Finishing School - T. L. Zempel

. .

Résumé :
Veteran middle school teacher Wendy Taylor tries to like the new assistant principal, but he makes that difficult after targeting her for no apparent reason. Even her colleagues comment on the situation she now finds herself in and she wonders just how long she'll be able to keep her job. Nothing she does is right and she struggles to maintain her equilibrium in this trying new world she now inhabits. In her angst, she turns to her love of writing to save her sanity, creating a website to showcase her humorous, sometimes poignant columns about life and teaching.
To add to her woes, her new students this year are unbelievably trying, in spite of all she does to engage them in learning. Her outspokenness about the absurdities in education entertains her colleagues, and her snarky inner voice does the same for the reader. The author paints a picture for the reader of what life is really like for teachers in today's world, where bureaucratic policies have run amok. Things come to a head for Wendy when she discovers the real reason her new boss has come down so hard on her, after which she makes a decision that lands her in hot water with the district.