Reckoning

.By the end of the year 2020 over 350,000 people had succumb to the covid -19 virus in the United States as reported by the Center of Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia. Another 30, 000 people would die from other diseases with covid 19 being the contributor in the progression of the disease that killed them. Being on medical leave gave me a chance to think things over like: 1. How many more years did I intend to teach at the prison? 2. How to protect myself in that covid ridden environment? 3. Where would I be assigned with the school now tuned into an infirmary? 4.Should I hang up my lab coat and retire after teaching here for just over 26 years? My wife made the decision easy for me. With my health requirement for safety and none being provided, it was time for me to hang it up. I would go back to work for one month and give my notice to retire. It was bitter sweet. I felt I could have easily completed five more years teaching.

.Our new curriculum was awesome and I had actually completed inmates, who passed their exams, and received certification with the Michigan Nursery Men and Landscaping Association. All they would have to do was work in a nursery for two years once they were released from prison to receive their official certification. The opportunities for them were now endless. Our new curriculum also gave my students the chance to earn their pest control licenses through the Michigan Department of Agriculture. Many of them did pass exams in specific categories, and all they had to do was request their earned licenses from the Michigan Department of Agriculture once released from prison. I had coordinated many of licenses to their appropriate holders, and was thanked wholeheartedly by my released students. This was a new day for them and a job opportunity they would not have had otherwise.

.It was hard for me to make the final decision to leave and when I finally went back to work I continued to vacillate. Should I stay or should I go? I did pray often. Working in a prison makes one a firm believer in God. I submitted my final paper work to retire on June 3, 2020. I never thought about it again. It was time for me to leave. I felt bad about leaving a classroom I often struggled to keep moving in a positive way. I also felt bad about leaving two very dedicated colleagues who rewrote the curriculum to gain national and state certifications for our students. That was an impressive work on their parts. Thinking about all the Horticulture Instructors I had met through out the years of teaching, these two were the most dedicated, and for all the right reasons. I am not sure that the prison administration had any clue what it took to teach in a prison classroom. They were oblivious to everything except the malversation they seemed to excel in. I was glad to finally be free of their degeneracy. … Prison Stories To Be Continued…