The Honeymoon Period

On June 27th the new principal came to work at school along with the new vice principal.  After hearing horror stories for the last three months I was surprised to see the respect they gave to Laurie and myself.  It has been almost a month now we seem to be fitting in nicely, now whether that is because it is the summer I am not sure.  There is a lot of work to do and of course it is still up to me to do the roll of PowerSchool and continue on the side with the ECC trying to get communications done.  Luckily our ECC chairman, Terri Joyce was appointed to the BOE so maybe she can get something rolling after they stopped my new position from occurring.


Overall the atmosphere in the office has been very good.  So we will see once August comes and crunch time begins.

The School Year Comes to a Close

We have 3 single session days left of the school year and as usual it is crazy.  With graduation coming up on Tuesday, Jun 21st, I have had to put together, Graduation Awards Ceremony on June 14th, Graduation Ticket Lottery on June 15th, get teachers to send us fines to log into the computer, set up assigned seating for graduation and help teachers with grading. Yeah, pretty crazy.

The end of the school year also brings the end of having Bill Feldman being our principal. Donna Cardamone, Karen Muller and I took him out after school yesterday to the place we use to go to over the years for drinks and snacks.  We were there for about 4 hours and had a great time together. Unfortunately, when we got to work today, he got an email from his wife with "Belated Anniversary Wishes."  Oops, it was their anniversary yesterday. Many of us will miss him, whether it is as the prinicpal, co-worker, team player or friend. So on Monday the staff is having a party at a pub to say goodbye. I made a plaque for him from everyone with a saying about his leading by example. And I need to work on writing something to him personally from me.  This is real hard for me, losing him, and getting a new principal and assistant principal that don't know a thing about middle school philosophy, teaching staff or student development.

Time will tell.

Legal Ramblings

If anyone knows how a Board of Education is suppose to work I wish they would explain it to me.  Of course I have no understanding a lawyers and them standing by their interpretation of a law versus what it says. Well that is exactly what is happening now. My principal was voted out by the Board based on their attorney's interpretation of Education Law.  Of course, this is also the lawyer who interpreted that a special group of children do not have to pay for school trips even though the statute did not say that.  He also approved a bunch of stuff for Special Education that later we were cited for by the Dept of Education.  I guess he was wrong. 

In the case against my principal, this lawyer is saying that his first 4 months did not count. The first reason was because he did not have a provisional certificate and second because he got the certificate 4 months later.  Well, the school district is responsible for getting the certificate and why it took them 4 months is unknown.  Secondly, seniority starts based on date of hire, but apparently not for principals.  Everybody else but not him. So now Bill will have his lawyer file the papers to have it go to a judge.

Meanwhile, I am sad.  At the Board meeting, Bill spoke eloquently with his documentation passed out to all.  After he left, several other people, including myself, spoke on behalf of Bill and asking that they at least review and discuss the information presented since they supposedly did not discuss anything about Bill in 3 months as a Board.  No they can't wait a week and just make sure.  They voted 6-1 to not rehire him.  I hope he wins his case and takes them to the bank.

As for the office, we cried today realizing that the change will happen and we will have a new principal and assistant principal in the near future. But for now I have to get through the rest of this school year.

Will there be a change?

One of our schools is closing at the end of the year.  So where do the people go?  Most will be placed in one of the other three schools and some will go away.  Even though this change is displacing people from one location it is affecting everyone at all locations.  Just at my site, I may be losing my principal and getting a new one.  I will also be losing our assistant principal for a new one that has not been hired yet.  And of course, internally, there are changes in teams. The only thing that will remain in affect for me is my group of 3.

Meanwhile budgets were approved so we will not loose any additional funds.  And as the end of the year approaches the hectic time begins. Will the changes occur?  I don't know if they will directly affect me yet but I do know that I am walking towards another journey of life.

A Free Weekend

Well, for the first time in a long time, except when I was overseas, I did not do anything for work or the Association this past weekend.  I have been constantly working on PowerSchools, the Communication Committee and Pass the Budget Committee for the district as well as the Association.  A continuous evening and weekend life of spreadsheets and data manipulation. It actually felt good not working on.

I did do work around the house though.  I went through all the Christmas boxes from the playroom and started throwing out stuff and putting other items aside to sell or give away.  My husband of course had to complain about how much I was saving but I explained I would not throu out stuff my Mom made, the kids ornament collection or special momento's.

I also straightened up my room so I could get to the corner of the room where I thought stink bugs were coming in.  I think they might be coming in someplace else since I vacumned up 67 of them in three hours in my room. Sorry, had to vacumn some more. I did tell my husband that he needs to really check the one window in my room in case they might be coming in from there. The really bad thing is I can't even open that window for air because it is rotted and the room is like 85 degrees.  Yes, we had a hot day today.  It will cool off by 20 degrees tomorrow. So until another day.

Life is a journey, not a destination

Life is a remarkable journey that takes us up and down a road of happiness, growth,  interaction, love, fear and sometimes pain and hardship, which comes with all the good we are blessed with. Everyone has their own journey, yet we all experience the same emotions and struggles that  are synonymous with life. Our journey will begin with our cry at birth and end with our last breath at  death.

So that is why this site will cover a lot of the aspects of my life's journey including my ancestral past. I hope you get a glimpse of who I am.