Stumbling Through Work
Working in education is to stumble through your everyday! We love what we do, but staff, families, policies, regulations and sometimes even the children make us quit everyday then come back the next day. Just remember, you are not in this alone.
Stumbling Through Work
Drop Off Mistakes, Transitions, and Overtime Challenges
A young girl was accidentally dropped off at the wrong preschool. What do you do? Shifting gears, I share insights into how observing and coaching can be more impactful than immediate critiques or corrective actions. Finally, we tackle a common workplace conundrum: managing unauthorized overtime. Don't miss this engaging episode filled with valuable insights and practical advice, and feel free to share your thoughts or get in touch through my website.
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Welcome to Stumbling Through Work where educators figure shit out. I'm your host, jarek Huff, and I'm here to explore and share the complexities of our work and let you know you are not alone. Before we start, though, please follow this podcast and share episodes with others. You can find me on my website, wwwjerekhuffcom, where you can find links to my social media and where I share information and tips for educators. Now let's jump into today's episode. Hey team, welcome to another episode of Stumbling Through Work where educators figure shit out.
Speaker 1:Today we have another story coming out of Florida. It's always Florida, I keep telling y'all Texas and Florida crazy, as shit happens, all right. So deputies have located the mother of a young girl who was dropped off at a daycare Thursday morning in West Park, florida. Y'all you all know how I feel about the word daycare. Deputies responded to the daycare located at blank after being noticed that a child was left there. The girl her name, is said to be around two or three years old. Witnesses reported that a male driving a dark-colored vehicle left her at the facility. Surveillance video confirmed the depiction of the vehicle. Daycare security cameras show a man entering the daycare and dropping off the girl. I swear they're using daycare so many times because they know it irritates me. It is unclear if the man had any contact with the daycare staff Earlier in the day the official said that the girl was safe and with them as they searched for her family. Quote. At this point last I heard she is under the care of our deputies. You can see in the photos how well she's dressed. But she does not go to that school and she's not registered. She is in good health and we just need to find her family or guardians. Unquote, said a spokesperson. Just after 5 pm deputies confirmed they had successfully located the child's mother after she came forward. Deputies said the mother may have been alerted to the whereabouts to her daughter based on the news reports.
Speaker 1:Parents at the daycare were shocked to hear what occurred. Quote. We have a sign they sign in and out and they check the paperwork to make sure we're signing in and out when a parent enters that they don't see. They have paperwork that verifies who the person is. They ID them and everything. So, like I said, I trust them fully, said one parent Quote. In this school at least they know who is going to pick up my kids just his dad and me. Unquote, said another parent Quote. Doing a lot of quoting Quote, I just know that a kid got dropped off and they just left. They didn't sign in, sign out or anything like that. Maybe he followed directions, I don't know. Maybe the mom or whoever the caretaker said, hey, drop her off here and just leave her. Maybe that is what was told to do. There's no telling, no one knows.
Speaker 1:But the person who actually did it, said a third parent it's irresponsible, they shouldn't be giving children to be taken care of. Other parents agreed. It wasn't how a parent should act. It's weird. That's weird, said another parent. That's crazy, you know, said a fifth parent. The girl's uncle accidentally went to the wrong daycare. No criminal charges will be filed. Accidentally went to the wrong daycare no criminal charges will be filed.
Speaker 1:Now, this isn't like a really crazy story, but I think it does need to be addressed. Before I even can break this down, let me go back to something that's bothering me. It was the spokesperson I had to as we were reading. As I was reading, I had to stop and underline it. You can see in the photos how well she's dressed. What the hell does that have to do with anything at all? That felt very microaggression-ish, but it's not even a word, but it's a word. Right now. I just you can see how in the photo, how well she's dressed. I'm trying to figure out. What does that have to do with the situation at all? But okay, moving forward, I just couldn't let that sit without, you know, calling foolishness out when I hear it.
Speaker 1:I like to look at situations and say what part do we play in it? And that's something I do a lot of the times. When I'm, you know, having conversations with staff, you know, with a situation that happens at a school, I always say, even though it may not seem like anything was our fault, I always ask what part of this story did we play at this story? The part that I can see that they played is or maybe I have more questions how did the child? What was the process of an adult staff member, I guess, finding out that the child wasn't there? And maybe it's a little confusing the way I'm saying this. Let me, you know, break it down a little bit. Did the uncle come in, drop the child off with no one around? Did the child? Did the uncle come in and drop the child off with another adult? Those are kind of the things that I want to know.
