I was informed by our Business Technology Teacher that she would begin doing the GED Testing in our school. It was a great relief for me. I had been giving the General Education Development exams once a month for the academic school for the past 5 years. The paper exams were difficult to administer. The answer keys and exam books had to be accounted for at all times, and were renewed annually. They were secured in a safe in the principals’ office. Only the principal and I had the combination to the safe. The booklets had to be inventoried before and after every session, including making sure that all the pages were there, nothing had been ripped or torn out, and were mark free. The tests were all timed adding to the difficulty of administering them. The administrative protocols for sending in the individual student test answer sheets were just as difficult. Depending on the amount of students testing it could take me all week to process the exams. That meant that my students would be laid in (class would not be in session) while I gave the GED exams in the Horticulture classroom.
I was more than happy to have her become the GED proctor at our facility. I would only need to be the back up proctor, and help test twice a year to keep my GED proctor certification. I really enjoyed working with her. She was very organized and I often teased her that she helped me become much more organized when giving the exams. I was flying by the seat of my pants most of the time anyways. I had been storing the exams in plastic milk crates which in turn were stored in the safe. She professionalized the whole process with a locking combination, multi-folder, rolling, retracting handled suitcase! It fit perfect in our safe. Her taking over of the examination process left me more time to contact one of our local food banks. I got to take a tour of their facility and was mightily impressed with what they were able to accomplish for their community. “Neighbors Helping Neighbors” was the theme for this impressive establishment of hospitality. They were another great example of “walking the talk.” I was glad to spend time with them. They were our neighbors too.
I was asked if we could provide fresh vegetables once a week, and I informed her I did not think we would have a problem meeting that request. We could even supply plants for their community garden if she wanted them. She was happy to hear that and I made the arrangements to deliver once a week to the food bank. Returning to the prison I let our new school principal know about our commitment to support the community food bank once a week. She asked that I take pictures of the deliveries so that we would not be accused of any form of malfeasance. I agreed. Prisoners or staff when pissed off for what ever reasons could make all kinds of accusations which in turn would have to be investigated by the department’s internal investigation audit team.. The pictures would prove we made the delivery, and document our achievement. I finally got to speak to my new neighbor across the hall from my classroom and comment on how well his new classroom looked with his newly found computers. He smiled. It seems he had to piss off a whole lot of people to get back what was intended for his use only. Pandora’s box would never be closed now. The pushback would be forthcoming. “Welcome to our neighborhood.” To Be Continued...
A note of thanks to my colleague jrthumbprints.blogspot.com. I had the pleasure of working with him for over 25 years. His stories and interactions with the prisoner/students in the DOC are awesome. Check him out.
While our President gets pushback for his comment, “For God’s sake this man cannot remain in power,” Putin’s army continues killing civilians, women, children, and seniors in the Ukraine. There are reports the Russian army is using phosphorous ammunitions. They are relocating Ukraine citizens from Mariupol to filtration camps in Russia. He is doing this to his own people. He needs to be arrested and brought to trial. His henchmen believe the courts do not have jurisdiction over them. The Nazi sycophants hung for their crimes against humanity in Nuremberg, Germany October 16, 1946 thought the same thing. All for the quest of power.
MJ-Way 