Jury Service - Thoughts and Feelings

When I got the call up for Jury Service, I knew it was going to be a juggling act but one I was happy to do. I could have asked for an excusal or a deferral but I chose to complete my Service at the start of the year - even thoufht it was at the start of a new school year. I had my study and moving to take into account. I do consider myself very lucky to work with some incredible educators who helped me out with planning units well into advance and leaders who were willing to catch me up on missed meetings.

Having said that, it was rough. By the time I had a week left, I was counting down the days I had left and praying I didn’t get called in. While I wasn’t attached to any cases and I found the process incredibly interesting, it was draining in ways I didn’t expect.

I began to hate the unknown of whether I would be called in (you’re basically on call for an entire month) and dreaded the 4pm text message the working day before. I haven’t been able to form solid relationships with some of my kids because I have been in and out for the whole month (don't get me started on their names either!). I knew that forming relationships with students would be tricky given the circumstances and I'm very blessed to have classes where they're not holding grudges and willing to work with me to memorise names and are willing to remind me of who is who.

I felt so incredibly rushed at the beginning of the term because I have high standards for my content, assessments, and how I design my classroom and while I was on Jury Service, I did not want this to slip.
I like to think I did fairly well with keeping these high standards but now, at the end of my Service, I am tired. Not just the long, busy tired but the bone-dead, exhausted tired. I’m craving routine, knowing that all I need to do is go to work, not go into the city and not even be called up to serve on a Jury.

Jury Service is valuable, I can see the value in it but I wonder if (given the teacher crisis) it is worth still having teachers as part of the Jury pool or if adjustments need to be made to make anyone employed as a teacher (inc. TRT’s) as part of the excluded professions.