Speaker 1:I kind of want to know what the system is for that, because if it was the first part, you know the uncle just came in, dropped off and walk out, which has happened many a times and I've had conversation with families of you need to take that child to the classroom, not just drop them off at the hall and just assume they can make their way. No, no, no, no, no, we're not doing that. One, that's unsupervised and two, it stops the connection with the families or whomever's dropping off with the teacher in the classroom. So if that happened horrible, horrible, horrible. But I'm curious, how did they get in the door? See, I have more questions.
Speaker 1:What part did we play in this? How did the uncle even get in the building? Was the door just unlocked? What did somebody let him in? And then or was it, you know, like I said, latter part someone came in or someone opened the door for them. They dropped off the kid. They're like, oh, I could take them to class. I don't know. It's just weird. I can't quite understand what part you know we, as the school, played in this.
Speaker 1:Like I just assumed I'm at the school, what part we played in this, but outside of that, I've actually had something like that happen once to me before, when I was a director. I went not to that extreme, but I did have a parent who was a grandparent came to pick up and they came to my school wrong school and they were trying to convince me that this child existed. So by the time I got involved because I was in my office my office staff called me and they're like there's this kid, so we're going through the system. I'm like I'm sorry, ma'am, there's no kid here by that name. And she's like yes, it is. I mean, it was a whole situation. She is going off, which I'm not mad at her, I would be going off too. And I'm like okay, let's walk through the situation. Who told you to pick up? They're like the mom. Okay, great, can you call mom? No, mom is not answering. Okay, who else do you know? Well, let me try calling dad. Dad did not answer either.
Speaker 1:I'm like, okay, we're gonna figure this out. There is no kid here by that name, but we know they're at the school, so we know that they're safe. Let's just break it down, grams, they are safe. You're not at the correct school, you know. She kept telling me. I'm like how old is the baby? She tells me I'll pull go in the classrooms. I pull the roster no kids on there. I'm like that kid is not being here. We're going to figure it out. So let's look at the schools adjacent to us. Let's look at all of like four, let's figure it out. Ok, you came to this one because we were a big school. We're very noticeable, but I don't think this is it. There's actually one down the street, on a side street that's next to us. That maybe.
Speaker 1:But while we were breaking it down, mom did call grandma back, freaking out, because of course, when grandma called, she's like they don't have the baby, and of course it was a whole thing. And then, um, I was like let me talk to mom. So I ended up getting on the phone with her. I was like hey, this is jerica, you know where I'm at. Um, what school are you looking for? And she told me I said okay, I know where it's at. I got grandma. I can get her hooked up, she can, she's good to go. And so grandma kind of laughed. She's like well, I'm sorry, I want to apologize. I was like yeah, she even cussed us out.
Speaker 1:But situations happen like that all the time and that's why it's very important to have procedures, to have systems in place, because I really want to know what part did they play in that whole debacle? More questions, and I think that's just the administrator side of me to understand how that happened. But for the most part I can't blame them. I mean it happens. Yeah, I really can't hold them too accountable. Like I said, I just want to know that first part.
Speaker 1:But let's talk about this uncle. Though he like dropped off, he must not have any kids, he must don't have kids to take care of his kids, because, um, that was a whole let me drop off and run. And I can only imagine how that mother felt seeing her child like on the news, if that's how she figured it. Like there's so much in the story that I really want to know and I want to go more in depth and I tried looking um three different four sources and they all kind of gave the same general information, but at least the families when you had the statements, which I don't even know why they needed to give statements, but whatever, because in West Park, florida, they're obviously messy. So the fact that they asked up to five parents, they felt at least no one held them accountable and there does seem to be a system in place for picking up the children.
Speaker 1:But now I'm more curious on anyone entering the building. What does that look like? But at least the parents know like there's a sign in process, sign out, they know the building. What does that look like? But at least their parents know like there's a sign-in process, sign out, they know who's picking up. So kudos to whoever you all, um, at this school. Well, I mean, I see your address but I'm not gonna say it. But you know, kudos to you. Maybe I should google it, because I'm nosy too, I'm messy like florida. Um, you know, I do want to give that to them.
