Private message to Headmistress McGonagall

[alt_sinistra]

Minerva:

You know I hate to have YPL matters intrude on teaching, but I’m afraid I’m a bit stuck.

We absolutely must meet for two days, sometime in December (the TriWizard Tournament did havoc to our original plans, and we’ve been scrambling to rearrange ever since.) To make things worse, both of the new committee members have significant plans over our Christmas break, when I’d normally schedule our meetings. The committee has (grudgingly) agreed to meet on a weekend day, but we need at least one day during the workweek for conversations with various Ministry staff.

Would it be all right with you if I planned to miss either the 2nd or 3rd Monday in December? (3 classes: the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw 3rd years, and the 2nd year class and observing time, since I doubt I’ll be up for a midnight class after two days of meetings.) The other option would be either of those Fridays. But that would mean the 5th years missing both class and observing, and the 7th years missing observing and I hate to lose any class time for students in OWL and NEWT years.

Whichever day, I’m glad to either assign them something to work on, or arrange alternate time to make up. Any other ideas most welcome, of course.

Comments

[alt_mcgonagall]

H'm. Is there any possibility of another teacher filling in for you, with extensive lesson plans, of course? It seems that observation, at least, requires more 'ability to supervise squirmy young children' than actual deep knowledge of the stars, at least after the first year when students are learning to use the equipment.

[alt_sinistra]

The classes themselves, it might be possible, though I'd have to check and see who's free each hour. The observing is a bit more complicated - I hate to ask anyone to have to be up at for a midnight class and then teach first thing in the morning (I barely manage some days, and as you know, my classes are scheduled so I don't teach before 10.)

My NEWT students would likely be glad to do what I did this past Tuesday: offer some supervision between full dark and curfew to anyone who needs to catch up on assignments, or perhaps Raz might be willing to supervise behavior. (He did check on them on Tuesday, but everything was fine.)

[alt_mcgonagall]

Ah. Well, you do have a point.

Our Lord's plans must come first, of course, however inconvenient they may be to our teaching schedules, so I trust that you will do what is best for your students - and I shall continue to consider whether there might be any other professors who would consider a very late night.

[alt_sinistra]

Thank you for understanding. (And yes, if there were any other way around this, I'd take it - I hate missing a week with them as well, and it's always harder to get them going the next class, even without the missed content.) I have been assured by the committee that it won't be a problem this spring, though.

I've been mired in the YPL work for the past week, but once we're past Saturday's events, my time should ease up. Is there anything I can do to help you out with our visitors?

[alt_mcgonagall]

Only try to keep the students on an even keel: 'restive' is hardly the word for it. The claws appear to have come out across the board, and the younger and less popular students are the ones getting scratched, as you might imagine.

[alt_sinistra]

So I understand from Miss Clearwater this morning. We gave some significant thought on Tuesday to how to group students for the activities on Saturday.

I've been wondering what's making it so much worse this year - and it was, even before our guests arrived, so I don't think it's all status plays to look good in front of them.

I do plan to have a word with the CCF and older YPL students about setting a good example, of course, especially as the 4th years are starting to be old enough to have some real influence in their own houses. (If, of course, they use it for good, and not their own pettiness.)

[alt_sinistra]

Actually - something just came up in a comment from Miss Clearwater.

She let me know a few more details about who appears to be bullying, and who may be involved, but she wondered if I - or someone - might have a word with Professor Froissart.

Apparently, she passed two of them - Justin Finch-Fletchley and his friend - and wondered if Justin might have been bullied. She's not sure, though, who was doing it - if it was Beauxbatons students, or worse, some of ours. I've had a few brief conversations with him (must say, I liked some of his comments about the recent charms research in France), but perhaps you'd be better able to handle it delicately? I'm glad to have a word, though, if you think it would be less formal coming from me.

[alt_mcgonagall]

In this case, I had better handle it. I hate to take autonomy away from you, because I do feel that it's best to let you and the other teachers do as they see fit with students who come to them - but in this particular instance - let us say, if there were any kind of incident arising from this, it would be by far better for me to have caused an international incident than you. I have more resources to fall back on.

[alt_sinistra]

Not offended in the slightest (and having been doing my own share of balancing this kind of thing in miniature, quite happy to leave it in your capable hands. This week's YPL meeting had more than enough politics to sate me for months.)

I think Miss Clearwater simply wanted to know the best way to go about it - I'll reassure her you'll have a quiet word.