Monday, Monday

I used to hate Mondays at work.  I mean, they always seemed to catch everyone off-guard.  More mistakes were made and lots of interruptions occurred, etc.  At my present job with my present boss, however,  every day seems like a Monday.   

There is a great poster from Despair.com that I just really enjoy.  Here it is:  

http://www.despair.com/leaders.html

Our plan of action each day is:  

1.    Wait for fire.

2.    Put fire out.

3.    Do damage control.

4.    Repeat.

I know it seems like I'm joking, but I'm not.  

Take today, for instance.  About eight kids were in the gym today when a fire extinguisher was used.  The principal spoke to each child and had him/her write their version of what happened down.  Each kid claimed they were innocent, so the principal called each parent and told them that since no one would rat out the perp, they all got to stay 1.5 hours after school each day  this week to work as the custodians' assistants, since the custodian was the one who had to clean up the mess from the fire extinguisher.  

Okay, the principal didn't catch one parent, so, before she left for a meeting, she had me relay the message to the parent.  Luckily, this parent took it all pretty well and that wasn't so bad.  Then, however, school was over and these eight kids reported to ME to find out what their after-school duties were.  The custodian on duty at that time speaks very little English, so I had to escort the kids around the building to locate her and try to explain to her what to do.  She had to stop her work and give them all the supplies they needed to clean the windows, walls, etc.  Have you ever seen what a window looks like when a 12-year old is asked to clean it?  A 12-year old who doesn't really care whether it is clean or not?  I think the kids did a little time cleaning some of the bathrooms, too, but they seemed to have a great time.  

Time with principal:  0 minutes

Time with me, keeping me from my work:             20 minutes

Time with custodian, keeping her from her work:  1 hour

Guess what?  This scene will be repeated each afternoon this week!  

Day after day, I am left in the office with several kids who were too unruly to be handled in the classroom.  Am I trained in classroom management?  How about child behavior?  Am I licensed to care for any children?  

Answer "NO" for all the above.

Do I have a job to do besides watching unruly kids?  

The principals (we have a principal and two APs) are in meetings nearly every day, many of them are offsite.  I'm not sure how they are supposed to use all this newfound knowledge they get during these meetings since they are seldom in the office.  

I've decided the policy-makers haven't been in a school (on the front lines) in so many years, they have no idea what actually occurs in a real school.  Do they really think kids sit in desks in straight lines and walk quietly to and from the lunch room?  

Instead, should someone from the superintendent's office happen to come by, we must suspend our work for two days cleaning and decorating so they will think things are wonderful in the schools.   I'd love to have the assist superintendent walk in while a teacher, a counselor and an assistant principal are trying to coax a mean, unruly little eight year old (who weighs about 70 pounds) into the office so his screaming and crying and whining won't disturb anyone except those of us in the office.  

Schools aren't what they used to be!

 

Waning Senior Year!

Well, Ky is finishing out her senior year.  She is taking 5 (count them FIVE!) AP classes!  The AP tests begin on May 6 and occur almost daily until May 13, then she has a make-up test on May 23.  She is doing very well in all of her classes, but some of the teachers are not teaching to the test and have told the classes to expect lower scores just because they haven't been able to cover all the required material.  That's okay since Ky didn't really need any of the credits, but she's done an awful lot of work and it will be disappointing to see that, although she has mastered the material she has been given, it is still not enough.  

She decided to attend Virginia Tech next year and is in the process of filling out all the necessary forms.   There is the "themed housing" application, the "STEP" summer school application, and the other scholarship applications that must still be submitted.  

Keep Ky in  your prayers, as her allergies have kicked in for the spring and she isn't able to get much sleep.  

Hang in there, Ky!  I'm proud of all the work you've done!

Back Home Again!

Thanks for the prayers for our trip.  This year, we had great bus drivers, great buses, great kids and great fun.  We didn't get great scores, but that's okay.  That's not what the trip is about, IMO.  It didn't rain inside the bus this year, so I was happy.  The driver didn't pull over for a nap in a deserted gas station, either.  

The buses were pretty cool.  They were new and had an interesting DVD system.  Every six or eight seats had a video screen where you could watch either a DVD or DirectTV.  I was in the front right seat and was in control of the entire system.  No manual, but no worries.  I hate manuals and wouldn't have read one anyway.  

Disney World is a great place.  It feels like utopia.  If everyone acted and reacted to others the way the Disney employees do, the world would be a better place.   It all comes at a cost, though.  $$$$$

Okay, the pope is in town.  I'm not Catholic, so I just don't get the importance of it.  I like not having to go to God through a priest or a pope.  The red shoes were cool, though.  I don't know why anyone would go to the trouble of going downtown to watch the pope on a giant screen TV.  It doesn't seem like you are really seeing the person, to me.  They have started putting a few opera performances out on the giant screens like that and I'd love to see one of those.   Hearing the pope's voice in person isn't worth the trouble to me.

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I've been doing a lot of thinking in the past week or two and I hope it will make me a better person.  Keep me in your prayers!

OFF TO ORLANDO!

Keep us in your prayers!

Travel for Dummies

Speaking of traveling, I'll be chaperoning 51 orchestra students from my daughter's school on a bus to Orlando.  Yee-ha.  Ya know how many hours that is in a bus???  

This will be my fourth trip.  The first year, I was mostly a spectator.  Bus trip to Orlando.  A long trip, but a lot of fun.  During this trip, one of the other chaps asked me to join the Orchestra Boosters Board of Directors, which I did.  That pretty much guaranteed me a spot on any trip we took.  

The second trip was to NYC.  Short trip, crazy trip and although I enjoyed NYC, I don't want to escort 50 teens there.  We saw Phantom of the Opera and hadn't really told the kids where the bus would be afterward because the chaperones were supposed to call the bus driver after the show and he'd tell us where he was able to park the bus.  (Not many bus parking lots there!)  So, when the show was over, we had to herd the kids and try to scream to them the location of the bus.  We had a few mishaps, in addition, that night, but we eventually got everyone to the bus.  Moral of that story:  it is really crowded after the shows let out in NYC.  The theaters are generally in the same area of town, many on the same block, and they all finish their shows at approximately the same time.   It reminded me of the hallways in high school.   

The third year's trip took us to Atlanta.  Okay, so it was quite a bit less exciting than the other trips.  We did, however, get to hear the Atlanta Symphony play.  Earlier the same day, our kids had the pleasure of performing in that very same performance location!  If you are a performer, the previous sentence means more than if you've never performed.  

On the ride home from Atlanta, the one of the other chaperones and I talked about where "we'd" like to go this year.  I told her, in no uncertain terms, I would love to return to WDW in Orlando.  Why?  Well, in spite of the fact that the trip would be long, the thing I like most is that there is so little to plan.  Really, most of what you do is arrange a bus trip down and a hotel for the stay.   When you visit a city, you have to do that AND arrange some sort of entertainment.   The Broadway show and a walk through Times Square at night.  The kids were walking blindly down the street trying to take pictures in every direction and the chaperones were having to herd them back onto the sidewalks and keep them from crossing streets in front of cars, etc!  It was crazy.     Try to find a restaurant that will feel 50-60 people at once in NYC that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.  Try to find things to do that are legal that 50 teens won't roll their eyes at!  When it comes right down to it, Orlando is a chaperone's dream.  Take 'em to the park, tell them you want them to check with you at noon so they can pick up the money you have for them for lunch, then repeat for dinner and give them a time for evening pick-up.  

Just in case you ever find yourself planning a trip for a large group of teens!