Fears...???

My second pre trip question... What am I nervous about? Time is flying by so quickly, I leave for Churchill in three days... nervous?... a little. Let me spew out all the obvious answers. I am afraid my luggage will get lost, but its just stuff and I packed enough in my "carry on" to get me through an extra day. I am afraid I will miss one of the nine million flights to get to the great north, but I'm sure I will be fine. I am nervous about getting Canadian money, but how hard could that be? Now for the real stuff. I am nervous that my school district will not allow me to use what I am about to learn in the arctic with my students. Here's the deal: My district, for very lame reasons, forces science teachers to "split" students. In other words, I only have my students for one half of a school year, then, after winter break, I have a completely different group of students. The original group goes to another teacher. So that adds up to about ninety days with my students, and in that incredibly short amount of time I have barely enough time to teach a little biodiversity, ecology, and a few key science processing skills. It is awful. There's no other way to put it. I lose time learning new names and making new seating charts, while everyone else in the state of Ohio blows right by me. Classroom time is precious and this robs me of time every year. I have fought this for three years as I have watched our school's science scores go down the drain. I am unable to make meaningful connections between science concepts, and THIS, I BELIEVE, is the KEY TO UNDERSTANDING SCIENCE. The bottom line is: I need my students ALL YEAR. I am going to the arctic to study climate change and its impact on biodiversity and ecology. Shouldn't I be given the basic right of having students in my classroom for one full school year??? I need this time to build connections in science. So this is my fear. All the miles of travel, all this hope for new learning, all this time I've given and research I have done... won't benefit my students because I only have two short, frequently interrupted quarters to be with them. The solution is simple. My district, which I have loyally served for twenty-two years, needs to hold everyone accountable, and keep science students with the same teacher for one complete school year. I promised myself I wasn't going to rant on this blog... but I am going to the polar bear capital of the world and my fear is here at home.