Be careful what you wish for!

You have all read how my 8th grade orchestra class at Oakland has had some behavior/attitude issues and that the particularly difficult one transferred out the first of October, right?  After he left, things have been getting better and better and the last few weeks have been really great - there has been lots of cooperation and positive attitudes and even enthusiasm for what we were accomplishing.  I e-mailed the principal on Wednesday to ask about raising money for orchestra t-shirts and to see if we could get transportation funds for playing at a near-by nursing home in December and she responded with "can you come see me tomorrow?"  So, I went into the meeting thinking it was going to be about all these fun things and, instead, she said, "we are cutting your class.  Would you like today (Thursday) or tomorrow to be your last time with the students!"  WHAT????  The school district wants class sizes to be no smaller than 18 students.  We started the year with 13 which was already pushing the envelope.  Then, three dropped the class and now, with just 10, they are eliminating the class to I suppose save money. As if my salary for five hours a week was gigantic?  Couldn't they have waited until the end of the semester???  The students will be put into the 7th grade orchestra class for the rest of the year!  If I had been told this a month ago, I would have been completely fine with this and probably thought "Good, being demoted to the 7th grade orchestra will teach these kids to be rude and obnoxious in my class!"  But, now my thoughts are "We were just starting to like each other" and "The kids have worked so hard on our five pieces and now they won't get to perform them!"  I didn't tell the class the news until Friday and, you can imagine they were pretty upset.  They do NOT want to play with the 7th graders, even after I told them that, in high school, students of all grades play together.  (although, in high school, we TRY to group kids into levels of ability.  And this group of 8th graders are particularly far ahead since they were the last group to have every-day instruction in 6th grade and this 7th grade group is particularly far behind since they had every-other-day classes in 6th grade.  It is not a good combination, sadly)  Thankfully, the principal has agreed to let my kids play their five concert pieces at a choir concert in November so I will go to Oakland three times between now and the 11th (on MY dime) and rehearse to keep the music fresh in their brains.  And, so now, I am just teaching at Rock Bridge every other afternoon.  I will love my extra time but I sure think it is rotten to have things happen this way....