The Rebel Yell

Our school has decided that one of the issues we wanted to address was the issue of how to better communicate with our students’ parents.  I’ll just never understand why parents feel frustrated or even confused with their child’s school.  For all you parents out there that might be reading this let me put it simply…..

The first step to being an informed parent is to join P.T.S.A.  This will ensure that you are aware of the T.E.K.S. that will be covered in the T.A.K.S., (Formally known as T.A.A.S.)  If your child does well on the T.A.K.S. by learning the T.E.K.S. then perhaps they will be put into G.T., A.P., or Pre-AP. These classes would help on the S.A.T. or A.C.T. which will help B.I.S.D.’s N.C.L.B. rating.   Do poorly and we will call an A.R.D. to discuss the possiblity SP.ED classes after of course we rule out M.R.  Perhaps your child might be ask to take the T.E.L.P.A.S. test so that they can be labeled L.E.P. and qualify for E.S.L. or L.O.T.E. During your child’s A.R.D. we might develop a B.I.P. to include with his I.E.P. which might mention B.R.A.V.O  This B.I.P. should ensure that your child stays clear of A.S.D., S.S., Z.A.P. or I.S.S. Other options include JJAEP and D.A.E.P.  These are located in the S.L.C. building next to C&I and B&G.  To help your child even further every teacher in B.I.S.D. is a member of an A.L.T. which covers W.O.W. and C.4.D using techniques from C&T, A.S.C.D. as well as T.E.A. and even U.I.L.  Teachers sign up for their A.L.T. using the E.R.O. to get credit for thier P.D.A.S.  The T.A.S.C.B. has stated that a teacher’s P.D.A.S. should reflect the goals stated in the C.I.P..  If you have any questions drop by B.I.S.D.’ s F.A.A.C.

You see, its really pretty simple!!! I hope that cleared everything up.

I don’t claim to be the smartest person in the room.    However, due to the recent string of events involving hurricanes I do believe I have a better plan.  It seems to me that FEMA is having a problem convincing people to evacuate a potential danger area.  This undoubtedly leads to many deaths.  Now granted, while most of these people that refuse to evacuate are not the brightest people in the world , we should still be concerned with their well being. 

It seems to me that the problem lies mostly in the naming of the Hurricanes themselves.  I mean who is afraid of these type of names.  When was the last time you got beat up by someone named Katrina?  Ever met a bouncer named Rita?  And unless your Tina Turner your probably not afraid of anyone named  Ike.  If FEMA is going to convince people to leave then they need to look at doing a better job of naming hurricanes.  Yep, if I was in charge of FEMA I would implement the following Hurricane list effective immediately!!!!

A-Attila the Hun,  B-Bringer of Pain,  C-Crusher, D-Destroyer of hope,     

E-Evil Doer,  F-Flattener of Trailer Parks,  G-God’s Storm of Doom

H-Hater of life,  I-Intimadator,  J-Jesus is coming and he is not happy,

K-Killer of cats and bunnies, L-Lucifer, M-Mr. Destruction, N-Nuclear Bomb

O-Oscar the Grouch,  P-Purifier, Q-Quiet Riot, R-Revenge, S-Satan,

T-Travesty, U-Undertaker, V-Violent, W-Widow Maker, X-X Treme,

Y-Your all gonna die, Z-Zeus God of Thunder and Floods

That ought to get those people moving!!!

Yesterday I discovered something about myself-I’m a terrible father. Yep, I said it, I am a terrible, terrible father.  There I was dropping my oldest son off for his first day of Kindergarten and then I realized I was not even concerned about his TAKS test.  After all, the 4th grade TAKS was only 4 years away.  What was I thinking?  Was I the only parent in that room that did not realize that the road to Harvard begins today!! 

