Posting for the first time. I also created a new account for this. I posted in AmIWrong subreddit but I find it fits better here.
This is long so thank you to everyone who bears with me till the end.
I’ve (28F) been working at this school since last December and I’m so done with everyone’s bullshit. I could really use some perspective here because I’m all over the place and don’t know what the smartest choice is here.
To paint the scene- I work part-time at a school in Europe as a behavioral specialist. I oversee parental communication, work with children in the afternoon hours as a counselor, craft workshops for the staff members and educate them on early childhood development and how to best support children with special education needs, and I create and implement policies and preventative measures against bullying, racism, religious discrimination, etc. An important fact to mention is that the principal’s kids attend this school. One of them has a speech impairment but is otherwise the sweetest boy. This whole drama is happening because of this boy.
To make this short- one colleague whom I’ll call John (47ishM) (an American- this will be important later) left the school during the school year (right around as I started the job) never to come back again. He ran out of money in America and pleaded to come back to teach. Little did I know back then what a piece of misogynistic shit John turns out to be. During his absence, I had a couple of briefings with other teachers when an issue would occur with their style of teaching (showing children scary movies not appropriate for their age, using harsh language, not being able to contain the classroom, etc.) It went fine every time.
The principal was giving me a lot of responsibility and I didn’t mind. After all, that’s what I was hired to do.
Well, cut to the time John returned to the school, he threw out all the preventative measures I created and implemented into the classrooms (to clarify, he only threw them out in the classrooms where he was teaching so 2 out of 6).
I’m a very patient Person- I work with children for like ever and deal with parents who can get emotional so I told myself no problem, let me know talk to him, and find out what it is he doesn’t agree on. He essentially said that I gave the children too much freedom and that at this age it’s the opposite of what they need (for reference, the age group involved is between 10-12). I said I appreciated his insight and was keen to learn more but since this is my job and I also have plenty of experience I’d like to come to a compromise. (he states he was a behavioral specialist for 25 years in America and it’s NOT how they do things over there) After that, he just walks away. Since then, he keeps throwing the “we don't do that in America” or “this is not how we do it in America” for literally everything as an excuse, especially when he doesn't want to do something.
So I leave and go on to schedule an official briefing with the head teacher and principal to discuss this and come to an agreement and/or compromise. I have discussed what the problem was and both the principal and head teacher were very supportive of my reasonings.
Come to the briefing, I prepared research studies and my own arguments and nothing happened. He laughed at me and neither the principal nor the head teacher who knew what I was going to say said anything to support me. They literally looked into the ground. I sent out an email stating how disappointed I am for them not supporting me and that there is clearly a double standard. No response. This was at the end of the school year. I let it be and decided to deal with it this school year. At this point, I was looking for different job opportunities as this was a backstab like no other.
Forward to last week when we were not even in the first official month of schooling and the principal son was the most bullied kid in our school. Because of the policies and preventative measures we implemented, there is no bullying except in John’s classroom. I reported this and got the green light to send a lengthy email regarding this.
Forward to yesterday when I sent the email. Other colleagues are in the copy of it since they teach in that class as well. There is a teacher meeting happening 2 hours from when I sent the email. I left the school. I get ZERO responses or feedback.
Today, still nothing.
A female colleague comes up to me and we chat. She tells me one has to have big balls to send such an email and that she applauds me. I asked her whether anyone had touched on that email. She said no one. The only thing the principal said was that I got the facts wrong when I stated that the school was created with his son’s speech impairment and special education needs in mind. In fact, he pulls up their school website, clicks through to his bio, and reads aloud that the school was created in mind with the English language and how he appreciates our native English speakers including John. Mind you the email stated I got full authority from the principal undergoing steps to stop this bullying.
So, in the end, I am the biggest fool and I’m just fed up. How would you quit? Any feedback is appreciated! Thanks for making it to end with me.
TL;DR The principal threw me under the bus during a meeting I wasn’t present at after I sent an email and was granted full authority to do so.