prince-a-pal
June 20, 2004, 10:30 am

My Principal is leaving.

I got the news from my mum who had read the paper and denounced me for not knowing before her.

My Principal is leaving. He's going to the Alternative School to hopefully bring up its test scores and because our Superintendent doesn't like him all that much...and because he took a chance on love and displayed a move of chivalry so outdated that he's being punished for it.

Anyway, so I had a long meeting with him on Friday, where we both cried and he said all manner of nice things to me about me, which I will preserve here to remember when I'm down, and also show-off for you lot:

"I've been doing this for 32 years, and you are one of the best teachers I have ever seen; honestly, you were born for this. I have never seen a young teacher with better natural ability for this job. I know you have to go away for a little while, but 5 to 10, you won't be gone forever. Your place is in that classroom, Jessica Biensoul, you were made to teach, and to teach here. You are a gift to this school and it will fall apart in your absence."

Then I cried. And he cried. And I told him I'd miss him, because it's true. Old Principal loves our New Principal and he said, "You have nothing to worry about because he'll LOVE you. He cares very much for people; you have that in common."

So I said goodbye to the WORST. SCHOOL YEAR. EVER. crying like a baby in my Principal's office, and then spending nine hours trying to purge my desk of a forest-worth of paper that had been piling there for months. (I have to go back on Monday to finish. I'm moving classrooms. If you're in the area, and would like to help, for God's sake, please email me.)