As I watched my little backpack with legs walk away my mind flashed back to just 24 hours earlier.  It was Sunday morning and Greg came running in to our bedroom at his regular time of 5:45 A.M.  “Daddy, I think am gonna open up a lemonade stand so that I can help those poor kids you are always talking about”, he said.  “What poor kids?”, I asked.  “The Chinese kids you always say have no food or toys that your gonna send my toys to if I don’t pick up my room.”, he replies.  Oh yes, I was guilty of the age old, “Eat your vegetables there are starving kids in China who would love that brussel sprout” trick.  Apparently my humor is lost on a six year old and now the soft hearted little twerp has me mixing lemonade and standing out in the 100 degree heat so he can raise money for some made up toyless brussel sprout loving Chinese kid.   Somewhere between stacking up little plastic cups and placing exactly 3 ice cubes into each cup I began to see the world through his eyes.  In his eyes the world is a place where a six year old can wake up at 5:30 and make “around 159 million dollars” by selling lemonade.  In his eyes if you have money you should send it to people that don’t have toys and food.    In his eyes a real “science experiment” involves giving the family dog blue crayolas covered in peanut butter then waiting 24 hours to see if we can find the colored poop in the back yard. (Ever since he discovered this trick our backyard has looked like Easter Sunday all year long.)  In his eyes school is a fun place, learning is cool, and teachers are to be hugged at the beginning and end of every class.

I have many hopes and dreams for my son as he starts this school year and I can honestly say that none of them have to do with TAKS, AYP, NCLB, or school ratings.  I hope his teacher loves him as much as I do.  I hope she fuels his passion for learning more than ever.  I hope she laughs at his silly knock-knock jokes, smiles when she sees him every morning, and hugs him everyday.   I hope at the end of this school year he still wants to help the poor Chinese kids that don’t have toys or vegetables. Most importantly, I hope he still loves colored poop!!!!

I really wanted my first posting to be something mind blowing, earth shattering, emotionally moving, or at the very least insightful.  However, I finally realized I have nothing even remotely close to moving, insightful, or mind blowing.  As my wife would say, “Your such a guy.”  She often sees me sitting in my favorite t.v. watching chair with a serious look of deep contemplation on my face and will ask me, “Whatcha thinking about?”  Oh how I would love to tell her I was thinking about world peace, global warming, Marzano’s Nine, or even how much money Phillip Schlechty is hauling in per year.  However, I just have to look up at her and say, “Nothing”.  Sure, I could tell her the truth, about how I was really thinking things like, “I wonder how many pretzels I could get in my nose?” or “It sure would be cool to have a pet pig” or “Dang that cat just licked his own rear, that can’t taste good”.  Women don’t understand thoughts like these-its a guy thing.

However, there has been one thing on my mind this week that might have at least a little morsel of deep thought.  Recently our school district interviewed four of my co-workers for a high school principal position.  Each of these four people are truly amazing in different ways.  The first one is the most child centered woman I have ever worked with and could probably motivate a snail to win Olympic gold in the 100 meter dash. The second one is a middle school principal who has a wealth of knowledge and treats his staff like gold. The third is an elementary principal who is without a doubt a master of creating a positive work culture and has a great reputation as a leader. The fourth one, who actually got the job, has a way of inspiring confidence in those around him and is no doubt going to do a wonderful job.  All four of these people would have done a great job and all four are very deserving.  It was a can’t miss situation for the hiring committee.  However, that can be the bad thing about some decisions, someone is not going to get what they deserve.  Our profession is no different than others in the fact that there is a group of us that work hard, serve others, and do what is asked of us.  In turn we expect to get what we feel we deserve.  I hope these friends of mine get what they deserve this next school year.  They deserve something far more that the title of “Principal”.  They deserve to see the kids on their campuses be successful because of the hard work these four put in.  They deserve to watch that one teacher they have been mentoring finally turn the corner to become a master of the trade.  They deserve to sit across the desk from a parent who is worried about their child’s future and then watch that parent’s face as they show them a report card full of A’s. In short, these four deserve to be reminded each and every day (often it is in the small things that we have forgotten to appreciate) that they are educators that have and will continue to make a difference.

One of these days each one of us will find ourselves in front of those pearly gates in heaven and will have to answer the question, “Why do you deserve to enter my kingdom?”  We will think back about everything we have done in our lives. Has the good really outweighed the bad?  Was God watching when I was in 8th grade science during 6th period?    Can he read my thoughts?  (If so I am sure he is not impressed with the cat rear thing!!) As we stand there waiting for God’s answer we begin to realize that in the in end the sins of humanity are just to0 vast for us to enter into heaven on our own accord. Do we really want we deserve in this case?  As the gates of heaven open up for us to enter we realize that we just received a gift we did not deserve.  We don’t always get what we deserve and sometimes that’s a good thing!