I need another's opinion--I am too close to situation and of course, I think I have a valid argument, but I could be wrong.
I was out of school for about a month because I had a stroke. I was back for about two weeks when I had a jury duty notice.
The school is so wild and I was so far behind and trying to catch up with everything, the jury summons ended up at the
bottom of my tote. I kept forgetting it. I was supposed to call a number to see if I even had to report. I had received
a summons about a year ago, but did not even have to report. I went by the Payroll Sec.'s office a day before I had to
call, but she was out. She leaves before teachers, so I did not have another chance that day to go by her office. The place
was so wild that Fri., I just forgot to go by her office again. I called the number when I got home and sure enough, I had
to go in Mon., but I believed because of my job and previous background, that I would not be picked for jury duty. I called
for a Sub for Mon. and then called the school Mon. morning and left a message. Both the prosecutor and the defense attorneys
were very picky and I answered all their questions, assuming that honest answers would disqualify me. But lo and behold, I
was just what they were looking for! I emailed my AP as soon as I could and let her know that the judge said the trial should
last about 2 weeks. No response from her. I emailed her a second time. Still nothing. I called other teachers for work for
my classes and asked them what I should do. I also mailed my jury summons to the payroll secretary so she would get it ASAP. I had to turn off the cell phone from about 8:30AM to about 5PM. Now I am in deep doo-doo because I forgot to mention jury duty to the AP at a meeting we had; I was concentrating on what she wanted of me since I was back from the stroke. I am being accused of deriliction of duty and the school is threatening not to pay me for the time I was out. Am I screwed? Please advise.