The Great Classroom Debate

So at the end of the year, the house leader in our small learning community asked whether I wanted room H10 or room J9 for next year. Here's the rundown:

In H10, there is no air conditioning. There are also no windows. It's a strangely long room, and the whiteboards are a little hard to get to. The benefit is that it's closer to the main part of campus, so it's closer to the bathrooms and closer to the area where I need to pick up my scantrons, mail, etc. It's also pretty close to some of my other coworkers.

J9 has air conditioning. But it also has fleas. Well, strike that; it HAD fleas. They've been exterminated, but apparently it has been somewhat an ongoing problem, and last year the teachers out there all had to move out to other rooms because of the problem. It's also a little further from the main part of campus and further from the bathroom (hey, I have a tiny bladder -- it's a real consideration!). It's closer to the agricultural area, which is a nice way of saying the pig pens. And yes, you can smell pig shit out there.

So the debate was between no AC, but close to everything, or AC, but stinky, far, and possibly flea-infested.

Sweetie says to me "Well, I think the choice is obvious." I didn't. He said he'd choose no AC over potential fleas. The thing is, I am perfectly capable of dealing without AC, but classrooms full of children don't usually feel the same way. Thirty-five teenagers often find they're not so interested in learning when it's 95 degrees inside (and this is Sacramento, so that can be up to four months of the school year).

I chose H10. But then the house leader pointed out that J9 is actually equidistant from the bathrooms (because of how far east H10 actually is, which I had overlooked), I went ahead and chose the other room. The other issue is that in seven years of teaching, I've had to pack up everything I own and move classrooms seven times. I was trying to figure out which room would make me least likely to move again, and the answer is neither. The H wing is undergoing "modernization" next year, and the J wing is almost certain to be demolished and replaced. So either way, I can probably look forward to moving again next year. Sigh. I'm considering becoming a minimalist.