What is happening?

Alright, here is a new rundown of the latest events here at the school.

The security guards from the landowner (Summarecon) are still there. Why? Nobody really knows. They are a bunch of guys, probably being paid $5 per day to wear fancy uniforms. Basically, they cannot touch us or enter the property. What will happen later is some political party will pay them the same $5 to dress up in Red and support their party. Then the next day they will wear blue shirts. And, so it goes on.

One of the major hurdles in us buying the school land was the zoning. Summarecon wanted NJIS to pay commercial rate (about $15 million). But, NJIS wanted to pay public rate because is was zoned that way. Anyway, through negotiations there were clauses put into the contract and the talking stalled, we ran out our lease and the security moved in.

The parents and teachers have banded together to make sure that the school stays open. One of the arguments that Summarecon made is that if we are not teaching, then there is no school and the land is more expensive because it is no longer public. So, by us canceling school last week it showed that we were not a school. So, that is why we had to hurry back.

Some of the parents who include the Chief of Police, Head of the Indonesian Bar Association and other high profile individuals have vowed to protect teachers (and our contracts) if anything happens. In this culture, to be a Guru (teacher) is very high profile. We are paid shit, but the respect is very high. I wish respect paid the mortgage.

As it stands now, we are still trying to buy the land. The money is finalized. The papers just need to be signed. We should be able to finish out the year if we can't buy the land. Next year is a different story.

But, I have just heard that one of the parents and our Head of School just left to go buy more land. The plan was to fill this place up with students and eventually move to a larger campus. Maybe next year we will have an entirely new school.