Wednesday 02 July 2003

In March 2000, I had my own apartment and classes were going very well at the college. Yvonne came to visit me for a couple weeks that month, and things between us were going very well. At the end of the two weeks, I asked her to marry me and she said yes. I would work another school year, then move to Canada to be with her.

At the end of the school year, I was informed by my department head that someone else was applying for my position. Since I'd only had a Bachelor's degree (I was working on my Master's at the time) and the new candidate held a Doctorate, the college had to give her serious consideration. In May it was official... I was out after teaching the summer courses in Word, Excel, and Access.

I began applying for other teaching jobs in Wisconsin, and with 23 letters of interest I garnered eight interviews. I promised myself to take the first offer paying more than $28,000 per year... that offer came from Holmen High School. It seemed like everything was going to be okay. I planned to teach at Holmen for a year, earn enough cash to move to Canada, and over the year get my daughter used to the idea that Daddy would live further away. (It was a three hour drive to Holmen from her house.)

My last term at the college that summer was just fun. I told my students that completing all assigned work would be enough to credit an A in my class. Sure enough, when it was time to turn in grades at the end of the summer, I gave each student an A. My department head came to me, curious about the grades. I said I had an exceptional group. He asked if I had any proof of their work that everyone deserved A's. Nope... all assignments were returned to the students. He started to ask if I had copies of exam scores, then answered his own question in that finals were not required in one-credit classes.

He felt frustrated as the dean was on his ass about it, and said, "You can't just give everyone an A. It undermines the integrity of the University." My response was cool and deliberate: "I believe I've shown this university more integrity than it has shown me." There was nothing he could do... he turned around and left. I finished packing my things and got ready to move to western Wisconsin.

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