Speaker 1:So I thought it was a interesting story, and I can't just say it's just them, but some stuff that happens around the country where families are dropping off, where families, family members, don't necessarily know where they're going or they're not the ones that usually do the dropping off. So, um, at least, like I said, at least there's a system in place. And picking up, I mean that's a good thing, making sure there's a system in place for that which we can tell. So, um didn't quite tell us the time that the child was dropped off. It just says by five o'clock that the you know they still had the child in custody. But systems in place, people system in place, because you are dealing with human beings, not paper. You're not dropping off a package, you are dropping off an entire whole human and we have to remind ourselves throughout the day that we are working with people and not paper. So interesting story, and we made it through and we'll be right back.
Speaker 1:We all want our schools or programs to be the best and, although every school is different, all successful programs have the same fundamentals. Best practices for high quality preschool, afterschool and enrichment programs by Jarek Huff share standards to foster a high quality program. These tips will help you put your best service forward, focusing on your children, families and communities. Best Practices for High-Quality Preschool, afterschool and Enrichment Programs by Jarek Huff is available on Amazon and Amazon Kindle. Hey, team, welcome back.
Speaker 1:Just thinking about my previous week in reflection kind of wanted to talk through some things with you all. So I moved one of my administrative staff from one school to another. Several reasons why I did that, but one the school needs some of the attributes that she has. The school needs some of the attributes that she has. She has a really good eye for certain things and me knowing what each school succeeds at and where the hurdles are, I said you know what, she'll be really great there, and it was some of the personal things that was going along, so it just kind of the stars aligned perfectly to move her there. Now she has now been there a week.
Speaker 1:We're beginning at the beginning of week two and it is not going well, y'all. Well, hopefully, you know after today, hopefully it will, and this is why it's not going well. Anytime you are new somewhere, you have to learn the culture and the climate of that environment. You have to learn the culture and the climate of that environment. That means sometimes you have to shut your mouth and not speak and just listen and observe, and that is why it is not going well for her. Sometimes you just have to listen and observe and just watch. The reason why it's not going well is because she came in and was this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong. You're not doing this. You could be doing this. This isn't wrong, and I need to write everybody up All within like four days.
Speaker 1:Whoa, now some of the things that she was talking about, I'm like, yeah, I mean, they're not. What she's saying is not wrong, but for me there was no conversation had. It bothers me when people want to go about the whole write-up situation and there was never a coaching moment in there and us as leaders, as educational leaders, part of our job is mentoring and coaching. Where was the mentoring and coaching? Did you have any conversations with them? She's like no, they should have just read it. I mean, yes, I get it. Yes, everything is in a handbook. I totally get that. But you have to coach, you have to have conversations. Hey, I noticed that you didn't do this, so make sure next time you do this. Just a friendly reminder If they to have conversations. Hey, I noticed that you didn't do this, so make sure next time you do this. Just a friendly reminder If they don't do it again. Now I'm all about holding somebody accountable, but you are new.
Speaker 1:You don't understand what's going on. Here's an example. She was upset because she's like well, nobody's clocking in and out. Well, that is true, and you are supposed to clock in and out. We have a book that you write your time in and then you clock in and out through the system. But what she hasn't failed to realize is they've been having internet issues there for the last two weeks. So the staff is just writing their names down in the book and then later on someone's putting the names in until the internet issues is being fixed, and I'm not going to tell you who our internet provider is, but they suck. So that is what's been going on.
Speaker 1:Never at one time did she have the conversation to say you know, hey, why did you not sign in and out? It's those little things that you got to kind of sit back and observe, kind of watch, maybe ask a question here or there, but you come in, ready, I'm ready to write everybody up because no one's signing in. Well, there's a reason. Why Did you figure out what that reason was? There was no conversation, and so nobody likes her ass. And I know if I was there I wouldn't like her ass either, because look how you came in. You came in guns blazing, with no hostages, you just took everybody out and I'm like girl, chill out, it's not that deep, it's not A couple conversations and it can be fixed.
