Job Security

Every teacher, tenured or not, must be observed by an administrator a minimum four times per year. Because I was only observed one time as a first year teacher, my administrators this year are making a great effort to actually do what is legally required of them. I mention this only because I recently had a pre-observation conference with one of my administrators, which is supposed to set up the observation expectations of both parties. Here is how it began:

Administrator: "Now, Mr. F., I don't want you to think it's odd that I'm starting the pre-ob with this, as if we're trying to get rid of you. But, as you know, your position is in excess, and I just wanted to ask, how is the job search going?"

A note: "in excess" is school-talk for "We don't want to pay you anymore, but we have to wait until someone else hires you before we can stop doing so."