[Becky]

I'm sorry... I'm stuck at work and I have to vent...

My boss infuriated me this morning. Any time we ask her to be at a meeting that could get sticky, she doesn't show up. Susan said yesterday, "You watch, Jeanie won't be here tomorrow." Well, she wasn't. There's a parent who's irate with the school because she said they haven't helped her kid all year. We tested him for special education in all areas indicated. His scores were all in the average range and there was a mere 10 point scatter in the whole battery--that's about as normal as you can get. So, since he doesn't qualify for anything my boss sends me a message the day of the eligibility meeting to go test the kid with more tests that are not warranted. It makes me look like an incompetant fool to have my superior telling me to give more tests. Keep in mind she hasn't even LOOKED at the file. Well, I was livid, so I actually called her and confronted her. I can take a lot of things, but not someone doing stuff that makes my competance look questionable. I'm good at what I do. She's damn lucky to have a psychometrist who will test as many kids as I do a year and use as many different instruments as I will willingly use. Many of my cohorts use the same IQ and achievement tests on every kid and would have a ****ing stroke if they had to test as many kids as I do. Someone in a district comparable to the size of ours told me they test about 10 kids a month--if it's a busy month. I average 30 a month. On top of that, I go to two meetings per sped referral, write one or two reports per kid, am gifted contact person, go to at least one conference a month, put 600 miles or more a week on my truck and do not get reembursed enough to pay for my gas the way it should... and NEVER am I late. If there's a problem with a timeline it's always a delay prior to reaching me and it's up to me to get my butt in gear and get all the end things done in record time so we can be in compliance with federal regulations.

We have gifted testing to be done over the summer and I told her I would do it. What is the first thing out of her mouth? I have to offer Crystal and Bobbie a job too. Excuse me? I am the psychometrist. I GET FIRST DIBS. But before she even works out something with me, she's going to call up other people and see if they want to work. Again, that calls my competence into question because why would she go to outside people if her own staff was good enough? These two women (both of whom are lovely people) will only give the Wechsler which is one of the hardest tests for a child to score within the gifted range on. We NEED kids in our program and she wants to outsource to women who won't give a variety of instruments tailored to the kid's strength like I do.

And to add more insult, she offers a paltry $25 per IQ test. That is chicken feed. An IQ test administration should never cost less than $100.

So, anyway, I was fed up and pissed off, but so far have managed to keep my foot out of my mouth. However, I feel that if she pushes me about it tomorrow, I'll wind up telling her and her superior what I think and where to go. I don't have to have this job. They need me a hell of a lot worse than I need them.

About the kid I had to retest today, I just put a different spin on it. I also told the woman I honestly thought the test Jeanie wanted me to give is a worthless piece of junk that will show us nothing useful (but not in those words).

Becky