Some Days in the Life - May 26, 1999
I hate being responsible and grown up and junk.
There was a long meeting with the same people we had a meeting with folks we've had two other meetings with. They want to give us some money, and they want us to make changes we don't want to make -- they're operating on the assumption that their opinions have more merit than hours, because they're parents. As opposed to educational or technical professionals, of course. It all comes back to the "that which I don't understand must be simple" principle.
When you're flying, and you hit some turbulence, do you have the sudden idea that you can go take the control stick and do a better job than the pilots because you've played Warbirds? That isn't quite analogous to this situation -- it was more "when you're flying and the flight is level and smooth, but you think you know a better course and speed, do you demand entry into the cockpit?"
Anyway, this was the third meeting. The first was somewhat productive. The second disappointing. This one involved Bob and Alan, which is strong medicine. We're on an even keel -- this is why Alan's the Associate Headmaster, and it was very fun to see. I think the people were happier when they left.
Speaking of happy, when Apple came to visit I got a new Newton. Apparently it had been returned and Tara had nothing of use she could do with it, so she gave it to me -- she knew I liked them.
Which is very cool. The Newton is a lovely beast. Better by far than the Palmpilots. The Newtons were sacrificed on the Jobs vision when he returned, and that's, as they say, a dang shame. The one she brought me was a better model than my previous one, the MP2000. The new MP2100 I haven't had a chance to experiment with, just yet. Sometime soon, however. They're supposed to be a significant upgrade.
This should be fun.
We've had our second student expelled inside of a week, and the students are in a bit of a shock. Dismissals happen, but there's something worse about it happening three days before the end of school. We make a lot of noise (and truly mean it) about personal accountability here, and we're not afraid to dismiss, but we never like it. A student's a lot more likely to get away with stuff in the last couple of weeks, so dismissals that do happen are with cause we simply can't ignore.
To me, a dismissal is both a failure and an opportunity. It's a failure on both sides -- Brewster failed to be the environment that student needed, and the student failed to step up to the plate. Our rules aren't that hard and we don't accept students incapable of doing the work. It's an opportunity for the student to find a different environment which he (or she) can flourish in, since Brewster clearly isn't it. Notice Brewster is a part of the failure, but not part of the opportunity. That's pretty true. We're down on the game when a student leaves, period. We lose part of what enriches our community spirit, we take a financial knock, and the community reacts negatively.
Especially this week. There's a feeling of we're almost there throughout the school. To lose someone now....
It's sad, that's all. I agree with both dismissals, but I don't have to like them. The Dean of Students doesn't like them either. In fact, no one at this school likes them. Sometimes the students accuse us of liking to dismiss people, but that's just their own pain talking. It's not unlike the people we met with yesterday -- it's a failing of perspective.
Perspective.
It's the week for perspective, isn't it? I got gored with perspective on Monday, we gored other people with perspective on Tuesday, and the students don't have perspective today. Interesting. Very very interesting.
Frankly, though, I'd rather be bored.
We have an Apple Tech Update tomorrow, all day, down in Portsmouth, so there's an excellent chance tomorrow will be The Day I First Miss Posting a Journal Entry. We'll see. I'm not going to stress about it either way.
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