It's lunchtime, and the author is sitting with Abigail, who is the English department chair, and several other teachers in her department during a heated discussion about the latest school mandate: a planning calendar audit. At East High School, a diverse high school on the outskirts of a large metropolitan city in the southeastern United States, the author has been getting to know Abigail and her colleagues in an effort to research how veteran English teachers persist in the face of daily challenges from administration (such as the planning calendar audit). Using language from a department meeting, this article shares how a veteran high school English teacher closed her classroom door when faced with a mandate from the district. Critical pedagogy research is used to provide analysis and possibility for reopening that door and asserting agency as teachers.