Speaker 1:And to me, when you write someone up, the only reason, well, I don't want to say that. Let me take that back. Some things are automatic write-ups. I get it. Licensing, super high policy things yes, I get that. But little things of you know you forgot to clock in or you know your uniform is not right or something. Those are just coaching conversations. Why do we skip those conversations and go straight to writing somebody up? And then they're looking at you like you petty I mean, and I get it because I'm petty. You know I can be petty LaBelle sometimes, but I'm usually only petty after I've coached and said something. Then after that I'm annoyed because I'm like okay, I took the time out to have a conversation with you, I showed you and I know this happened and I'm not crazy, this actually happened.
Speaker 1:So the moral of the story is, and for her, that she's gonna have to learn when you are new, you just sit back and observe and you don't come with a list of 47 things that are wrong. You pick out the first top three and that's all you're going to focus on, because if you do more than that, it becomes like you're attacking them and no one wants to feel attacked. And they feel attacked and they're going to be defensive and then that's where the situation is going to go completely turn left, and we don't want that. Calm down is not that serious. You are new. We all know that you're new. What you need to be doing first is understanding and building connections and observing, and then creating a list and talking with the team about it.
Speaker 1:At no point was a conversation had with the team Like it was so many things that went left and wondering why people got attitude with you. Well, this is why. And then now I'm expected to come and clean up the tomfoolery that happened. And guess what? I am not partaking in the chicanery at all. You made the mistake. You can clean it up. I will help and coach you through it, because what happens is, if you try to get me to fix it up, not everyone's looking at me as the person of disciplinary. Not you meaning you've given me your power. No, you made the mistake. You had to be the big girl and clean it up because, like I made a mistake with somebody the other day and I owned it and I apologize, I said, hey, I'm super sorry that I did that. Everything's good. They're like oh yeah, I'm fine because I owned my shit and I moved on and that's what she has to do. She has to own her shit and move on. So, moving to a new location, take the time to learn your environment, take your time to understand what's going on before you just start mouthing out at people because I think some of them want to meet her in a parking lot, but anyways, we'll be right back.
Speaker 1:I love sharing information with educators and program administrators. I have had so many successes, but also so many failures in my education tenure. I want leaders to know what not to do, but, better than that, what to do, so I decided to write a helpful guide Best Practices for Center Program and Activity Directors. It's short and to the point. It's a compass to guide education leaders. These best practices will give you a foundation to lead your school program or organization. You can find Best Pract for center program and activity directors by Jared Huff on Amazon or Amazon Kindle. Today's Reddit is Directors.
Speaker 1:What would you do on this case? We use an app to track staff clock-ins and outs, and recently I've been facing some ongoing challenges with one of our teachers, miss J. A couple of months ago, I asked her to stay overtime due to a teacher absence and my own COVID-related absence. At that time it was essential for her to go beyond her usual hours. Since then, however, there has been multiple instances where Ms J has exceeded her eight-hour shift without prior approval. It's never exceeded a few minutes, but a few minutes here and there does add up. I've already had conversation with her about this and reminded her that we have the necessary staff to avoid overtime unless it's specifically approved. Despite this, today Ms J arrived 45 minutes earlier than scheduled.
Speaker 1:I later learned from my roster that Ms J had told oh sorry, had learned from my closer that Ms J had told our newest teacher that she was staying late and quote help train her on how to close, even though the new teacher had already closed once and didn't need additional training. If Ms J stayed to close, she would have gone well beyond her eight hours. I told her that if she was going to stay, I would need to give her a one-hour lunch break to ensure that she didn't exceed her shift time. This upset her and she accused me of singling her out, claiming that I don't enforce this with other staff members, which isn't true. She then began talking about how other schools and families are looking for teachers and nannies and implied that she could leave Other schools and families are looking for teachers and nannies and implied that she could leave. I calmly responded that if that's what she wants, she's free to pursue it, but that she needs to follow our policies.
Speaker 1:After this exchange, her attitude shifted and she continued her work as if nothing had happened. In the end, I was able to adjust her lunch break to 30 minutes and she was able to leave on time without exceeding her hours. However, when I reviewed the time cards at the end of the day, I noticed that they had exceeded her shift by 20 minutes, given that we were already overstaffed and there was no real reason for her to stay late. I plan to write her up and address the situation tomorrow, but I'm increasingly frustrated with her behavior and this ongoing issue. Any advice on how to handle this or am I missing something? That would be greatly appreciated.
