Here in Polk County, the School Board has a magical mystery place that occasionally, we peons get to visit. On Highway 98, between Lakeland and Bartow is the wonderful and amazing Jim Miles Professional Development Center. It has it’s own Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jim-Miles-Professional-Development-Center/244326988996226
To be perfectly honest, I have no idea who Jim Miles is, what he did or why we have a professional development center named after him. Media Services is housed there, EERS (Electronic Equipment Repair and Support) is there, ESOL may be there, but I’m not sure. There is some warehouse space and other stuff but I basically don’t know much about what else is there. Here’s what I do know. . .
Several years ago, the Polk County School Board bought a warehouse and spent a lot of money trying to make it not a warehouse anymore. From the outside, it’s still a warehouse. But inside? It’s pretty fancy – shmancy. There is a huge auditorium that can be broken up into several different rooms, which is where we are sent lots of times for professional development. There is very nice carpet, beautiful murals painted on the walls, great wireless access throughout and the coldest A/C in any place in all of the county. I am hardly ever cold, but I freeze at Jim Miles. People wear jackets and boots and bring blankets – it’s that cold. It has a big beautiful sign outside.
Here’s one thing that I just don’t understand. . . Jim Miles is one of the few places where you actually get hot water to wash your hands in the bathroom sink. I’ve never had hot water in any bathroom sink at my schools. I think some of the teacher restrooms at my new school have hot water, but I don’t in the media center bathroom. At my old school, in the media center, I had three sinks and a custodian closet that had a hot water heater but there was no electrical outlet for it. My old classroom, which used to be part of the home economics suite, used to have hot water, but the hot water heater leaked once so they just took it out.
Here’s another thing. At Jim Miles, the toilet paper dispensers are free-spinning. You can get all the toilet paper you want. My old school – nope,. All the dispensers had those stupid little tabs that stop so you only get like 4 squares. My new school doesn’t have those, thank goodness. Why you ask does that matter? Well, our county is notorious for buying things from the lowest bid. Most of the time, you really do get what you pay for – so when you buy toilet paper from the lowest bid, you get pretty crappy toilet paper. (Did you see what I did there? That’s funny, isn’t it!) If you have toilet paper that is less than one ply, that you can see through, you probably need more than 4 squares. I’ve heard rumors of some people who have had accidents with their toilet paper dispensers and those little tabs that stop the roll have been damaged and subsequently lost. I can neither confirm or deny that rumor.
Here’s my question. Why does the professional development center get hot water and unlimited toilet paper? Maybe it’s because it’s where we send new teachers to learn about our county. (Ha! Fooled you! Don’t think you’ll always get hot water and free spins. . . ) Maybe it’s because when we bring people in to develop us, that’s where we bring them.
I really didn’t intend to get too political here, but last night I sat at Jim Miles during an impasse hearing. Our union and our School Board are at an impasse over raises (and several other contractual issues) for the 2016-2017 school year. Yes, that’s correct. That’s not a mistake. We are still trying to negotiate a contract for a year that is already DONE! I sat there listening and looking around that building, noticing things I’ve noticed but never really noticed before. I’ve never been to that building where there hasn’t been a custodian on duty, and usually more than one. My school of almost 1900 students and well over 100 staff members has fewer custodians during the day than that building.
I started thinking about respect and/or lack thereof. I don’t think it’s disrespectful to not have hot water, but it sure would be nice to have it. I don’t think it’s necessary to have free spinning toilet paper dispensers, but it would be nice. I mean, after all, we are adults. Certainly, we ought to know how much toilet paper we need. Of course, I must be careful, here. In the unlikely event that anyone actually reads this, besides three people who tell me they do, instead of raises, the school board might just offer us hot water and toilet paper. But on the other hand, that’s more than they are offering now. . .