It's Going To Be Very Impressive

One of the joys of the summer of '08 has been watching the progress of the new pool. To those of you that drive by the new structure on Fisher Road, you're only catching a glimpse of what will be one of the real jewels of the South campus. This is going to be a very visible and highly utilized facility that will serve generations of future students.

There has been real progress over the past couple of weeks in the appearance of the facility. For starters, the brick is nearly complete on the exterior of the building. They are placing the limestone on the main entrance this week, with the remainder of the brick soon to follow.

Inside, the hallway terrazzo is being poured as I write this update. The final coat of paint is being applied to entire pool facility, while the auxiliary gym is already complete with paint and just waiting for the floor to be installed. This gym will host countless practices for all levels, and will be used as a performance gym for many of the freshman level sports.

There is a large crew of men placing tile on the pool bottom and they will soon proceed to the pool deck. The locker rooms already have tile on the floor and they will soon start on the walls of that space.

The temporary parking lot that was located in the outfield of the baseball field has been removed and the area is being graded for installation of sod so the field can be restored. This should all be accomplished within the next couple of weeks.

This will be a facility that will make the community very proud. I know that it will be utilized day and night to meet the needs of swimmers throughout the Grosse Pointes. In addition, the building will have a fitness facility located in the lower level that will service all of our student-athletes for years to come.

The target date is still scheduled for Labor Day of this year, but even if the opening is delayed a bit, it will be well worth the wait to get top-notch construction of a first-rate facility. I believe that nearly all of us look forward to the opening of the new natatorium.

So What Do You Do All Summer?

Many people are often surprised when they find out I have little time off over the summer, usually taking just a week in July and a few scattered days elsewhere. I guess they can't imagine what a principal does when there are so few staff and students in the building.

Ironically, activity over the past few days is some of the most important work we do all year. Tim Bearden (North principal) and I, along with a committee of teachers, have interviewed ten teaching candidates over the past two days. In this particular case, we are looking for an English teacher for North H.S. and a science teacher that will travel between the two buildings.

We don't take this process lightly. I've often called it a $2 million investment, because a teacher might average $60K per year and will usually teach more than 30 years.

The process includes an initial paper screening of the large pool of applicants, a first round of interviews to reduce the list even more, and a second round of interviews of those we believe best fit the vacancy. In some cases, there will be a third round of interviews prior to the final recommendation. Then our candidate is sent over to central office for a final interview and subsequent job offer prior to official action by the Board of Education.

Fortunately for us, there are many applicants for the vacancies that arise in Grosse Pointe. For the recent English vacancy, there were almost 150 candidates that applied. Mr. Bearden conducted a first interview with 27 of them, and the larger committee interviewed nine of those candidates. From there, the list was pared down to a select few candidates for a third round of interviews.

Placing a highly qualified and enthusiastic teacher in front of the classroom is the best start we can give our students. From there is takes proper mentoring, collegiality and support from others in the department, and effective evaluation to insure continued success. We are hopeful that with our newly acquired high school teachers we have taken the first big step.