School Visit II

Virtually every county is very clear regarding what applicants should do once they have submitted all of their information and applied for the open positions listed on the county's website: "Don't call us, we'll call you." One county in particular goes out of its way to (a) post this instruction in every possible place one might conceivably search for ways to contact people, and (b) give as many reasons as they can think of to justify themselves.

However, one county explicitly states that applicants are welcome to contact the principals at the schools to which they've applied in order to set up interviews. Apparently the HR folks in that county's DOE got tired of fielding calls from frustrated applicants asking about their status despite all the warnings against doing exactly that. Or else there is an enormous conspiracy to make the process of applying to several counties as confusing as possible, and this county volunteered to make its contact process different from every other one on earth. I don't entirely discount the conspiracy theory -- it explains many, many aspects of this farkakteh process.

Anyway, I've been trying to reach the principal of one particular school in Outlier County for about 3 weeks. The first dozen or so times I called, I got a busy signal, or no signal at all and a "Congestion" notice on my phone, something I'd never seen before. I finally got through, only to learn the principal's position was open, and the task of hiring a math teacher would be falling to someone else. I left a message for the fill-in. No response for several days. I called back, eventually getting the office again. Another message, plus a recommendation from the office person to write her an email. Email sent. No response to either the message or the email. More office-calling, this time without actually getting through to the office. So I drove to the school.

There was scaffolding all around the original building, the skeleton of another building being erected next to the main one and a couple of dozen men in hard hats hanging out in various vestibules. I walked in, figuring the office would still be open. No one anywhere. I wandered through the school for about 10 minutes, thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to look around -- it was a high school created straight from my imagination of what one should look like. (Think lots of brick, several stories, lockers in the hallway, etc.)

I eventually walked back outside and found a person walking behind the building who appeared to be administrative. (No, I don't know what would constitute an "administrative-looking" person.) Turns out, the admin staff is holed up in a couple of trailers in the parking lot for the duration of the construction, and is sharing a single phone, which explains the inability to get through. Unfortunately, Ms. Fill-In was in an "all day off-site meeting," and thus unavailable. I tried to make an appointment but got only a promise that she would be given my hand-written message regarding my desire to meet with her.

That was Thursday. No contact yet. But now I know where she is, so she can't escape without eventually talking to me.