3. Illegal teacher

At one point in my life, possibly by default, I went through nearly all the steps necessary to get a teaching credential. I stopped just short after coming to the conclusion that I would either get paid a ridiculously low salary teaching in a rural school, or receive a slightly better starting salary by teaching in a dangerous school in a large city. Both options seemed ridiculous. (That there might have been other options didn't occur to me.)

Despite my not having finished teacher training and having essentially no teaching experience outside of Sunday School classes, Kathleen Lindt was extremely interested in me as a potential teacher from the moment we met: I had a degree, I didn’t have transportation or babysitting issues, and I spoke French! Had Brent’s job offer come earlier, I might well have been on staff for the 2001-02 school year, which would also have meant that L2M’s Problem Teacher would not have been hired—but I’m getting ahead of myself here.

Anyway, having arrived too late, I largely stayed under Kathleen’s radar for most of the 2001-02 school year, although I did help with some PTO activities, notably the school Christmas party, which we hosted at our home in Chignin. Kathleen began her recruitment campaign in earnest in late spring 2002. I really had no desire to teach: besides poor pay (which was not going to be any better in France), there were other reasons that I did not finish my teaching certificate, mostly having to do with organizational issues: the thought of preparing written lesson plans and grading papers gave me the willies. Still, I wanted to work and so from Kathleen’s point of view, I was a good prospect—except for the teeny-tiny problem that I hadn’t received the appropriate visa and thus could not legally work in France. My efforts to fix things since arriving in France had gone nowhere, and I seemed doomed to be an unemployable long-stay “visitor.” No problemo, said Dr. Lindt. She had never had any difficulty in Myans getting things sorted out with the French authorities; the only thing I was not to do was to inform the new Proviseur about my situation. Just start teaching, and everything will be fine. So saying, in mid-July 2002 Kathleen provided me with a simple handwritten note on a plain piece of paper to serve as the employment offer requisite to obtaining a work permit:

Mrs Olivia Augusta Kallner (née Magnus) will have a contract as an untenured teacher with the National Education Ministry starting September 1, 2002.

I was very doubtful that this scrap of paper would impress any of the bureaucrats I’d already dealt with, so I asked Kathleen to write something on L2M school letterhead. Well, the problem was that there was no school letterhead, and had not been since moving to Bellecombette the year before. Drawing on my background in desktop publishing, I created a new school letterhead on the fly, on which Kathleen wrote:

ATTESTATION

I the undersigned, Kathleen Lindt, introduce to you Mrs Olivia Augusta Kallner, née Magnus, born October 23, 1959 in Denver, Colorado, USA, of American nationality, passport number ___, currently residing at Manoir du Vicomte de Savasse, 73800-Chignin (residence permit no. ___).

Mrs Kallner will receive a one-year renewable contract from the National Education Ministry in order to fill the post of teacher as soon as she receives her work papers. She will teach history, American literature, and English grammar to the students in the American section of the international high school.

Mrs Kallner holds a diploma in English from the University of California at Los Angeles (USA), where she also took master’s-level classes in history and English as well as pedagogical coursework. She has 20 years’ experience as a writer and editor. She has also served for many years as a volunteer teacher of adolescents in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, and in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Although this looked much more impressive, it made no difference whatsoever, perhaps in part because Kathleen hadn’t explicitly asked the authorities to provide me with the necessary work permit. But the real problem was that just as the French administrators at the LCI were not the same friendly folk Dr Lindt had dealt with at the Lycée Polytechnique, the authorities at the Préfecture [county offices] in Chambéry were not the same friendly folk Dr Lindt had dealt with at the mayor’s office in Myans. I needed something more official, but just precisely what and from whom, no one could (or would) tell me.

To my surprise, given my status, I received a one-year renewable teaching contract from the Rectorat of the Academy of the Savoie. With Kathleen’s enthusiastic encouragement and continued insistence that things would readily straighten out, I started teaching 12 hours a week—7th-grade English, American history for 10th grade, and 12th-grade American literature, all the while trying to resolve the issue of my work permit. Up to this point, I still didn’t understand what L2M’s relationship was with its host school—or, rather, what Dr Lindt’s relationship was to the host school’s new Proviseur, Mr Almoudhil. Had I known then that the French education authorities considered Mr Almoudhil to be Dr Lindt’s superior, and that Dr Lindt held only a teacher’s contract rather than an administrator’s, I would have been far less likely to have followed her advice not to talk to the Proviseur about my situation. 

The general chaos of La Rentrée made it easy for me to fly under the French administration’s radar for quite a while, even though as a member of the L2M board (of which both Almoudhil and Mr Pfaumann-Schumler, the deputy head of the high school, were also members), I was “hiding out in the open.” As I continued to run into bureaucratic walls about my work permit, however, I did speak with Almoudhil’s secretary about what other kinds of steps I could take. On her advice, I went to the DDTE [Direction départementale du travail et de l’emploi—the county employment registrar] several times, and on the DDTE counselor’s advice, I even went down to the Rectorat to try to get some kind of written request from them to give to the authorities so that they would change my status. The lady in charge of foreign teachers said that I already had a contract, so what was the problem?—and told me that I should submit a copy of the contract to the Préfecture, which I did. Again, this wasn’t what they were looking for, either. Round and round and round I went. After waiting hours and hours each time I went to the county Services for Foreigners office, I never once got past the apparently all-powerful intake receptionist, according to whom there was always something wrong with or missing from my papers; nor was there ever a time slot available to talk to anyone with any kind of decision-making authority. “Maddening” doesn’t begin to describe it.  

