Between the no class parties rule and the number of students not expected to be in class on Friday, Secret Santa has been unceremoniously put to rest. My poor, sparkly pink tree sits in a corner of the room, decorated with sheets of cut-out white paper, courtesy of a boy who has been suspended. Too bad he can’t see his tree. It’s the only vestige of any holiday spirit in the room, a poor ill-favoured thing that will be quietly carried out to the car on Friday. I can’t even teach a geometry lesson and use that to make ornaments; geometry has not been incorporated into the math team’s lesson plan for the week.

Meanwhile, the Assistant Principal threatened me again today. I let two students out to get their notes since we were taking a test in which I was letting them use hand-written notes. I went and stood in the doorway since they cannot be out alone without official passes. (But they weren’t alone. I was monitoring the locker run.) He told me he would “talk to me later” about my violation of protocol. Sigh.

Eduhonesty: Looking forward to break. So are my very-well-tested students.