"I feel that I have priority to the room since I am the one who cleaned it up and organized" you are wrong. "I feel like administration would totally back my position" I don't think that will happen either unless you got their permission to repurpose that space in the first place. Did you?

Well, when I was moved into this new room I was told by one of our VPs that I could utilize the space however I wanted. Even if the ISS coordinator was told the same thing (which I highly doubt), do you think that that would extend to his wife who has her classroom in a separate building altogether? Does them being married entitle her to use this area as her personal lounge for 75+ minutes every day? Not only is it aggravating, she has loud conversations that can be heard in my classroom while my students are working. Let me clarify… We are talking about his wife, not the ISS coach.

Being told you can use it, and being told only you can use it, are very different things. Ask your boss which was intended. If it really was the latter, you have grounds for complaining and it's the boss's job to do something about it. Otherwise, adjust expectations and cope.

Loud conversations in the classroom is something you can certainly control. Tell her to take it outside; if she doesn't, complain to co-worker and tell them that you don't want to have to make this official but it has to change. If that doesn't do it: Boss again.

The ISS coach isn't the one using it. It's his WIFE ...who has her own area in a separate building. She also uses my microwave, fridge, paper products, and allows students to come in there as well.

Do you have a private office or only shared spaces available?

Tymoteusz, I made it clear in my initial post that this room was about 6 x 10 and that the ISS coordinator's wife was allowing her high school daughter to come in there and hang out as well. On Friday her daughter napped in there until it was time for her next class. I don't know the specifics as I was not told anything about why her daughter was in there. No private office in this particular space is designated as "storage", not a dedicated office. It was a huge mess before I cleaned it out.

Students or student. Not that I think she should have her daughter there, but that is very different from having a bunch of students in there.

Your use of "my space" in the subject is probably not accurate. Even if a VP told you could use it, that doesn't make it yours. At any time the admin could change their minds, it belongs to the school for whatever use is needed or desired.

Bringing in your own microwave and fridge may have created liability for your school, did you ask specifically about bringing them in? For example, if something goes wrong with the microwave and starts a fire, they are stuck with a big problem.

Well right now as I type, it's my lunch break and her daughter is in there with one of her friends, so yes, students. I had to wait 7 minutes for the mom/wife to microwave 4 hot pockets with my microwave before I could heat my lunch. I guess I'm just being unreasonably petty about everything.

The space in question is not accessed any other way than from my classroom or the ISS room. I already have security concerns about ISS students having access to the space where I keep my purse and other belongings, I'm thinking about requesting maintenance to provide a locking door knob.

It does sound like you are overreacting. Unless the folks who said you can use the space are willing to say it's private, or teachers-only, or something of that sort... it really isn't. You were lucky enough to be able to treat it that way for a while, but you don't get to make that decision. "Ask your manager" applies in education too

So you'd be ok with the situation I described?

It'd be a lot cooler if your classroom had a connecting door to the ISS (International Space Station) ;D

Joe-Please read all past comments as these have already been addressed. To reiterate...this is the wife of the ISS coach next door to my room who already has her own space in another building. Not the 6x 10 former storage space attached to my classroom. So you think I should just walk to the next building over and go into the storage room attached to her classroom during my planning period and hang out? And better yet, bring my 10th grade child and her friend to go hang out there with me as well? Unreal. I can only guess that you would have serious issues with that.

Flats-yes, that would be much cooler by far! 😜

And yes, all the other teachers who have shared "storage" space end up using it for personal office space. I am the only teacher that shares it with non-certified staff. As non-certified staff, the ISS coach also does NOT get a planning period. The fact that she makes the trek from another building and camps out next to my room for her 75+ minute planning period along with her daughter and now her daughter's friend while she takes her time microwaving multiple hot pockets during my lunch break… What was I thinking? Of course I am in the wrong here! 🙄

Have you made the new colleague aware of the fact, that you brought the stuff there, in the first place? He's new, and he found it like so, and likely wanted to share the pleasure of having a quite working room with the wife.

@JoeStrazzere I would also like to add that she is a white cis woman while I am a BIPOC lesbian and I feel threatened to have her in my space because I have overheard some comments she's made degrading the student LGBTQIA group here on campus

@ConfoundedTurbulence - your space? Sounds like you should bring your complaints (and your accusations) to the Administration.