Meanwhile, when not futilely flitting from one bureaucratic nest to another, I was enjoying the in-front-of-the-class aspects of teaching: I’ve always been good at improvisational public speaking and running discussion groups, and I’ve always had an excellent memory for facts and quotes; but as I expected, the clerical organizational lesson plan-ness of the job was hard for me. I hated trying to figure out how to grade work of a subjective nature, and the cranky little French procedural rules we were obliged to follow—which seemed more cranky than the American procedures I remembered from my high school years—were a real nuisance. (Well, fine, all right, I had never dealt with American procedures as a teacher, just as a student, so who knows if the French rules were worse.)

Sun, Oct 6, 2002, 12:27:30 (CET)

Re: Wash Day news

Greetings, Jane—

Congratulations on getting your linens all done at once. I managed to throw in a load of clothes—enough to last me for the coming week. With any luck I will manage to throw in some clothes for Eddie's survival as well (Brent is on his own!). I don't even want to think about what shade of grey our sheets have attained!

As you know, I have been up to my eyeballs since getting back, what with having to walk into my classes completely jet-lagged and essentially unprepared and all. I feel like I've been playing catch-up ever since. (It did not help that I missed the “Rentrée des Profs” [back-to-school for teachers a few days before the students’ first day]—I was first in Boston dealing with getting Eric back into his old high school and finding him a family to live with, and then I was out in California for my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary on September 6th.)

This past week I learned that there will be some accreditation inspectors coming sometime early next year, so now I imagine I will need to do a much better job of documenting what I'm doing in class. (I just managed to get half-year syllabi done for the 10th- and 12th-grade classes... I'm not going to worry about the 7th grade at the moment. But actual *lesson plans*? Ri-i-i-i-ight.)

I would kind of like to have my life back. But then, if I didn't have this stuff to whine about, I'd find something else to moan over. 

Eddie has been sick the past couple of days, but now seems well enough to return to school tomorrow. We're all down with colds and such. We're toying with the idea of going someplace warm (well, *I* want to go someplace warm) during the holidays. Maybe Naples or Sicily or something along those lines.

We all miss you and yours.

Love,

Olivia

***

Wed, 23 Oct 2002 21:47:26 (CET)

RE: Wash day news (redux)

Dear Jane,

We're off to Haut Koenigsbourg and Colmar (Alsace region) tomorrow, and thence to Paris to take Emma to the airport; we’re very glad she was able to come visit for a couple of weeks! 

I am now even more appreciative than ever before of "vacances scolaires." Things are going reasonably well in 10th and 12th grades, and a little better in 7th. Turns out that one of my 7th-grade boys has Tourette's Syndrome, and when he's being especially tic-y (and/or forgets to take his medication), the other boys seem to reflect his behavior. At least the Touretter kid doesn't have the "coprolalia" tic (blurting out vulgarities), but he can be pretty wild at times.

I am now on the Montgomery board as a parent rep, since Mme Lindt's efforts to dislodge the teacher rep she especially dislikes came to naught. I attended part of a board meeting last month (prior to my "election," such as it was), and a full one last night. Lasted forever, but in most ways it was a much better meeting than the previous month's. Why? Because Mme Lindt was not in attendance. She gets ultra-defensive if there's the slightest criticism of the program, deserved or not, and is convinced that all non-Americans on the board are trying to destroy things. 

I frankly didn't see evidence of such destructive desires last night. We all (parent & teacher reps, at least) wish Mme Lindt could gracefully retire, but the earliest that can happen is not for another 4 years. And besides, Montgomery being her baby and all, she probably won't go willingly then. She means well, and in many ways is very nice, but she has proven to be one of the challenges of having taken this teaching job.

Remind me to write a novel. :-)

I have been following the Wash. DC sniper story with my usual catastro-phile horrified fascination. I have friends in Rockville and relatives in Virginia-DC suburbs. Amazing that one guy can hold millions of people hostage. Al-Qaida is probably taking notes, alas. May he be caught soon, and may no copy-cats arise on either coast (or in between)!

Eddie is still grumbling about hating France, but he has been having a reasonably happy social life. He's doing okay in school for the most part. 

We'll probably be coming back to Chambéry on or just after Halloween. Because of school vacation, no PTO- or community-sponsored parties are being held; we'll just have to stock up on candy at Carrefour and make the best of it.

