It Was A Challenge; It Will Be A Challenge

Today, we are hosting the second of our two "Challenge Days". This is an opportunity for nearly 100 of our high school students and 25 staff members (each day) to participate in activities sponsored by the Challenge Day organization. You may have heard of them before, as they have been featured on Oprah on at least two different occasions.

I was lucky enough to be involved yesterday, and to say the least, it was an inspirational experience. The facilitators from CA warned us that it would be a 'roller coaster' day, filled with highs and lows, and they were true to their word.

We were engaged in a wide variety of activities, so many that by the end of the day my energy was zapped. Students saw staff members do things they never dreamed, and staff saw students in a very different light. We laughed together and we played together and knocked down barriers along the way. It was an openness I have rarely seen in a school facility, and holds hope for long-lasting change.

The basic message is this...there are countless occasions where people are mistreated. This ranges from racist remarks, to homophobic harassment, to comments made about the differences in clothes we wear. We observe it often in school settings, yet we seldom do anything about it. We rarely show the courage to step up and stop the nonsense.

As a result of the activities, participants quickly discover that we are more alike than different, and that each of us have crosses to bear. But we were also taught that we can improve our lives by supporting one another and appreciating those differences.

It is up to us what happens next. The mantra for Challenge Day is to be the change. Unfortunately, we are limited to only 200 students this calendar year, or about 12% of our student body.

Some parents have asked me how the students were selected. Teachers made recommendations with the intent of selecting a very diverse group. We specifically strived to make sure that each diverse population at South was represented, from the skateboarders, to the geeks, to the jocks. We did the same for our ethnic population and attempted to select a group that represented our diversity.

There were students that came rather unwillingly, while others with a strong desire to participate were left out. We wish it could be different. We are hopeful we can continue this activity in subsequent years, but it will be dependent on both future funding and the availability of facilitators.

To sum it up, we laughed a lot, and we cried a lot. Although many hearts were laid bare at some point during the day, the facilitators made sure everyone was properly nurtured prior to leaving. Their talent and experience with this type of emotion was readily evident.

For me personally, yesterday was a challenge. Emotions were pretty raw at certain points of the day, but I am a better person today than I was last week. Now all of us have to carry the momentum forward, and that will be a challenge.

We Are Very Lucky

As we enter the third week of school, I can't help but reflect on some of the blessings we have here in Grosse Pointe. Despite the computer glitches of the first few days, this has been a very smooth start to a new school year.

The kids have been terrific! I always knock on wood after I say that, but they have been unusually respectful and polite so far. And they have taken especially good care of the new Student Commons. They are using it to its fullest extent, but are doing a good job picking up after themselves and keeping it neat and clean.

We are also blessed to have the infusion of technology this school year. Although not all of it is fully up and running...to the chagrin of some...we are much further ahead than when we left in the spring. We are fortunate to have a district that believes in continuous improvement and invests time and money to train its teachers.

Today, we hosted the PLAN test for our sophomores at the two high schools. This test is a smaller version of the ACT that students take when they are juniors. It has a direct correlation to performance on the "big" test they will take next year. We will use results from the PLAN test to make positive interventions for these students during the next school year.

This Friday, we have the annual North/South football game. This is a big deal to many in the Pointes, and this year we are fortunate to have two competitive teams that are likely headed to the playoffs.

We are the host school this year, and the game will follow the 3rd annual "Victory in the Pointes" celebration. Come between 5:00-7:00 PM on Friday evening to sample the food from many of the area restaurants, or buy your spirit wear. This celebration will be held on the front lawn outside Cleminson Hall.

There are not many communities around the country that can provide venues like this for their citizens. Again, we are very blessed.

I can only hope the school year continues as it started. There is a great deal of positive energy in the building, and many reasons to feel optimistic.

Computers...What Computers?

Well, we're already a week into the new school year. Unfortunately, it hasn't been terribly smooth. One of our computer servers "crashed" during the morning of the first day. Our second server didn't have the capacity to support the entire building, so most of the teachers and clerical staff were without computers on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Finally, on Thursday, two new servers arrived and were added to the system meaning that by late Thursday afternoon we were finally up and running.

The glitch in the system was unfortunate for office personnel, but far more crippling for teachers. When you have prepared all of your lessons on powerpoint, or worked hard over the summer to master use of the smartboard, losing access to the presentation is extremely disappointing. And not only was the ability to display the lesson removed, but access to the material was eliminated. It's much like losing your notes for the speech right before you are to go on stage.

Aside from the glitch with phones and computers, it's been a fairly smooth start. It's gratifying for me to see the new student commons humming with activity. It's not 100% complete yet, but it's very close.

The students have been very respectful and focused, and the flurry of activity makes the hallways come alive. It's interesting how the building can be so quiet and my time so productive in the summer, yet it's really not how the school is built. It's built for kids and it's built for learning.

We're anticipating a very good year, and wish the same to our student, parents and staff.

The Clock Is Ticking

The building looks dramatically different over the past two weeks. The hallways were bright and shiny for activities of the past week, both registration of students and Freshman Orientation.

We have registered over 1400 students already with another bunch of them to be registered on September 1. We anticipate having just over 1600 students at South again this school year. Our enrollment might be down just a bit, but is holding pretty steady.

On Wednesday morning, members of our Student Association led the class of 2013 through their own Freshman Orientation. There were a variety of activities planned for them, including a tour of the building. It's always refreshing for me to see so many of our upperclassmen...there must have been 30-40 of them...willing to give up their day to help new students get acclimated.

