This Is Not Rocket Science- Why Do I Have To Meet Again?

One of the last things we have to do as Principals before we leave is turn in our master schedule for the following school year. In my district there are two campuses like mine. We are very similar in make up with the exception of the Hispanic population. I have more due to the fact that I am the bilingual campus.

The month of June is extremely busy for administrators due to the fact that there is many things to do to shut down a building for the summer. I am not going to bother or bore you with a list. Let's just say that there is a lot of things to do. Anyway, back to building the schedule.

There are many questions that go into building a schedule.
1. How many kids do you have in the grade level?
2. Looking at your testing scores which areas need the most support?
3. Based on that information how many sections of each class do you need to offer to support
support your needs?

Now I am going to jump out on a limb here. Let me give you a scenario and see what you would do? Let's say when you looked at your testing scores you noticed that your math scores, while good, were the lowest group of scores. Specifically your Hispanic population you noticed were low. WHAT CLASSES DO YOU NEED TO OFFER MORE SUPPORT TO? Survey said.....MATH....ding, ding, ding, ding, ding,....you got the number one answer.

Now what do you do? You can do many things.
`. Offer more sections of math- you can do this by having more people teach math. Teachers
have more than one subject to teach.
In my case I have my ESL teacher teaching one math class a day to my ESL learners. Basically they will be working on building their math vocabulary so that they will understand WHAT they are being asked to do. Many times the kids know how to do the math but they don't know what the problem is asking them to do..

The problem I am having is that the principal at the other campus does not get how to make a schedule. Her answer to everything is more time. She has a problem thinking outside the box. The district has encouraged her to meet with me because our campuses are very similar in make up and our scores continue to improve and theirs are not. Well they are but not very quickly. This pains her to no end because in her mind she is doing everything she can. In reality she is doing everything she can think of......see the difference. So now I have to meet with her and basically do a "Scheduling 101" class with her.

I feel I know what the real problem is and until they get THAT fixed it won't matter how good of a schedule they come up with.

THAT- being two things-

First, is the overall culture of their building. I am not over there so this is total rumor. The teachers do not trust the administration of the building. I have heard this from teachers who are good friends with my AP. Again, you don't know if this is the whole staff or just a handful of people. I did have this happen though. I had a teacher transfer over to my building from the other campus and I point asked her..... Why do you want to come over here? She grinned and did not know what to say. I followed up by saying that it was the same curriculum, same district, same district philosophy. Why here? Why now? She said, she felt that in her current position she felt building leadership was always out to get you or catch you doing something wrong where as she had heard several good things about working with me and how much the teachers respected how I treated them. She is thinking of administration in the future and all she had learned from current administration is what NOT to do. So maybe there is some truth to the rumor? If teachers believe in the direction the leadership is taking they will do anything for you. But they have to BELIEVE and know that you CARE about them and that you are going to take care of them. That's my philosophy anyway.
Second, The AP at the other campus is not pleasant to deal with. Well she is okay as long as you agree with her. In the past I have had dealings with this person due to the fact that we share some staff members. When discussing what is best for teachers let's just say we don't agree. Well when I point out holes in her system and she can't find anything to come back with she get's mad and down right SNIPPY! The principal of the campus has deferred to her so much that this AP has quite the big head and it has turned into the TAIL WAGGING THE DOG!

I told my supervisors that I would meet with the principal and would gladly help with the scheduling of the other campus but with permission to speak freely I told them that until they get those two things fixed it won't matter how good of a schedule they have. Luckily they agreed and I still have a job.

Big Golf Tourney Today For Jack!

This morning was a big event for Jack. His first golf tournament since we took a break from golf. Jack was on the local public golf courses junior golf team. They had class every Tuesday and Thursday night. The problem we started noticing was that when the temperature got hot Jack would get zapped of any energy he had. We backed off of golf for about a month and with the exception of hitting balls a couple of times we took a break from playing.

During this break we really made an effort to monitor Jacks diet and excercise to help build up his stamina. Another thing we did was we encouraged him to play outside to get adapted to the heat. This along with his swimming and karate kept him pretty busy physically. He has only lost 2 lbs but everyone has noticed his tummy is smaller. Don't get me wrong. Jack is not fat but he needed to be in better shape to haul around a golf bag for 9 holes in 95 + degree heat.

This week was golf camp at the local public golf course where he used to be on the team. His coach told us every day how great Jack was doing and that you could really see a change in him. This morning was the tourniment that they do and the end of each golf camp. Jack stepped up to the first hole. It was 175 yards to the pin. Jack CRUSHED the t-shot and was on the green in 2. He continued his good play throughout the tourniment. He had some clunkers but he was able to always follow that up with a great recovery shot. He was able to finish 2nd out of 11 kids in his talent group. He was so happy to get a trophy. The important thing is he improved his overall score from his previous tourniment.

