I praised him for writing the memo with the phrase 'may,' because certified teachers ... do not have to clean.

If the children are going to have any kind of floor area, you're in kind of a Catch 22 as a staff member.

It's like you have to have some kind of executive order to get someone to come and clean gum out of the carpet. Morale is very low.

Can teachers successfully educate children to think for themselves if teachers are not treated as professionals who think for themselves?

They're not letting us see all the information. If everything is in that bad of shape, then why give teachers (a new contract with a raise). If everything is that bad, everybody has to give a little.

A novel's whole pattern is rarely apparent at the outset of writing, or even at the end; that is when the writer finds out what a novel is about, and the job becomes one of understanding and deepening or sharpening what is already written. That is finding the theme.