Seventeen Days--Faculty Follies!

One of the greatest traditions that was in place when I got to Gilbert Elementary was the Faculty Follies.  Every year, the staff put together a "full-blown musical" for the kids and Christmas time.  It was incredible and everyone looked forward to it.  

In order to understand how great this was, I am taking a post from a previous blog in December, 2008 about one particular Faculty Follies:

Every year, our wonderful faculty and staff put on a musical for the students at our school. There are three teachers who get together sometime in the fall to write the script for the upcoming Faculty Follies. It is always about something that is happening in the world of entertainment, etc. They always include a take on events that happen in the education world at this particular moment in time. There are always different acts that are posted and different people sign up to be in a certain act. We have two wonderful teachers who always volunteer to be Santa and Mrs. Claus--Tom and Jo. Our wonderful music teacher, Clare, brings this altogether--which is amazing to me.

This year, the children were told that the teachers were too busy to do the Follies and that it really didn't fit into the "state standards." This was done on our morning live news program. Our two anchors urged the students to start petitions to get the Follies back. So students signed petitions on the playground and the Follies were on again.

Over the years, I have seen the kids get so into what was happening, that they actually believe it to be real. One year the Easter Bunny, Father Time and various other characters were beating the Christmas characters on a game show. The kids were incensed that this was happening.

This is probably one of the best things that our school does to build community. The staff has such a great time putting the show together. The students absolutely love to see their teachers and IA's up on stage singing and dancing and having such a good time.

In this day and age of standards, high stakes testing, etc., we can't lose sight of how important that community is to the adults and children who spend so much of their time together. We need to sing and dance and most importantly--laugh at ourselves in order to cope with the every day stresses that constitute our lives.

This wonderful event wouldn't have been possible without Clare Denton, Sue Dunning, Lori Huston, and Robyn Lavin who directed and/or wrote it every year.  And if I left anyone's name off, please let me know!!!

Day Eighteen--The Whole Child!

Accountability in education is extremely important.  However, I believe we have gone overboard and are more worried about test results than the actual learning of the child.  And that is a concern to me. 

In the early years at Gilbert Elementary, we were able to offer different options for parents for their children.  We had primary multi-age classes that were first, second and third grade together and intermediate with fourth and fifth grades. We also offered looping in first and second grades where students and teachers moved together to the next grade.   Another incredible program was dual language where students learned in both English and Spanish.   And of course, we had traditional classrooms.  There were many options and we had many boundary exceptions from other schools and other districts.    

Many of these programs have gone away because of the testing demands.   The one thing that I absolutely believe that no matter what is mandated or legislated, no one can ever take away the basic relationship building.  When a teacher closes the door and starts to teach, success will happen when children know that they are cared about.    

I do think that we need to remember the whole child.    Music, art, and PE are incredibly important.   Many children are brilliant in different ways and we can't forget that.   Children are our most important resource in this country and we need to take care of this resource and do the absolute best for the future of our country.   Being an educator is a noble profession and it is sad that there are fewer and fewer people wanting to become educators.  Maybe I will have a new mission in my "next" life................

Nineteen Days--Social Workers and Tiger Buddies

In the early 90's, Dr. Leona Shreve was my supervisor as she was Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services.   She wrote a grant for Gilbert El that was a restructuring grant that was being offered by the Arizona Legislature and it was a sizable amount of money.  I can't remember how many were awarded, but it there weren't many.   Part of this grant was for a social worker.  We received the grant and I was fortunate enough to hire an incredible social worker, Louise.     I remember telling her at the time that one way to keep this model going in the future when grant money ended was to make sure that she worked on attendance.  Not only is it extremely important for students to be at school so that they can learn, but it is also the way schools are funded!  Students attending means money for the districts to operate.

Thus was born the social work model in Gilbert that is still in place to this day.  Over the years, even when I had so many students, I always said that I would rather have a social worker than have an assistant principal.    There are so many issues in our society and children have so much to deal with because of this and these issues can absolutely interfere with learning.    I wish that every school in the U.S. had some kind of model like this to help our kids!!

The other program that was written into this grant but really didn't cost much money was a mentoring program that we named "Tiger Buddies."   This program paired an adult with a child who might need a little extra "TLC" for whatever reasons.   It was an amazing program.  We were fortunate to be right next to the District Office so many of the DO employees became Tiger Buddies to our kiddos.  They were awesome and would come to events for their buddies at school, bring them lunch, or just drop in for a visit.  There were many times that I would deal with a discipline issue and find out that something traumatic had happened to a child and we would call on the Tiger Buddy for some help.   This program grew through the years.   A few years ago, I received an email from one of the DO Tiger Buddies telling me about her former buddy, who was then 19, coming to visit her and thanking her for all she had done for me.  That story (and many others) touched my heart.  Not only did this program help the kids, I think it did a lot for the adults.  I know that it did for me just being a part of it!

I am so grateful to have been a part of both of these wonderful endeavors that I believe have helped so many children.

Twenty Days--Summer Hiring and Growth

The growth happening in Gilbert during those days was amazing!!  At that time, elementary principals were on a 10 1/2 month contract.  Because I had done HR for that period of time, I continued to work every summer assisting with the enormous amount of hiring that had to be done to keep up with the growth.  I would meet with the candidates that were recommended by principals, do a short interview, and then determine salary and benefits, etc.   Each candidate who was recommended was given a letter of intent.  Most of the MANY teachers I hired during those days accepted on the spot.  Some summers between 200 and 300 teachers were hired and I did a lot of the hiring.  I did this every summer from 1989 until 2001 when principals went to 12 month contract. Gilbert did not pay as well as surrounding Districts, but during those days most teachers wanted to work here.   It was because of the positive environment that was created by the leadership of Wally Delecki and I saw it first hand.   What I learned is that people will take less money in order to be valued and treated with dignity and respect!!!   Being able to hire all of these teachers was an incredible experience as it was always so positive because "they were getting jobs in a great district!"

