The Right Move

This semester is over, although I still need to get my grades done. Currently it looks like I will not be teaching a summer course (I have yet to be offered one so I have no reason to expect that I will be this year). That means I am looking towards the next school year.

I was faced with a tough decision this year and after seeing the ever-increasing price of gasoline, I think I made the right call. Ever since I have been teaching a Public Speaking class on the main campus, I have always been given a MWF class for the fall semester and a Tuesday-Thursday class for the spring semester. The problem with a MWF class is each semester I also have at least on Tuesday-Thursday class, meaning I would be on the road five days a week, putting 80 miles a day on the car.

This past semester I sent an e-mail to the dean and her assistant letting them know I would not be available for a MWF class in the fall. Somehow no one saw that e-mail until after they published the catalog for Fall ’08. Guess what? I was listed with a MWF class.

I touched base with the proper individuals to let them know I could not do a MWF this coming semester. I had hoped they could get me another class. They were unable to do so but did remove me from the class that meets three days a week.

I hope that as the college prepares the schedule for the Spring ’09 semester they give me my Tuesday-Thursday class back. My concern is, having to find someone to cover the MWF class they had initial given to me, they may give that person the Tuesday-Thursday class in the Spring as well. I hope this is not the case. Still, having to be on the road five days a week, on top of my regular job, and pay over $4 a gallon for gas (and who knows what it will be by the time September rolls around), I feel I made the correct decision.