Later that evening, we hosted parents of our incoming freshmen and approximately 250 were in attendance. They met with administrators, counselors and representatives of the Mothers' Club in the hopes of allaying some of the trepidation associated with the high school experience, especially for the first-time parents of a high school age student.

We still have work to do. The contractors will be working both Saturday and Sunday this weekend to get the new Student Commons and School Store ready for use. We also have our own internal work to be done to complete our technology installation.

I suspect that overtime may be necessary on Labor Day weekend, also. With construction, it often comes with the territory.

Back when I was principal at Chippewa Valley High School, we underwent a huge construction project. To get the building ready for use, we once employed 22 custodians to work 10-hour days the entire Labor Day weekend. In that case, we had 2700 students coming the day after Labor Day, and many teachers had not even seen their new rooms yet, so the situation was much more dire.

I'm much more confident now, and South students will return September 8th to a much improved physical structure than they left in June.

Getting Ready To Crank It Up

Now that we're approaching mid-August, the signs of a new school are fast approaching. The first piece of evidence is more frequent sightings of students, specifically fall athletes.

During most of the day, but especially in the morning, the grounds are buzzing with activity. It's either the girls coming in for their early morning swim, all three football teams on the turf, volleyball players using both gyms, or the cross country team meeting on the track before their evening run. In any case, it signals the end of the summer for many of us.

The atmosphere is different in the classrooms and hallways. It's still pretty quiet in the majority of the building. Nearly all of the classrooms are ready for the return of teachers who will put their personal touches on those spaces. The hallways and common areas are a different story, altogether. Many of them still need to be cleaned and brought back to order.

Frankly, I'm getting nervous about the completion of the bigger projects. There has not been much visible progress of late in the new student commons (replacing the old pool), school store, or multi-purpose room. Things are going on, but it's not readily visible to the eye and that makes me nervous.

I have enough experience to realize it can all come together quickly, and I know that I tend to worry about many things that never come to pass, but I worry nonetheless. We need those big spaces, and we need them by the time students return.

A surprise to us is that we have a new area to be renovated, at least in part, in the girls' gym. The roof needs to be replaced and that will begin in the next week or so. It will impact our practice schedules and gym classes, but hopefully will not cause much disruption beyond that.

We do have some official information on the school calendar, but not many details so far. The first day for students will be Tuesday, September 8. Students in grades 9-12 will attend classes in the morning, while the afternoon will be reserved for Freshman Seminar. This will be our third year providing this opportunity for incoming freshmen, and we feel it has helped them get off to a better start.

Staff members will come in for two days before Labor Day weekend. Teachers are to report on both September 2 and 3 to prepare for the school year and participate in staff development opportunities.

So whether we are ready or not, the start of a new school year is imminent. We have much to do and we will get it done. It just causes some nervous tension along the way.

Tell Me About South...

Last week, we had the pleasure to interview Spanish candidates for a teaching job at South, a vacancy resulting when one of our teachers moved to California to get married. In short, we had a great list of candidates that applied for the opening, and seven very strong candidates that we interviewed.

During the period for candidate questions of the committee, one of them asked us to, "Tell me about South. What makes it so special?"

One of the teachers on our committee was quick to respond, "Tradition". She continued by saying that this is a very proud community that is very proud of its school. Kids are expected to do well, and perform accordingly. They do well academically, but they also thrive in so many other ways. Whether it is extracurriculars, or the spirit of volunteerism, the do it exceedingly well.

Fast forward one week. There were two alumni tours conducted last weekend for the classes of '54 and '69. One of the alums here for her 55-year reunion actually sobbed when she re-entered the building. She said that she was surprised at the emotional response the visit elicited, but that there were many great memories here.

I've stated many times that I've never seen an alumni so proud as those that attended the 'High' or South. And two events from the past week provided even more evidence.

A Pause for Reflection

During the past week, I was contacted by a gentleman out of New York who works with school administrators from that area. One of the topics that he covers in his training seminars is effective communication. And somehow, he found my blog and was interested in its origin and effectiveness.

Our subsequent telephone and email conversations gave me a chance to reflect on what I intended to do with this blog as compared to how it has evolved.

This little journey began just over 18 months ago. I was frustrated with the old concept of a monthly newsletter. The frustration arose because I had to predict something that would be newsworthy to parents at least a month in advance. This was because my article for "High Pointes" had to be turned in almost a month ahead of its release in order to meet printing deadlines. I always felt writing the article was somewhat risky. It was risky because the article could have provided inaccurate information by the time of its release. Or at best, it was old news.

So I chose to go the blogging route for two primary reasons; 1) it would be more timely, and 2) it provided the opportunity for two-way communication. The timeliness meant that I could write about something that is coming up next week, or even something that happened at school today.

For instance, early this past spring, I wrote about an incident in the hallway that had occurred just that morning. I felt getting that information out to the public via the blog was the most expedient manner possible and far superior than writing a letter to be mailed home.

The second reason for the blog is the potential for two-way communication. The old-style monthly newsletter was purely one-way communication and completely dependent upon someone reading my article, yet still left them with no opportunity to respond. With the blog, they still have to read it, but it does provide the opportunity to respond for those that are interested. But although this was part of the intent, the lack of responses has been somewhat disappointing. There have been a few articles that have garnered some responses, but overall most of them have not led to two-way communication.

I've thought about reasons behind the lack of response. Either my articles to too blah to merit a response, or people simply lack interest in the subjects. In spite of this disappointment, I plan to continue with this style of communication. In short, it's far more preferable to a return to the monthly newsletter, and I've yet to find something that I think would be more effective.

So I should probably thank the gentleman from New York that contacted me. During the dead of summer, he at least provided me a topic for my next blog.

Happy Summer!