At the same time, Gilbert El was starting to grow.   New housing was being built and we started to outgrow our campus.   So came the portables!!    There was a time that we had over 1200 students and my staff was well over 100.   When I look back on it now, I don't know how I did this all by myself as the only administrator!  But times were different and the accountability from the state and feds was nothing like it is today (and I was a lot younger)!   I was able to hire some incredible teachers who had student taught at Gilbert El, as well as others who transferred in or were hired from the outside.    It was a great blending of experienced teachers and new teachers!  In addition, the support staff grew and there so many great people who came to work as classified staff.  My philosophy has always been and will always continue to be that everyone contributes to the success of an organization no matter what duties he/she might have.   It takes everyone working together to accomplish the tasks at hand!  I believe that philosophy has served me well!!

Day Twenty-One--Top Cats, Etc.

Being an elementary principal is a great job!   No matter how bad the day was, all I had to do was walk out of my office and I would get more hugs than I could count!

One of the things that was most important to me was to learn the students' names.  I really worked hard on that.    And the kids loved it.   

We had several positive programs, but the one that meant the most to me was Top Cats (thank you Connie Honaker for helping with the name).   Every Friday, a student from every class was the Top Cat for the following week.   We called their names over the intercom and each student came up and got a Top Cat prize, a fast food coupon and their picture taken.   We had a Top Cat bulletin board in the office that Dee Mendias was in charge of and she made sure it always looked great.   Every Monday she would get the pictures and put them up with the kids names.  They kids (and parents) loved having their pictures on the bulletin board.    

Then on Monday I had lunch with the Top Cats at a special table in the cafeteria.   They got their lunches and I was able to give them a treat.   For many years it was three red vines and then we had rules about what we could give kids so I had to change to something "healthy."     The greatest part of this was that every student was a Top Cat so I got to eat lunch with every child.  This is one of the ways I learned their names (and a whole lot of other things)!!!  Monday lunch was a sacred time for me!

We also did birthday balloons with a picture of our mascot, a tiger cub, on them.  Every day we announced whose birthday it was and the kids came up for their birthday balloons.  We made sure to get all of the summer birthdays in, as well as holidays, vacations, and weekends.  Many times parents would come to school to take a child's picture getting the balloon from me

We also had "Tigerrifics" which were given to kids caught doing positive actions.  They kids would bring them to the office and put them in a special box and then each day I would pull one from the box and announce the student's name and his/her positive action.   They would come to the office and get a "Tigerrific" prize.

I have always felt that building relationships is the single most important thing that you can do for children in order for them to learn.   And these were things that helped build those relationships.  I am proud to say that I am still in contact with many of these former students and families to this day!!!

Back to Reality

The wonderful Caribbean vacation has ended and I am back in Douglas and back to reality!  What a great eight days it was.   Curacao is a beautiful country!  I was impressed that it isn't a tourist trap and the people are totally laid back and genuinely nice.    It was so relaxing and will enable me to make it through the next two weeks and the end of this part of my journey.

Yesterday was a very long day.  We left for the airport about 5:00 a.m. and flew to Miami.  We got to Miami around 11:30 and got through Customs.  I don't know what I was thinking (or not thinking) about the return trip.  Our flight didn't leave until 8:00 p.m. so we had a very long layover at the airport.  I read an entire book so that was a good thing. 

Got back to Gilbert around 11 p.m so basically we had almost been up for 24 hours.   I am tired, but it is a good tired.

Teresa and I drove back to Douglas today and got here about 4:45.   Had quite a bit of rain around St. David and Tombstone.  It is cloudy and cool here right now.

I have to be at work at 6:30 tomorrow morning as we are on our 4 day/10 hour work week now.  Have  a Board meeting tomorrow night.    I will be finishing up with my job as superintendent over the next two weeks--packing my office and packing my things here at 858. 

What a journey these past five years have been!  There have been good times and bumps, but overall, it has been a wonderful experience! 

Twenty-Two Days--New Campus

So began my 20 year adventure as an elementary school principal.  Oh the stories that could be told......

The 90/91 school year, we moved back to the newly remodeled Gilbert El.   It is probably the most beautiful elementary school in the US.  There are 19 individual cottages that were there originally.  They had been gutted and redone.  All of the other buildings had been torn down and new classrooms, multi-purpose room and office were built around the cottages.  They were able to save many of the old trees.  In between the classrooms is grass and places for students and teachers to be outside.   Some teachers had gardens, etc.

I remember the first day of school, the sprinklers hadn't turned off and the two kindergarten classrooms were flooded.   We had to move them to empty classrooms which we had at that time, but wouldn't later.  The District had to come in and put some "holes" in the fences around the perimeter to keep flooding from happening again.

I was able to start some traditions that I had learned from my days at Houston.   I will post more about them tomorrow.

Gilbert El was just starting to grow so I had to hire new teachers.  I will also write more about this incredible growth in a later post. 

I remember one day sitting in my office and all of a sudden thinking about the incredible responsibility I had as a principal.  It wasn't just my 30 kiddos in my classroom that I was responsible for but almost 700.   Wow!!   I always did my absolute best for my students and that day I remember thinking that I had way more to do now.  And I hope that I always did the very best I could for every student I have ever had the privilege to work with through the years!