 1 billion dollars, if the worst of the predictions come true; and many local suburban districts face equally crippling financial woes. The state will not be able to bail out the districts this time because of their own multi-billion dollar deficit. The only solution will be cuts in programs and an increase in class size. The teachers unions would like you to think that a small increase in taxes would solve the temporary problems—but their past greed has caused this problem and tax increases will not be able to make things right. Their pension entitlements alone will bankrupt the state in a few years if these obligations are not revised. It is altogether possible that most of them will never see their pensions funded in full. Thankfully, my retirement is not dependent on the state’s ability to fund my pension. As a private school teacher, my pension is based on my conservatively invested 401K and whatever I get from social security. While my probable retirement income is less that the public school teachers have been promised; it is probably more that many of them they will ever see.
The weather during our current break has been terrible; either rain, cold, or both every day. Today is looking better and I may be able to take a bike ride later. It is about 9 am on Friday morning and I will finish my lesson plans for next week after I save this post. Over the last two days I have been stuck inside because of the weather so I have completed most of my to-do list during the break; contacting the local regional office of education about changes to my teaching certificate, contacting the Illinois Toll-way site to register my new car on my IPASS account, order some accessories online for the Honda, and resolving some problems with my antivirus software with the publisher. I then installed my Income Tax program and completed my 2009 tax return. The only thing on my to-do list not yet completed is the outside work I planned in my garden; but this should be finished Saturday of Sunday if the weather improves.
My wife and I are planning to go out to dinner tonight with my friend from the Theology Department and do some antique shopping tomorrow. All-in-all I would say that this break has been one of the most productive in years.