On a scoring note I think there was some point shaving going on by some parents in my group. Normally you switch cards with the others in your group so that you are not keeping score of your own kids card. I know this seems petty but today was a classic reason why they do this in tourniments. When we got our scorecard we started to try and trade with the father of one of the other kids in our group and he looked at us like we were nuts. He said, "I want to keep track of my kids score." Okay fine. So we went along with it. Well I know now why that dad did not want someone else keeping track of his kids card. I know for a fact that he scored poorly on a couple of the holes today. And yet somehow his score was somehow 3 shots better than Jacks. I did not care because I was only concerned about Jack and this kid was in another talent group anyway. His dad must have looked away on a couple of his kids shots. His kid ended up winning his talent group by two strokes. As his kid was picking up his first place trophy I wondered why it was THAT important for the dad that his son win. I think his son scored somewhere around where Jack did maybe a little worse. I figured his cheating cost one kid a trophy and another kid a medal but if its that important to you I guess you will do whatever. I am just as competitive as the next person when it comes to sports but I am not going to cheat to do it and darn sure am not going to cheat against a kid. All I want is for Jack to have fun and play well. If he wins something GREAT! I guess that other dad will sleep well tonight since "technically" his kid won.

Its Fun To Work With New Teachers

Today I had the opportunity to walk one of my new hires around the building and show them their new new classroom. This is a first year teacher right out of college. She is so excited and cannot wait for school to start. I am trying to make it to vacation and she can't wait for August to get here! Anyway, I thought it was neat to talk with her and get to know her a bit. She brought her mother and her grandmother with her so they could see her classroom. As they were leaving I found myself remembering how I was that first year. I had my very own classroom! My mom and I worked for 3 days getting everything set up and the room decorated. One day my grandmother came and helped as well. That was 14 years ago.

I got that same feeling again when I got my first administrative position. I had my very own office! Again my mother came and set up my office with pictures and lamps and other things. Grandma came to see my new set up and was pleased for me.

The feeling came again when got my first principal ship. When I pulled into the parking lot I just spent a few moments looking at the building. I had gone to college and earned a degree, and got a graduate degree and spent countless hours juggling work and school all for this. This building was mine! I had been put in a position to make decisions for what I thought was best for 75 staff members and 450 kids. I had two thoughts run through my head. The first, I was just like that first year teacher. Excited and ready for the year to start NOW. The other thought was man I better not screw this up!

Again, mom came up and helped me set up my office. Due to grandma's declining health she never made it to my campus but she knew what was happening and was so excited for me. Even near the end when her condition had robbed her of many of her memories she always remembered my name and was so proud of what I did for a living.

Even though I have been in this position for 3 years now I still am exited about what I do. I am officially staffed and am ready to go for next year! Just like that first year teacher I met with today she could not stop talking about all the great things she wants to do in her classroom I could talk just as much about all the great stuff we have planned as a building next year.

Before school starts I want to change some things up in my office. I will have mom come up and get pick her brain for ideas just as this first year teacher I am sure will do. My grandmother will be there as well. In my mind and in my heart!

A Shout Out To A Great Place To Eat

A few weeks ago I was talking with a buddy of mine about some great places to eat. I knew my wife and I had a date night coming up and I wanted to go some place different. He mentioned that he and his wife went to a place called Love and War in Texas. I have seen this place for 10 years but for some reason never have gone. We went there and I must say I have a new GREAT place to eat. I had the combo fajitas and I could not stop eating these things. My wife got a burger and was pleased as well. We went back THIS weekend and I got the buffalo fajitas. I have a new meat to add to my list...yummy buffalo. This comes with all of the fixin's and a big plate of rice and beans. I have seen their salads and other items on other peoples tables and I must say you can easily order ONE thing and share it. If you get the chips and hot sauce it comes with about 8 tamales on top of the chips. I thought that was interesting. In case you were wondering my fajitas were 13.95. Regular beef or chicken is 12.95. Again, this is MORE than enough for two people. I took about half of it home. I don't know how many of these places are around but if you live by one and have not tried it before GO THERE QUICKLY!!!

I Have Joined The Brotherhood

I have been puttering around on my scooter the past few days and I noticed a TON of schooters and motorcycles on the road. The thing that I think is neat is that many times if a motorcycle is traveling on the opposite side of the road when we pass they wave their hand to acknowledge you. I knew this was done with motorcycle riders but I did not think that scooter riders were included in the club. I feel like I have been invited to be with the cool kids. Last night at a red light I pulled up next to a guy on NICE motorcycle. He was authentic looking. Tattoos...beard...leather was his clothing of choice. Then there is ME....150cc scooter....jeans....T-shirt. Anyway, during the red light he looked over and he smiled and he said ,"nice bike man.....great night for a ride....have a good one!".
I thought that was neat!

Now where should I put my tattoo "BORN TO RIDE!"

Video Game Nerd Is Making An Appearance

July and August are my favorite times of year when it comes to video games. That is because the college football game and the pro football games come out during these two months. It is really the only time that I have to monitor myself to ensure that I don't play too much. NCAA FOOTBALL is released the 13th of July I believe. Only a few weeks wait. WHOO HOO!!!!

It's All Coming Together

I am almost fully staffed. I only have one aides position to fill and I have someone ready to hire for this position. It has been crazy busy since I have return to work but I feel as though a HUGE monkey is off my back due to wrapping up hiring. I had many great candidates to consider and it was hard to make a choice in some instances. I am glad now to take some time off and only work if I WANT to for the next couple of weeks.