Neither Hunger nor Screams nor Tears...

Just like the mail carriers creed that no matter the weather the appointed rounds must be made the Memo to the faculty and staff must go out on Fridays! Sometimes that means long after my littlest one has to be picked up and no matter her condition :) I'm still making sure its complete and plans out the week to come!

Coaching...Not Just for Sports

Coaching extends well beyond the athletic field into professional development workshops, teacher meetings and even classrooms. Today I attended a training with fellow principals and coaches and received many reminders about what great coaching looks like. What is at the core of really great coaching? You guessed it...great relationships!

Never Trust the Computer!

I am a huge proponent of technology but when it comes to money I'm betting on brainpower! Today I spent time hand calculating our FTE which will drive our budget for this school year. In the spring we plan based on projections but in the fall it's all about the warm bodies and doing the math by hand is well worth my time. I identified a few discrepancies and got them added to our count! Now we wait while the allocation is recalculated...

Today Was An Eat The Spatula Kinda Day

On the first day of school I got a truly awesome gift from one of my teachers - solid chocolate kitchen utensils! I try not to eat too much candy but sometimes stress gets the better of me and there is nothing like a little chocolate to relieve the tension. The rolling pin and measuring spoons have been long gone...and since I can't always talk publicly about the major "plate" items of my day I'll just say it was an eat the spatula kinda day.

The Master...Calendar, That Is

Our school world revolves around the schedule that is housed on Google calendars. There is one for the faculty and one for parents. Today was spent working on transferring the paper version to electronic...

First Flag Raising

It has long been tradition at Chets Creek to unite as a family and show our patriotism every other Friday by participating in a flag raising ceremony. It's the only time I can assemble our huge school together at once. Our fifth grade patrols (all 107 of them) do a fantastic job taking on the roles they have watched since Kindergarten by running the ceremony!

Audit - Check

Periodically our internal accounts are audited. Our 10-11 and 11-12 audit was completed and reported to me today. We have a great bookkeeper who makes sure we follow the rules (and there are LOTS of them) in place to insure the best business practices.

And on the Third Day...

...you're marked DNE, but only if you Did Not Enter school this year. Every year we lose a few students, most we know about ahead of time but inevitably a few just no show. We spend the first three days trying to track them all down. Some move, get picked up by magnet schools and occasionally some will leave for private school. It's the ones we can't ever locate that bother me most.

CCE Spirit Wear!

Each year our awesome PTA gifts every staff member and student a custom designed themed t-shirt. All 1368 of us wear them proudly on the second day of school!!

The First Day of School - Herding the Cats

The first day of school for 215 4 and 5 year old Kindergartners is a lot like herding cats...I love Kindergarten! Seriously.

Rain, Rain, Go Away - Don't Mess Up Orientation Day!

Two Orientations down and one to go and the bottom drops out right as all of our 3rd and 5th graders are arriving. Torrential rain and near hurricane force winds (I swear!) couldn't keep our Creekers away. We just made sure to pass out paper towels to the drenched parents on the way in the door!

Scoundrels!

I drive up this morning only to find our beautiful school has been victimized by vandals. They destroyed property, our grounds person's hard work in preparation for orientation and played scrabble with the marquee letters (not pictured to protect the innocent :). By days end all the damage was undone and we'll have our best face on tomorrow as we greet 1250 Creekers and their families!

Levity or Levioso if You're Me

Opening school is stressful, probably the MOST stressful time of the year. Fun and exciting but hard, hard work. Moments of levity are welcome and you should never miss an opportunity to laugh a little. Today my coach decided to change the names of my favorite contacts on my phone to the characters from Harry Potter...certainly made phone calls and texting humorous and interesting!! :)

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch Changes

David Bowie said it best - today was time to turn and face the strain of changes...class assignments, schedules, duties, names...and every little change has to be uploaded to our faculty's one stop shop wiki!

Not Your Ordinary First Day Back

Hello?  Is there anybody still out there? I know, I know...It's been a while. Last year was a little of a blur, I'm quite sure it had something to do with the surprise baby I had at the beginning of last August a month after my 40th birthday.  I just don't seem to have the time I used to but I've really missed my blog so I had an idea for this year.  It fits right along with our school's cooking theme - We Have the Recipe for Success!  A photo a day that represents what was on this Principal's plate...The Daily Special! You may get just a title, or a caption, or more if I can squeeze it in the day.  Here's your first bite...