Staff meeting turns chaotic as angry teachers plot ‘Okoa Timetable’ campaign

Last week’s stormy meeting that saw the withdrawal of the controversial lesson-monitoring forms made some colleagues celebrate. It was a victory over Wangu wa Makeri, the Deputy. There was excitement and in the evening many of us met at JJ’s, our local joint.

Magarita, Meta Meta’s guidance and counseling HOD and the CU patron, is unpredictable. When Aeneas was campaigning to become a delegate of Mwalimu National Sacco, JJ’s was our venue and she had joined us. She not only prayed and laid hands on him, but also prophesied that he was headed for a landslide victory.

Upon losing in the hotly contested elections, she declared that it was due to his lack of faith. Our celebrations were short lived. Just before we went for the half-term break on Friday, we were summoned for a meeting via an SMS. “All must attend,” it concluded. None among us knew the agenda. even the enterprising schola, meta meta’s rumour mill caretaker.

Free time

Donatta was furious. Her ‘mboch’ had just left her twins at the reception. Donatta was to take them to visit their great grandmother. The aged soul had sensed that her days on earth were limited and wanted to bless the twins before she expired.

Having released the students, we converged in the staffroom for the meeting. Donatta walked in with her twins. Magarita offered prayers and also sought divine guidance for our students.

“Please Lord, guide our students so that they may head straight to their homes and the devil may not lure them to Sodom and Gomorrah,” she prayed. Okonkwo then cleared his throat, “Colleagues, I do not intend to keep you here a minute longer than necessary,” he said while shifting uncomfortably in his chair. “There are slight changes in your timetables, which will take effect immediately we report back,” he added.

We all realised that wa Makeri’s threat to use a computer-generated timetable had been realised. Since she joined Meta Meta, she has always complained about the timetable that appears to allow teachers a lot of free time. She chipped in, “We have used the computer to come up with a balanced time table.” As if on cue, the secretary walked in with our individual copies. She gave them to Annette, the staffroom prefect, who gave them out.

There was immediate reaction. I saw Aenea’s mouth drop wide open. Donatta let out a muffled scream that made her startled twins, who had been engaged in a futile attempt to push Vasco Da Gama’s chair, run to their mother. Protests filled the air.

Magarita complained about lack of time to conduct effective guidance sessions while Thunder questioned the rationale of making major timetable changes in the middle of the term.

Bolting out

Aeneas on the other hand, claimed that the new timetable would cause discord in his family. The previous one allowed him time to travel on Friday afternoons to “see his wife”. “Who will take care of that or do you want to read about me in the papers with chopped off vital organs?” he posed to the amusement of all.

“These changes are aimed at making our lives miserable. Blaming it on the computer is a lie. The computer operates with commands given. Garbage in, garbage out,” Donatta pouted.

Wa Makeri wore a sinister smile and appeared to enjoy the misery she was causing us. The smile vanished after one of Donatta’s twins, bored by lack of activity; saw wa Makeri’s Techno tablet and grabbed it before bolting out the door. The meeting ended shortly afterwards with Okonkwo declaring that we would use the new timetables.