Yet another reason I have a “100 Days” plan to change my life and change my job: at today’s faculty meeting, the boss told us that the school has no extra money, so for the sake of the “core professionalism” category of our employee evaluation, we should sign up to either bring food or snacks or contribute money to a fund to provide refreshments for the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) observation team who will be visiting our school this coming February. “The sign-up sheet will be posted in the office.”

Yes, I am now required as part of my job duties to provide munchies for a highly compensated team of contracted consultants out of my personal paycheck, a paycheck that does not currently meet my own household needs, if I want to avoid an “unsatisfactory” rating on my “core professionalism” component. Core professionalism constitutes twenty percent of the Employee Evaluation System (EES) rating as per the Charlotte Danielson Framework.

Ah yes, The Danielson Group is a firm hired by the Hawaii Department of Education, apparently in violation of state law, to provide a system, or “framework,” for employee evaluations. When the head procurement officer for the Department of Education questioned the legality of this contract award, her employment was terminated. Read all about it at the Hawaii Free Press website.

That was just the tip of today’s iceberg of stupidity. Okay, maybe it was more than the tip; it was more like the huge, hidden underwater part of the iceberg, the part that, y’know, sunk the Titanic.

Update on the ants in the floor: they survived the ether spray and chewed through the Elmer’s glue. I’ve sealed the hole again using hot melt glue.