[LM_NET] Disagreeable staff member (long)

[SIMON827@AOL.COM]

What can you do to get along with a very disagreeable teacher?  I have  tried
everything in my little book of tricks and nothing cracks this  shell.
Examples:
We assign a TV to each building to be shared among the teachers in that
building for the year.  A teacher agrees to keep it in their room, but  there is a
sign-in sheet so others can use it.  Teacher "A" said she'd like  to have it
in her room this year and trying to win her over, I said sure.   A few months
later we had some shifting in our schools and she was sent to  another
building.  I saw her rolling the TV over to her new classroom and  so I explained
that that was the TV for the building she was leaving and she  couldn't take it,
but that there was one in the building she was going to that  she could use.
She got very ugly about it, fussing about she needed a TV in her  room all the
time, etc. She finally stormed off and I returned the TV to the  correct
building.
She brought her students to the library (5th graders) and as she stood in
the doorway she asked me a question.  It was sort of a vague question, but  I
thought I knew what she wanted, so I answered.  She growled (YES,  growled) and
said, "NO! I meant....." Then she stood there in the door and  "talked" to
herself loud enough for anyone to hear (especially the children  as they passed
by her to come in).  "Ask a simple question and can't  get a simple
answer...you just can't be nice to some people, some people just  try to be 
difficult..."
 I went to the principal on this one because she  did it front of the
students and they were visually upset as they came in the  room. He confronted her
and she denied being ugly until said I started it!  He told me about thtis but
said he believed my version .
Yesterday, for Read Across America, I had guests readers come.  They  were on
a short time schedule, so I had it set up so that they could read to a  whole
grade at a time. I put a schedule in each teacher's box the day  before to
tell them when and where to be to hear the reader.  Since I  couldn't be in 6
places at once, I had student hosts to take the readers around  and then I
rotated to take pictures. She didn't take her students to the 5th  grade location
and by the time I got there the reader was almost through.   About a half hour
later she was walking down the hall with one of her  students.  The student
stopped to ask me when the readers were coming and I  told her they had already
come and gone.  Teacher "A" said  loudly as  she kept walking, "What she is
telling you is that we don't get to hear  one."  I had to bite my tongue to keep
from saying, "What I mean is your  teacher couldn't read a schedule and you
missed out," but I just ignored it,  trying to remain professional.
Any suggestions on how to handle this person?  Our principal is going
through Chemo and I hate to keep taking this to him since he has enough on his
plate.

Jeanna Dennis
C. F. Hard  Elementary School
Bessemer,  AL
simon827@aol.com

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