***

Sun, 3 Nov 2002 21:24:54 (CET)

Subj: Re: bonjour, ma famille

When thou sayest, O son Eric, that “the tornadoes were cool,” doth that mean that thou didst see them, or wast thou near enough that thou hadst to take Shelter therefrom, or what? Explain. We rejoice that thou wast not suckèd up by the wicked whirling Winds! (Sorry, we’re studying the Puritan period in American Lit.)

We got back from Paris on Halloween in time for Eddie to do a little trick-or-treating. (School resumes tomorrow, woe and lackaday and so on. Eddie and I are both in mourning). I am slo-o-owly getting the house ready for the L2M Christmas party. Hopefully six weeks’ lead time will be long enough, but you know what a housekeeping perfectionist I am. Uh-huh. (I heard that!!) 

I am still working on getting us to Naples (or environs) for Christmas. With luck, we will be on an overnight train from Geneva non-stop to Rome (~12 hours) and thence in daylight southward to Naples. 

This is how I keep busy when I'm not counting the days, hours, minutes, and seconds until the return of my babies (sniff, sniff). (No need to barf, I’m done.)

Let me know how the school board Trial of the Century turns out. Seems to me your water-drinking friend got off too lightly. Should've shot him as an example to all kids who dare to get thirsty and to bring in water bottles during school hours. Anarchy!—Speaking of anarchistic leanings, I get to deal with Mme Lindt…I'm now on the L2M board as a parent rep, and oh, it's such fun! 

One fine Thursday morning about 10 weeks into the semester, Mr Pfaumann-Schumler came to my classroom at the end of the hour and informed me that my teaching days were over—I was busted! Escorting me to Almoudhil’s office, Pfaumann muttered darkly that I had been of Mahgreb (North African) persuasion, I would have been seized in the night as an illegal worker and booted out of France without a second thought. As it was, my American citizenship slowed down the authorities enough to reveal my considerable efforts to deal with my work status. The fact that I had a paper trail helped prove that my intentions were honorable; I had just listened to extremely bad advice—Kathleen’s.

The fireworks that emanated from the Proviseur's office as Almoudhil read Dr Lindt the riot act in my presence were mere harbingers of the downward spiral in their relationship as the year progressed. Almoudhil justly berated her for keeping him in the dark because he could have easily dealt with the situation, but once officials at the Préfecture took notice of my illegal status, neither Almoudhil nor the Rectorat could intervene, and too bad for me and for L2M. I was allowed to teach the next day’s classes, but that was it. Kathleen started scrambling to find someone to replace me; she ended up with three different substitutes, each taking one of my classes. I can only imagine how she must have wheedled and cajoled and guiltified them into accepting!—even so, it took two or three weeks to get matters settled, during which time I did a little (a very little) “long-distance coaching” of the students who otherwise would have been left entirely in the lurch. (Despite her oft-repeated insistence that she “would do anything for the kids,” Kathleen was unwilling to step in herself.)

Fri, 15 Nov 2002 16:54:38 (CET)

Subject: The manure hath hit the proverbial fan

Dear Jane,

Big news is that the, um, manure has finally hit the fan: the LCI via the Rectorat via the Prefectoral Legal Office found out about my irregular work status and I am done teaching as of this morning… at least until things get straightened out, however long that may be. Mrs Lindt does not have anyone to replace me: turns out the sub that she used for Mme Leclerc (who until two weeks ago was on maternity leave) isn’t completely legal either, and neither the sub nor I have been (nor perhaps ever will be) paid for our labors.

It is a huge mess, and of course Mrs Lindt is convinced that what is pretty much her own arrogance, ignorance, and paranoia is just another French attempt to deep-six L2M. No need for the French—she’s doing a great job destroying the program all by herself! 

Anyway, the new Proviseur is sympathetic and trying to figure out how to fix things (especially since this snafu makes *him* look bad, too), but I have no idea, short of running correspondence classes, how things will keep going in my unforeseen absence. (I'm serious about correspondence classes for 10th and 12th grades—I mean, the kids shouldn’t be penalized for this.) The big issue preventing me from simply teaching as an unpaid volunteer in the interim supposedly turns out to be insurance—without a valid contract, I am uninsured and the fear is that if I fell down the stairs, I would be able to sue the school, the Rectorat, and probably France itself. And maybe successfully, at that.

Oh well. With the sometime exception of 7th grade, it was fun while it lasted. My only real concern is whether this snafu may interfere with my right to work in France at any time in the future (near or far). 

Apart from that, only other thing happening is getting ready for the looming-ever-nearer L2M Christmas party.

We are well (despite everything). I hope *your* life is relatively calm!!

Love,

Olivia

Mon, 18 Nov 2002 11:41:38 (CET)

Subject: PS re: Manure

I received a registered letter today from the Rectorat saying that my contract is null and void, but I will be paid. No mention of whether I can ever work for them once I’m “regularized,” which I suspect has been derailed for the moment because of the bogus contract. Argh. The students are sad, I’m kind of glad (I sort of enjoyed it, but there really was a reason I didn’t choose teaching as a profession).

Nearly six weeks later, I received a stern letter from the Prefectoral Legal Office informing me that working illegally was… illegal. And bad. No kidding.