The Week in Review

The week fortunately ended better than it started. Monday morning I got to work and immediately got calls that both administrators were out sick, and two subs for absent teachers called in sick. So I was on the phone finding two subs to replace the subs, which fortunately took only about four phone calls! The phones were going crazy, people had all kinds of demands, but finally the morning rush was over. Then a sweet hispanic woman came in and wanted proof that her two boys had completed 8th grade at our school in 1992 and 1993. I checked, but there are no computerized records from that far back. West Albany High School no longer had their files, and their printed transcript showed no middle school, with 10th grade being the highest. Her sons needed her to send some proof of their education to them in Mexico for something. It was difficult to communicate with her. I got out old yearbooks and saw that the boys had attended our school, but certainly I couldn't sign my principal's name in her absence certifying that they had completed middle school, especially since the high school transcript showed no enrollment for the older one the year the younger one would have been in 8th grade. And that year's yearbook was missing. I really wanted to help her and spent a lot of time trying to, but eventually she decided to try harder to find their promotion certificates. She showed up later that afternoon to show them to us - her daughter had found them. Yay, a happy ending!

There was no school the past two days due to Spring Conferences. Our reader board sign was rather crowded with all the information of dates and times, especially since the 8th grade DC trip people asked us to advertise their silent auction fundraiser which was going on during conferences. 8th grade students put the letters up, and the sign never looks as good as it did back in the day when Nick was doing it. He was trained by Randy Lary himself, the principal when he was in 6th grade, and Nick maintained the sign through all three years of middle school. (And several times since then when we were in a crunch or someone messed it up.) Nick actually texted me yesterday "Your sign looks terrible." There is somewhat of an art form to centering things and arranging the words to actually make sense. The sign said:

Conferences - Silent
Auction April 15 5-730
16 8-11 1-4 5-730

It didn't look great but I thought people could get the message.

Yesterday someone called and said, "What are silent conferences?" I was startled for a moment, then I remembered the sign. I was tempted to give a smart remark, like "It's when teachers sit at their computers and do email conferences." or "You go to the classroom and look at your student's work but no one can talk."

Had some good news and bad news this week. The good news, there will be no Late Start days next year. It has been such a pain this year, having from one to three Wednesdays a month when school starts two hours late, with no rhyme or reason to the schedule. Most people are schedule-challenged anyway, and this is just too heavy a burden for them to bear. They have to call every Wednesday to find out. Others just keep their kids home every other Wednesday. It's a constant surprise to them when they're wrong. So we in the office are very happy, knowing this will hugely cut down on phone calls and Wednesday tardies and absences.

The bad news is that we are looking at losing 5 of our 30 teaching positions next year due to budget cuts and a small decline in enrollment due to a new school opening. I hate to even think of that.

Also we were given surveys this week to share our opinions for desired qualifications in a new principal. A huge majority of us would like our assistant principal, Mr. Gilbert, to be promoted. One teacher showed me his response to the question, "Describe the personal characteristics you want in a leader." "Short, plump and bald." And he said it aloud as Mr. Gilbert walked up. I suggested he change "plump" to "husky". But Mr. G. was not at all offended by the description, being the first to make bald and plump jokes about himself. He would be a wonderful principal. Hopefully we will know within the next week or so.

And now I am looking forward to a weekend of warm sunshine! Watch out, weeds! Will left with a friend on Wednesday to fish the Rogue River, but of course I will be home working tomorrow, because I am a hard worker. Will compliments me for that all the time. He called tonight from Gold Beach and reported that Zeek was in the boat for 12 hours today helping catch fish and did very well. But for some reason Will was a little tired. It's gotta be tough, all that camping and fishing and dog nurturing. Poor guy.