It was the best of schools, it was the worst of schools, but it was summer school and Mr. Sandoval was the only ESL teacher. The summer principal, Mr. Prince, stopped him in the hall, introduced himself, and said, "Listen, it's very important that you give homework every day, and to make sure the kids know about it, I want you to post it at the beginning of each class, and leave it there for the entire period."
Mr. Sandoval said OK, and did as requested. But his summer AP, Miss AP, entered his classroom, and said, "Mr. Sandoval, you cannot put the homework up until the very end of the class. If you put it up this early, the kids will spend class time doing homework. That's absolutely unacceptable." She walked up to the board and erased the homework assignment.
Mr. Sandoval was disappointed she chose to lecture him in front of his students, and even more disappointed when she entered his class the following day, giving him sour looks and furiously scribbling for an hour. The day after that, she came into his classroom at the end of the day, dropped an envelope on his desk, and walked out. Mr. Sandoval considered she was his boss for only six weeks, decided he didn't want to read her observation report, and tossed it into the trash.
Unfortunately, his AP had been peeking. She retrieved the document, and said, "I'm going to read it to you."
Mr. Sandoval expressed regret that his working day was over, and explained he had other obligations. The following day he was dragged into the principal's office, where Miss AP told the entire saga, from the homework to the observation report.
"I'm sorry, Miss AP," replied the principal, "but I have 5 APs, and only one ESL teacher. At this point, I need him more than I need you. Please leave him alone for the rest of the semester. If he needs observation, I'll do it myself."
And Mr. Sandoval had a far, far better summer school experience than he had ever done before.
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