Speaker 1:Girl bye, you've been dealing with this for way too long. You said a couple of months. You're telling me that you've been dealing with this behavior for a few months. Let me tell you, in my school, there is no teacher that is going to tell me how to run my school first. Off, girl, this went on way too long. It's the fact that she said she came in 45 minutes earlier and planned to stay late. Let me tell you where they do that at. Where are they making their own schedules? Because when I read this the first time I was like huh, but now that I sat here and read it again it pissed me off. Where they do that? At Just throwing your labor all the way off.
Speaker 1:This is the part that got me, though. Nachi said you're trying to give them a one hour break. Who doesn't get a one hour break? People still do that. Like I think it's kind of disrespectful to not give somebody a one hour break. Like what are you doing in 30 minutes? Like 30 minutes. By the time you get to the bathroom there's a line, you squat and pee and then you come out and your 30 minutes is over. Like you can't call. You know if you got to make phone calls? Like what are you doing in 30 minutes If you don't get any people an hour break? Like to me, we always do hour breaks because it's respectful. If you ever get a 30 minute, that just means we're short staffed for the day, but usually people should get an hour break. So the fact that you still giving out 30 minute breaks. I need her to get together because we don't do that anymore. That's disrespectful.
Speaker 1:My favorite thing is when she said claiming that I don't enforce this with other staff members. You know, adult children that's what I call them when they're acting like this are hilarious, because it's funny how, all of a sudden, you can speak up for everybody else. Now you the voice for everybody. And this happens to everybody and this has that. Why are you throwing in everything that has nothing to do with you? And I've had many situations where I'm talking to a staff member and they're like well, with so and so I'm like we're not talking about them, I'm talking about you. I don't need you to be their advocate, this is about you. The same way, I can't talk about them with you. We're not going to talk about anyone else but you. But I love when they're just like in a corner and it becomes well, you know, and this happens with everybody. And let me tell you what I've learned about staff.
Speaker 1:Staff members lie to one another because people don't want to be wrong and or look bad. So of course, they lie to their colleagues. They tell them little white lies here and there, and then those colleagues remember it, and then they bring it back up and then you're sitting there like huh and in your mind you're thinking now I know, damn well, that is not how that went. But then you can't say anything. So now you're like in that awkward place of where you pissed and you just can't say anything. But that was funny to me. You know you don't enforce this with anyone else.
Speaker 1:Girl, first off, you need to stay in your classroom and you need to be worried about what's happening in them four walls, not worried about what's happening in these hallways. But you know teachers love to be worried about what's happening outside, trying to run the school from inside the classroom. That irritates me, if you, if you can't tell by the tone in my voice, but but this is what got me. I'ma reread it to y'all. She then began talking about how other schools and families are looking for teachers and nannies. Girl, see ya, bon voyage, arrivederci later, goodbye, peace out.
Speaker 1:Osceola, kick rocks, don't come back around here, no more, no more. I do not like when someone tries to make me feel like I need you. That happened to me once I had a teacher. She called in late, so the school that I was at didn't have a director. So I was the acting director for a little bit. This was about two or three years ago. And so I was acting director for about two weeks, which was fun, and the teacher called and said she was running late.
Speaker 1:So I'm like, okay, cool. She said I'd be there in about 15 minutes. 15 minutes, come by. She's not here. I'm like, shoot, I redid the schedule. You know, this show don't stop because you're not here. So she calls in, maybe about 30 minutes late, and she's like, oh, I'm sorry, I'm on my way. And I said to her oh, you know what, don't even worry about it, I figured it out. I already took you off the schedule and we are good. So just come in tomorrow, in tomorrow.
Speaker 1:Now she decides to open her vocal trap and let these words spew out of what she calls a mouth. You can't do that. You need me. Let me tell y'all I had to remind myself that I was a professional and remember when I told you all earlier that I could be petty, but I've learned to not be petty at work. So that happened and my rebuttal was to her not what you all think, it was very professional. And oh, you all need me. And I said to her not what you all think, it was very professional and, oh, you all need me. And I said to her, no, I don't, and you'll see. And I took her off the schedule for the next couple of days because at no point, at no point will any staff member ever think that I need them. And I want to be very clear about that and I get it at that point.
