Thursday, October 21, 2010

Belated Life Updates

So, about six weeks ago, we found out that hubby was going to get laid off from his full-time lecturing gig. That wasn't a total surprise. I mean, we do live in California, home of budget woes. We had known that he might not get his teaching contract, but he's a great teacher, and his department likes him, so I figured he'd be rehired pretty quickly. And, since I have a full-time gig, I thought we could scrape by for a quarter or two. But here's the surprise: Because of some weird loophole, he was going to lose all of his seniority. In other words, after being a full-time, contracted lecturer for three years (after being a load-entitled lecturer for a year or two before that), he was going to fall to the bottom of the part-time pool, which would make classes for winter and spring unlikely*.

I wanted to post about this back then, but I didn't think I should because we were smack dab in the middle of a home refinance, and I didn't want the bank getting wind of our employment troubles. Not that the bank reads my blog, of course, but still. I was hesitant to put it "out there."

The good news, lo these six weeks later, is that it looks like hubby will, in fact, get two classes for winter quarter. The other good news is that the community college put out a part-time job pool in his area, and he applied and got a position, so he'll have two classes at the CC where I teach.

It will mean working at two schools instead of one, it will mean working more evenings and longer days, and it will mean teaching basic skills courses. But I think he's excited. He started his education 23 years ago at this very CC, so it's a bit like a homecoming for him. And we're thrilled that he has a job (two even!) when we thought he might be totally unemployed. In this economy, we just can't really complain. I hope he likes teaching at the CC. It would be great if, someday, he could work there full time. We could argue with each other at curriculum meetings! How romantic.


*Yes, the union got involved, but the contract was pretty clear. It's stupid, but clear.

3 comments:

The Thirty-Something Bride said...

GREAT news! Hooray Boy Cousin!

This Ro(a)mantic Life said...

Oh my! Much going on in the world of GEW. That seniority loophole sounds messy. I'm glad your husband has the new gig lined up and that he's stoked about it. Yay for things working out!

Anonymous said...

Oh, hubby and I need to talk. We are now on the same playing field. But oh how happy I am for you. I've been quite worried (and pissed about that loophole) for a few weeks now.