Two days of summer school have come and gone. I am always glad once things are underway. Summer school is a real change for me, as I am the administrator rather than the teacher. I’m in charge of making sure everyone has what they want and/or need, that parents understand the attendance policy, that buses come and go on time, and children get where they need to go. I enjoy the challenges of the administrative role for the summer, but I would never want to trade it for the teaching job I do during the regular school year. It’s interesting, however, how a title gives you the aura of power. Children respond so differently to me during the summer when I’m the “principal” than during the year when I’m just another teacher. Even the kids who know me first as a teacher during the year, give me a different level of respect during the summer.
Among the many pleasures are the great people I get to work with from other buildings and all the people I’ve come to know in different departments in the rather large school district where I work. I count as friends bus drivers, purchasing experts, administrators, office staff--people I would barely know if not for this summer job. I also like the opportunity to work, but not to plan for instruction and not to have to grade papers and write reports on children’s progress. It’s good to have a change of pace.
Sometimes it is amusing. Yesterday (Tuesday) my secretary called all the parents of the students who didn’t show up. We have a very strict attendance policy where parents agree to have their children present for the five week, half day program. If you go on vacation for a week, the child loses his/her spot to someone on the waiting list. So my secretary talked to a father who said his daughter was in Vietnam this week with her mother visiting relatives. When Deb explained to him that his daughter’s place would be given to someone else next week if she didn’t come this week, he said he’d call and see if he could have her here by Thursday! I’m not expecting her.