Speaker 1:You know, we were in that weird COVID. Nobody wants to work. We're looking for teachers. I'd rather be in here by myself, ballheaded and struggling, before I give you the satisfaction of letting you come in with your attitude and this whole. You need me. And the reason why I'm very strong about that is because when you start desperate hiring and you start just letting your standards down, that is when the quality of your school goes down. My schools will never be low quality because I have set a standard that is always going to be there. And part of that is we're a team player, not you feeling like you special and no, no, no, we're not doing that. Um, so, yeah, um, oh, I didn't got off track. That didn't piss me off, just thinking about it. But that whole, you know, oh, you need me kind of mentality and there's other people that's going to hire me, then bye, goodbye.
Speaker 1:I had a teacher once say that to me and she goes. Well, I can. I forgot what happened. I think we were having a coaching moment or something. Something happened in the classroom. I don't remember this was during that same period. They was really giving me the flux then and it was a lot of negativity there and they had to go, which worked out. But she said to me in my eyeballs in my view, I can just go to fill out an application at Target and go work for Target for the same thing and less work. I said well, then you can go right on ahead. I'm like do you want to leave early? Don't call my bluff, do not call my bluff. And that's what she did. And she just looked at me and then she took and collected herself and went right back to her classroom for about the next week. But that right there told me she was already going to leave because, yeah, so I was already planning for that. But no, you're not going to do that. We're not going to do that. If you want to go somewhere else, then you can go somewhere else. And, dear. Whoever this director lady person is, replace her ass, because she already showed you her hand. She is letting you know that she is not happy and whoever this lady is, based off of her actions, she is going to be detrimental and a cancerous person in your school. Let her go Goodbye Later. Goodbye, peace out, kick rocks, but then she goes.
Speaker 1:I plan to write her up, girl. You just decided to write her up, girl. I would have did that the second time, because now you've created a situation that you've allowed to become normal, and that's why she feels that way. She feels like okay, I've been doing this, according to her words, a couple of months. So at least for two months this woman has been creating and adjusting her own schedule and now it comes off like well, why are you saying something about it now? I've been doing it for two months and she's right, even though I don't like her nasty attitude. I don't even know this woman y'all. Even though I don't like her nasty attitude, she does have a point. You've been allowing me to get away with it for this long, so why is it now a problem? So that was a moment for you to realize in your coaching that you probably didn't want to have an uncomfortable conversation which you all know, I love uncomfortable conversations because that's how you grow but you not having that conversation has now created this situation. So, director, person, lady, you created this situation.
Speaker 1:Now, yes, still write her up, but at the same time, you probably need to write yourself up too, because as you're watching your labor if you're truly watching your labor throughout your day and throughout the week, and watching your overtime and all this stuff, you've seen this as a problem. And yes, like she said, those little few minutes here and there do add up A few minutes a day and then, depending on what state you live in, you could be paying overtime daily or you could be paying overtime weekly. It just kind of depends, but it does add up and it's unnecessary. So what would you do? What would I do in this case? I've been rolled her up. She gots to go and start looking for her replacement because that little statement right there she's ready to go. So, yeah, that's what I would do in that situation.
Speaker 1:I would really love for you all to tell me what I would do in that situation.
Speaker 1:I want, I would really love for you all to tell me what you would do in this situation, breaking this down. We've made it to the end of this episode, so for this upcoming week, I want you all to not drop off random children at someone's preschool and always pay attention to your environment. Make sure that you're understanding what the culture and climate is, dealing with a group of people, or even dealing with one person, and have uncomfortable conversations early, before they become problems and you put them on Reddit and then I have to read you. But other than that, I want you all to have a great week and I'll talk to you soon. Bye, that's it for today. If you like this episode, it would mean so much to me if you left a rating review and subscribe to the show. I'd love to hear from you. You can visit my website, which is in the show notes, to contact me, and I hope you have a great rest of your week and speak to you all soon. No-transcript.
