Why I Avoid the ‘Teachers’ Lounge’ and You Should, Too

CAT Tracks Editor's Note:

This view of the teachers' lounge may be true for some individuals...

...or for many in some schools.

But...

...back in the day, during the tough times at Cairo High School, the teachers' lounge was a place of therapy, a chance to release the tensions of the day behind closed doors...

...albeit, we sometimes could have used thicker doors and thicker walls.

Yes, there were a few teachers even then who absented themselves from the lounge, commented on the frequent negativity. (BTW: Rarely were comments/discussions about colleagues. The focus of our ire was the administration, whether that be the school board, the superintendent, or the latest transient principal.)

But, honestly, their self-imposed exile was their loss...

...choosing to suffer the trials and tribulations alone was not healthy in my opinion.

As for us regular lounge lizards...

...it was the classic case of being "The Best of Times, The Worst of Times."

Yes, we aired our grievances, we shared our tales of woe, to find that we were indeed not alone. And, yes, we fomented and/or stoked the fires of revolution, working ourselves up to a fever pitch to stand up and fight back against the injustices visited upon us with regularity.

But, there was the comradery, the laughs, the welcome release from tension...

...before school, during lunch, and after school!

Working conditions at CHS "back in the day" were horrible, and I'm talking the administration, not the students. Students will be students, anywhere and anytime. Again, they and our colleagues were not the focus of our daily gatherings, our daily rantings. No, that "honor" was reserved for the latest slings and arrows of outrageous superintendents and principals.

You don't have five strikes/work stoppages and a big fat contract just because you were bored and needed something to get the juices flowing. No, you put yourself through all that turmoil and negotiation because school life is intolerable and must be remedied so that you can focus on teaching kids.

So, yes, the teachers' lounge can be a center of negativity, a hotbed of insurrection, but, for those in need, it can be shelter from the sh*t storm created by the powers that be.

So, avoid the teachers' lounge if you will, whatever floats your boat. But, for me and many others who sailed the good ship CHS from 1978 (the first Cairo teachers' strike) until 2008 (when I retired), we needed a port where we could figure out how to patch the leaks inflicted by our not-so-illustrious leaders.

The times they are a-changin'...

I received an e-mail response yesterday from a still-active CAT, for my Back-to-School Retired Edition:

"We know, we know, you're retired. You get to stay home and cut grass. Don't you have some grass to cut?"

Well, MEOW! (And, as a matter of fact, I did!)

But...

I mentioned 2008 with respect to the CHS (CJSHS) teachers' lounge.

THE teachers' lounge I so fondly remember "died" before 2008.

In my final year, I would stop by the empty lounge in the morning, grab a snack from the machines during my planning period and at noon, and sit quietly waiting for the bell to ring. Gossip? Out of the question. There was no one with whom to b*tch or conspire. But, sadly, there was no one with whom to bond, no one to share daily burdens, no one to lift a sagging spirit. In fact, that was the reason that it was so easy for me to walk off into the sunset of my teaching career.

So...

The CHS Age of Dinosaurs didn't end with a bang, a crashing comet...

...it ended with a whimper as one-by-one my colleagues left for the promised land of retirement.

It was clearly time for me to go too!

And, like my colleagues before me, I am happy that when the yellow buses roll...

...to stand at my kitchen window and watch, sipping a cup of coffee, contemplating what I will do on this beautiful 'Saturday'.