Leona crawled out of hibernation to reply to Sheila:
 SK> Howdy to all!
Howdy back.  It's been a long time.  I've been reading, but just haven't
had the time or the heart to write any messages.  Sorry for not replying
to your e-mail awhile back.  Because Chris checked his e-mail from work,
the message ended up on his notebook, then was forwarded to our home
system.  I did something stupid to it & have been meaning to retrieve it
back off the notebook.
 SK> I'm really sorry to see the volume of messages dropping off in this echo
 SK> so severely. So, I thought I might try to start a new thread:
I certainly hope it isn't because people are having as bad a year as I
did.  Our new principal turned out to be less than popular with the
staff & overall morale has been in the toilet.
 SK> To all teachers out there: What are your summer plans?
I'm going to be teaching Win '95 (don't hurt me, Ron,) & Corel Suite 7
as a corporate instructor here in Phoenix & in Las Vegas to employees at
the company where my husband works.  I get expenses as well as salary,
isn't that the coolest thing?  I have to go live in Vegas for a few
weeks or so.
 SK> I'm on maternity leave right now, and will be staying home with my three
 SK> children for the summer. I do plan to work on lesson plans for Calculus
 SK> and Geometry and maybe get some tests and worksheets written ahead of
 SK> time.
Congrats on the new baby.  Is '97 the year of girls or something?  We
had 3 staff babies at school this year & they were all girls.  BTW, Jos‚
de M. says Hi & Congrats, too.
 SK> I'm also going to work on teaching myself about partial differential
 SK> equations and some introductory Real Analysis topics, for my Masters
 SK> program in math.
Argh.
 SK> We're doing lots of catch-up housecleaning and reorganizing at our
 SK> house never have time to do it during the school year!). And
 SK> somewhere in there we're hoping to slip in a family re-union
 SK> out in the Rochester, NY area.
We just bought a house.  We closed  & moved in during the second week in
May.  It's adorable (& incredibly off topic as it is, I have to brag!)
It's Tudor Revival with a fireplace, wood floors & a claw foot tub.
There are 2 bedrooms, a half basement (extremely rare in Phx,) a brick
patio & a half finished attic which we plan to convert to a master suite
sometime in the future.  The house was built in 1930 & is on a double
lot, so the yard is huge.
I took polaroids during the inspection we did back in March right after
we made our offer & used them to teach the book unit on "Rooms of the
House."  The kids loved the tub & the fireplace so much that those were
the two words they remembered the best.
 SK> Whew! I'm already tired just thinking about all of that. I don't seem to
 SK> get as much done at home as I would like to, each day, since the new
 SK> baby takes up so much time and attention.
You're so lucky!  The women at school have been bringing their babies
(they timed them for April/May) when they come back to visit & the tiny
things are so precious.
 SK> Or is everyone too caught up in the end of the year craziness right now,
 SK> to talk about summer time???
I was so happy to see the school through my rear view window that I
could just spit.  Altho', I still have to go back today (everybody else
is finished, boo hoo) because I need to finish packing my stuff.  Madame
the New Principal is making everyone do Chinese Fire Drill.  She's
rearranging the ENTIRE school & making nearly everyone move.  Just about
the only ones who don't have to move are the teachers in areas such as
Home Ec, Tech Ed, Art, PE, Music or computers who have specifically
built labs.
I feel like the recruit in the army who is handed a spoon by the drill
sergeant & told to move this pile of sand over there.
I got incredibly ill 10 days ago, just before Memorial Day, & missed the
last 5 days of school with the kids.  The doctor wouldn't release me to
go back until the last day, & so I didn't get to say good-bye to them.
I was pretty broken up Friday morning when I heard that my 2 African
refugee students are moving to Florida this week & that they had been
all over school Thursday looking for me & bawling their eyes out.  I
called up their mom & went over to their apartment on Friday afternoon
(after attempting to clear my classroom in 7 hours---a herculean task if
ever I saw one.)  They have promised to write me; I gave them stationery
& stamps to make sure, as well as my home address & the school address.
I'm really going to miss them, they were the one really bright, special
thing that happened this year.
It has not been a good Spring or a good school year for me, but I'm
determined to make it a good summer & a great next year (even if I
eventually have to outright tell the principal how unfunny, intolerably
rude & sarcastic she is under the guise of humor---either that or ignore
her all year.)  I figure that we're on our 5th principal in 5 years; I
can outlast this one, too.
I'm looking forward to my summer job (my first one in about 8 years.)
I know I'm going to catch heck from everybody for disappearing from
here.  Be nice, you guys.  I've had a really, REALLY bad year.
Leona Payne
... Want to trade principals? I can give you a good deal on a slightly used 
one
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