Sorry - I still think it's goofy that you're worried about staying 5 extra minutes in a kindergarten classroom over 'liability issues". The substitute teacher needs a little help and... it all seems very selfish and self-centered to me to be aghast and gossiping about her motives.

marilyn, I realize this is your 'field', but I still think it is ridiculous that the world is so sanitized and unionized that people are afraid to sneeze unless they have union approval. It's as though people have ... they're turning into pansies who can't make decisions for themselves. If the whiney para is so worried she is going to trip on her heels on the way out the door she just needs to talk to the princiPAL about whether her own klutzy actions would ultimately cost her money.

Worst case scenario? Whiney Para would have the principal approve an extra 30 minutes of work for her on the school's nickel and she would have to face the wrath of the other eight paras who thought they deserved that opportunity to work 30 more minutes, too! They'd go running to their union and the union would lobby with the principal to either get Whiney Para reduced back that 30 minutes or get 30 minutes added to the other para's time... adding costs equal to the current costs of a single para @ 4 hours/day. And then people's taxes would go up.

I just think it's utterly stupid that we seem to think it would take guts to work five extra minutes in a kindergarten classroom because you might get hurt in there. I actually find it disgusting that the para made such a big deal out of it and went around behind Mrs. Q's back and talked to others about her.

I don't think it is a level-headed business proposition that Mrs. Q. made, but I think her heart was in the right place. If Whiney Para recognized that there were potential problems, she needed to just speak up and express those concerns to Mrs. Q. on the spot and try to work out a solution. What did Mrs. Q. get for her attempts to do right by the school and not consider having them fork out extra $ for some after-hours help? Apparently she got the other paras all a-twitter about whether she should be getting retirement *and* sub pay, etc. I think that's pretty pathetic.

Your friend should've just said, "I'm sorry, but I don't know if I'm allowed to work in this facility if I'm not being paid by the district. If you want to subcontract me to cut out letters for bulletin board in the evenings at home I'd be happy to do so, but I just don't think I can do it up here without permission from the principal. We could talk to him about it, though, if you'd like, and see what he says."