New Beginnings

On Monday, I had my first elementary school visit of the new school year. Over the two weeks that I was gone, much had change. This holds true for all my places of work. April is the start of the new fiscal year as well as the new school year. In order to prevent corruption in the workplace, most public employees are transferred to different departments after a certain tenure. As I arrived to my board of education office early on the Monday morning after my arrival, I was greeted by a new Office Lady and a new Supervisor. The old Office Lady (she of the Urine in the Cup) now works at a kindergarten in the town.　 My old supervisor has been promoted. I have no idea what he does, but I hear his voice every Monday morning over the City Hall intercom. I don’t know where the new supervisor and office lady came from, but it’s interesting to watch them go through the learning process and flub up every once in a while. It reminds me a bit of myself in August, except they actually have a bit of an idea of what’s going on. Again though, it’s a nice reminder of how much I’ve learnt.

It’s not just City Hall that’s gotten new blood. In the Kagoshima education system, teachers are also shuffled around every few years. The average time a teacher stays at one school, or in one district, is only about 5 years. Although the art teacher at my school is an anomaly: he’s now in his ninth year at Chiran, predating any other member of staff as well as the physical building itself.

Since there are so many small isolated islands in the prefecture, the teachers have to move to ensure that the same quality of education is available to all students regardless of where they live. It also ensures that no teacher is stuck permanently on an island that’s a 24 hour boat ride away from the city. Most teachers I know that have worked on an island have loved it. The schools are much much smaller, the students have less attitude, and the atmosphere much more relaxed. However, they all agree that four years was more than enough time to enjoy island life.

All but one of my schools has new teachers this year. All schools have gotten a new principal/vice principal. Last week the board of education had a big welcome party. Since I don’t actually teach ever, I was invited along beforehand to go on a bus sightseeing tour of Chiran. Most of the teachers fell asleep.

So the elementary school I went to on Monday got a new Kocho-sensei (principal). I normally interact mostly with the Kyoto-sensei (vice principal), but when I got to school I noticed that the man who I though was Kocho was still there. He’s this cool old guy who walks with a crutch and has surly eyebrows, a gruff voice and his own office. The kids seem to like him. Since he had his own office, I always assumed he was Kocho. But he’s not. I still have no idea who Kocho is, both the old and the new one. Nor do I know what this man’s job is. But I do finally know all the names of the junior high school teachers.