Difficult decision made!

Friday afternoon was a terrible day professionally speaking. I was informed that I would not be rehired for the 2011-2012 school year. I had been given two choices:

1. Turn in a resignation letter
2. Allow a non-renewal to appear on my record.

Now what do I do? I have been told that I'm not good enough to be rehired. I intended to retire from Saint Jo and one person was able to change the course of my history. I was DEVASTATED to say the least! All weekend I had to pretend everything was okay when I felt like my whole world was coming to an end. I placed a call to ATPE, told my parents, Michael, & Munen.

Michael, Bobby, & I drove to College Station for Jeffrey's wedding, which was beautiful! I did my best to hide my emotions from the other family members so that it wouldn't ruin everyone else's weekend. Success!

So now it is Sunday. My dad said to call him when we got home from the wedding and we could talk. He had lots of good questions and made me think about my options. While I was on the phone with him, the ATPE lawyer called the house. She also had wonderful questions for me!  And most especially - wonderful answers to my questions:

The final answer is that there are no options for me but to resign. However, to help me with future jobs the lawyer has some recommendations for me.

1. Email the principal in the morning confirming her intent to not rehire me. This will create a kind of paper trail that I can use to hopefully claim unemployment.
2. I will also request a meeting with her to discuss updating my PDAS to reflect my efforts to change.
3. I will turn in a resignation letter tomorrow.

I have begun to reflect on my studies of Esther from the Bible. An important verse at this time is

Esther 4:14b "And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

I have come to realize that God is speaking to me and I haven't been listening. He is showing me a different way to go but I have to find that way still. We all know that God shows you the way in His time not yours. So I will pray and continue to study His word. I will find the right way...it may take some time but that's what I have, right?

To all of those who have supported me through these years and this momentous decision, I would like to say Thank you! I wish I could reach out through this computer and hug your neck! I pray that you too will listen to God's word and that He will show you the way!

Love, Kirsten