Feet First

Take five, on this my second blog entry. This is harder than I thought especially as I over analyze every last……
Take 106. There is so much joy and beauty around me.
107: the donkey braying in the distance as the sun gets a little lower and the heat drops while I get in my car to go home.
108: and, who would have known a year ago that I'd be peering over the edge of the top of a hole in a school field while the plumber looks for the top of the septic tank? My dad would have liked that and would probably have had a better understanding of the nature of the problem. I just nodded my head and thought of dollar signs and wondered what happens without toilets.
109: small schools such as mine are often stripped of the Behemoth of Bureaucracy and we just get things done. The BOB, the BLOB, although the L standards for nothing in particular. It's freeing to be stripped to the essence of the very reason public schools exist: educating the children. I'm sure we could use more forms, more processes and more worries but I'm not eager to add stultifying rules to a community that seems to take some pride in doing things differently.
125: random thoughts; actually, they are all connected thoughts that happen randomly. Does that make them random when they are all about my school, my community, my "people"?
Take 126: gained two new employees this week, without the help of an HR department. I feel like a kindergartener reading independently for the first time: I did it all by myself!I had help, of course, but not a cadre of HR specialists to assist with paperwork and better yet, to call the candidates who were not selected. In my small setting every action or reaction is noticed and for applicants connected to the district I can't take the easier way out of letting e-mail alone be the notification. The personal touch is what is called for here.
Version 300: the children come soon! The pink suit is ready but my agenda for staff development is not.  Do we really need to discuss Secret Santas in August?

Someone once told me that the superintendent / principal position is very unique. It is indeed as I jump in feet first hiring new staff, meeting community members, attending community meetings, taking part in local business activities like river rafting and ice-cream eating ( a punishing duty but someone had to eat ice-cream), planning for staff development, worrying about facilities issues with huge price tags and giving my Board clear communication without violating the Brown Act. What's not to love? I have an outlet for creative thinking, the opportunity to work with caring adults and directly with children, every day. Every day provides the chance to make a difference.

I wonder what I can think of tomorrow?