New Job(s)

School started for me last week. I am actually a 12 month employee now, but the kids showed up last Tuesday, so that means the real work has begun. I have a great class this year, with a couple of exceptions...one in particular we think comes to school stoned because of his mother's medicinal marijuana use. I teach until lunch (12:50) and then head over to the District Office. There I am the Principal for our Community Day School. We started the year with 6 kids and won't grow to more thatn 10 students. In that group we have students who have been expelled as well as those who would have been expelled if we did not accept them into our program. Lots of sad stories there, but the kids are great. We work mostly on social skills and behavior.

I also manage the Safe and Drug Free Schools, Gifted and Talented, and McKinney-Vento Homeless Education programs. The first one is mostly spending money for tobacco and alcohol use prevention assemblies, curriculum, etc. Very limited flexibility.

Our McKinney-Vento program provides support to children who are considered "homeless" under the federal definition, including living with relatives for financial reasons (doubling up), unaccompanied youth ("couch surfers"), those living in campgrounds, or, the two categories we see most often, students who live in substandard housing or in motels. I have been involved in this program for 4 years and am looking forward to managing it this year.

The Gifted and Talented program is the one that has used up a lot of my time already. A lot of energy is put in to this program, though there is little if any money attached to it. Parents are looking for a lot, the school board is interested, etc., etc., etc.

When I leave school Cindy Mosbacher comes to work in the room for the afternoon. The schedule works well for her. I have know her for a long time but not well. My kids know her kids, at least the 2 older ones. Things are working out VERY well. The kids are happy, the parents are happy, Cindy is happy and that makes me happy:-) Considering the parents of the students this year, it's very good that they are happy. As I said, it's a great group of kids, but the parents are pretty high maintenance.

Alright, enough of the work angle. More later. (Hope there're no typos in this blog like in the last;-)