Principal's Message 1/5/09

IS THE NEW YEAR REALLY A NEW START FOR EDUCATORS?

I always thought the new year begins the day after Labor Day. For a majority of the world, that is not the case. It puts me in a confused state of mind as I mentally prepare to walk back into the school. I remember counting down until the year switched from 2008 to 2009. I do recall hugging close friends, family, and, of course, my wife. Similar to birthdays and other holidays, I felt the same when the clock broke the 12am mark. All body parts were accounted for and all mental capability was sustained. Besides the head ache I carried the following day, I was just like I was two days ago. The monument was a tool of measuring time showed a long term change once again. So, life moves on. I am not trying to be a pessimist. I appreciate how society gives us the opportunity to celebrate living for another 365 days. For many of us, it was just another chance to let loose knowing cities around the world were doing the same…very similar to St. Patrick’s Day or Cinco De Mayo. If we loved the French, I’m sure Bastille Day would add another celebration.

Then the chatter of New Year’s Resolutions begins. The gyms like New York Sports Club and Equinox load up on memberships because people make promises to be more fit in the new year. Jenny Craig and Nutri-System get to gather some new customers. What are these resolutions? If done properly, it is a reflection on the year that passed and a goal setting session for the new one. The difference to this new year and ours in September, these have to address our personal lives and not our work lives.

As much as many of you provide so many hours of your lives outside of your regular work day, it is critical to take care of your inner and personal growth. It is important to me that you do so as well because if you are not happy with you then you will never feel the daily rewards we are privileged to in our line of work. Does that mean you should be working less? Well that is for you to assess. There are times when I have to move my scale of life to favor more of my personal life. There are other moments when I must tip it to the work life. I only pray for the knowledge to know when to do either.

This year, I have decided to create a goal for the 2009 year (our almost mid-year) that combines my personal and work life. I have assessed the fact that I look forward to weekends and vacations more now than ever in my life. There have been moments when I have wished for a magic wand to extend my weekend somehow. Being that I spend most of my days at work, I realized this was not healthy. I do not want to spend a majority of my life wanting another day to be here without enjoying the current one. If the loss of family and friends have taught me anything, it has given me the lesson to appreciate each day life gives us and to absorb the people god has blessed me with. This includes family, friends, and all of you.

So here it is folks, my goal for the 2009 year is to fall in love with education again. If you know me, you know that the kids are the ones who bring such value to my day to day life. I love to start my day with them in the auditorium. I used to believe the morning announcements were more important for them. I have come to realize it’s become more valuable to me. It reminds me why I do what I do. Each morning is another chance to provide hope to all of them. What needs to change is the relationships we are building with each other as an entire staff. With the gaps in communication we have developed and the prejudice we have created with people we do not know, we have built an environment that is capable of providing a limited education for children but lacks the passion we had when we first began in this line of work. We somehow have created a place that quickly extinguishes the excitement new teachers bring to the table and deteriorates the creativity we entered our building with. We have become a place where the new direction of education is torn apart rather than explored. There is only one person to blame for this…me. This is a problem.

When I look at all of you on an individual basis, I see caring people. I see people who are trying to make the best of their circumstances. Unfortunately, I also see people who are struggling on a daily basis. I see people who believe they are being held back from what they are capable of doing. I see people who are having a hard time trusting the system they have joined and each other. I see people who yearn for a better working environment at J13 and are frustrated with what has been built but do not know how to fix it. The most painful thing I see is a staff of individuals capable of being a team…but is not. I believe if we learn to work as a team, we would become a supportive and nurturing environment, not just for the kids (as we already do that for them), but for each other.

I have lost my passion because I attempted to quick fix all of your problems instead of developing an environment that is capable of fixing itself. While trying to eliminate additional stresses and frustrations in your life, I only produced more. Since I put in so much effort to create a better place and it produced the same results, I have begun to feel incapable of bringing sustainable change. Instead of wallowing in sorrow, I want to do something about it.

It cannot be denied we have made many positive changes and earned incredible accomplishments here at J13. The students are receiving the best education they have ever had in our building. We have more collaboration now than we ever have, at least since I have been principal and probably even longer before I arrived. Before we slowly fall into the motions, if we haven’t already, we have to reconnect to why we have entered this profession. I believe work does not have to feel like work. It can actually be fun and worthwhile. I think I know how we can make that happen. It’s time to bring a deeper change to J13. We have to build a supportive and nurturing environment for us and not just the kids. While we continue with our focus groups to figure out how we can better support our students, we will be taking time to figure out how we can support each other. If we don’t do something, we will continue to enter our building with that feeling in our stomach, like something is missing. I don’t believe we have to do that. I believe we can make J13 a place we look forward to coming to. It was when I first walked into the building and we are so much better off than we were then.

ATTENDANCE FOR THE WEEK

Monday (12/21): 90%
Tuesday (12/22): 80%
Wednesday (12/23): 80%

STAFF BIRTHDAYS:

Ravi Seeram January 5th
Gabriela Vargas January 15th

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

“We don't accomplish anything in this world alone ... and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one's life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that creates something.” --Sandra Day O’Connor