Week of May 7

Bus/Parking Lot Duty: Higgs and Hook
Monday 5/7: 8:00 staff meeting; 9:30 Department meetings
Tuesday 5/8:  
Wednesday 5/9: Teacher/Staff Appreciation Day - Lunch
Thursday 5/10
Friday 5/11

Bus/Parking Lot Duty: Levy and Mahoney
Monday 5/14: 7:00 Secondary Cross District Collaboration 8:30 - brief staff meeting 9:30 Department meetings
Tuesday 5/15:  
Wednesday 5/16:  
Thursday 5/17  
Fri 5/18  Hang on.... Memorial Day weekend is coming.



Teacher Appreciation Week
This week principals across the country are telling teachers (every staff member is a teacher at Venture) how much they appreciate them.  I'll  do the same, but I won't feel comfortable with it.  I'll worry that the sentiment rings a little hollow in the ears of people who have spent the year swimming upstream in a current of apathy, anxiety, poverty, trauma, ignorance and hopelessness.  For sure, I don't have the skills to adequately thank a teacher who purchased a classroom set of books out of her own pocket because the kids needed to learn how to manage life when it sucks; or designed a brand new class because kids need science to not be boring; or who created an entirely new way of teaching math because the kids' math knowledge spans first through tenth grade; or who attended multiple out-of-town trainings; or who accepted the challenge of teaching in ways that increase student voice and choice; or who agreed to teach  kids whose social skills are hovering around zero on the SEL meter how to behave in  acceptable ways?

I have no words to thank the person who had to be para, substitute, and test coordinator, or who refused to let a student be taken out of her kitchen even after his mistake left her seriously burned, or who spent the year finding articles and activities to help kids learn to manage their own melt downs, or cleaned up after endless episodes of flu-like symptoms, or upped their skill-set to teach COPE strategies, or worked to ensure the mobile clinic would visit Venture, or went far, far beyond law enforcement to help kids feel safe and supported, or who pushed  kids to apply for and earn scholarships?  What about the people who continually offer classroom-based options to keep kids moving forward - slowly, slowly forward?  How can I thank people for all of that?

Does a staff lunch, eaten in thirty minutes while supervising teens and correcting classwork qualify as "appreciation?"  Definitely not.

In response to all of your hard work, what you hear from me the most is, "let's learn more, let's figure out how we can be better."  The most amazing thing is that your answer to that unreasonable request is a resounding, "yes, let's do it."  How is it even possible that, in the face of daunting challenges,  you maintain such fierce optimism for all these young people?

My capacity to demonstrate adequate appreciation is utterly lacking, but I will say it anyway.  Thank you for recognizing the dignity, the beauty, and the infinite worth and potential of every Venture student.

Staff Appreciation Lunch
On Wednesday, we will have lunch by Q'Doba in Angie's room.  Thanks for hosting us, Angie!

This is what I should be doing...