It is now safe to post that I'm going to be starting a new long term sub job soon! I had the interview a week ago and was offered the position shortly after. I just signed the contract, so it is now all official and I feel comfortable making it public. I am really excited about this position for a number of reasons. First of all, it's a smaller school than I've worked at before and I'm really interested in finding out what that's like. Second, the principal seems really nice. Third, it's a middle school position and I really love working with that age group.
Today, I had to drive to the supervisory union to fill out the employment paperwork. I brought with me my passport, a voided check, and a copy of my teaching certificate. I figured that should about cover everything they'd need. It took me about an hour to get there. It would have taken a little less than that, but I was dumb and started driving to the school and realized that I was going the wrong way. So, after driving for an hour, I finally got there.
Now, this is a very small supervisory union. So small that it is located in what looks like a little house. The parking lot had six spots, all of which were taken. I ended up parking on the grass, which I wasn't too thrilled about as it was raining at the time. When I walked in, I was struck by how rustic the place was. The main room has wood paneling and a couple of watercolors, one of a cabin and another of a deer. They were playing the country music station. I swear, the place could have been a stereotypical small town hick office in a movie. It was a little creepy.
The first woman I talked with was impressed that I had brought everything that she needed. I filled out the paperwork and thought that I was done with it all. However, I apparently still needed to talk to another woman about my background check. I had a background check done right before my student teaching and so far each district I worked for was able to have the initial check forwarded to them and that worked. I had heard that checks really only last for about three years so I had anticipated having to get fingerprinted again.
So, the second woman comes over to me with a background check form. I asked her if I could have the information forwarded from another district and she informed me that their district always does the checks themselves. Okay... That seemed a bit excessive but whatever floats your boat, right? She starts filling out the form, first asking me to spell my last name. Next, she asks me my maiden name and my date of birth. That's all well and good, but she then asks me my social security number. At this point, I'm wondering why she didn't just hand me the form so I could fill it out. I don't think it should be all that surprising that I don't feel very comfortable stating my personal information aloud in a room with other people present. I don't remember what else she asked me, but I do remember feeling a bit annoyed.
The next thing she asked me was if I had my $19.25. Come again? I had no idea that I needed to bring a check or cash with me to pay for part of the background check. Since I had previously been able to transfer my check, it had been a while since I had to have one completed. And of course I had zero cash and was getting worried that I would have to drive out there again just to give them a check. I explained that I wasn't starting at the school for another week and a half and thought it was a bit much to drive out specifically to bring the money. I asked if I could mail the check and the woman responded that "they didn't usually do that." Umm, Vermont mail takes a day and it's pretty darned secure. Eventually she agreed to let me mail it, but that was only after we went back and forth about it some.
I was actually really mad and was pretty firm with them. I am usually really pleasant, but the whole experience really annoyed me and I wasn't about to just agree to drive back there tomorrow. But as I was driving home I started to feel a little bad about how I acted. So, when I got home I wrote a little card to go with the check thanking them for helping me with the paperwork. I hope that did something to realign the karma or whatever you want to call it.
And now I get to start a new job soon! I should probably contact the teacher to find out what I need to prepare...
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