One Lucky Girl - October 20 - October 27

Well, I hope everyone is doing as FANTASTIC as I am.  I am very lucky to have found a job that I love so much.  I know I keep saying that but I really do love being back on the high school campus and being in an area that I really love as well as spending time with my new Southern California family and friends is WONDERFUL!!! 

While I worked on Saturday, October 19th from 11:30 - 7:30 pm, I got so much accomplished and feel like I have a handle on work and what is going on so it was a necessary evil.  While I worked most of the day, I did go to the Poly High School Homecoming game that night and spent time with Kennedy and Elyse Roe.  On Sunday, October 20th Jessica Roe and I got to hang out at the apartment and just talk and watch movies.  It was so nice to be able to just have some downtime and chat with each other.  She is turning not just into a best friend but a sister to me.  We really like spending time together and can talk about anything together.  I am thankful to have the wife of one of the educational professionals I admire as a friend and sister.  On Sunday night I was able to meet with another friend and her daughter to eat dinner together.  It was nice to re-connect and be able to catch up on the past year of our lives.  I must say that while it was a busy weekend, it was very much a relaxing weekend at the same time. 

The week at school was very interesting.  It seems like it was non-stop from parents who were complaining about teachers, teachers complaining about students to students complaining about anyone that would listen.  It was a challenge to work though some of the parent issues with teachers and I am happy to say that I feel like we were successful in finding choices that worked for everyone that was involved.  I am also lucky to say that I work with some of the best teachers at JW North (after being with the LDHS Science Dept and LR5 Science teachers, you know that this means a lot).  I worked with a fairly new teacher this week to hopefully help with some classroom management issues with one particular student.  I am excited at how this novice teacher is handling the situation as he works with a very difficult student who wants to be older than they really are.  Imagine that - teens who are 40 - I know, I know, we all did it to our parents.  I also had to start being mean this week.  We are progressing forward in the discipline cycle and I have a number of students who are onto In School Suspensions (ISS) also called Supervised Study Room (SSR) and Saturday school.  Yes, folks, my school does Saturday school. The students come in at 8:00 and stay until 12:15 pm and have to sit in a room quietly and study.  You guys know that I love t his idea and in SC we were not allowed to do this as a discipline method.  We have some students that don't have a free Saturday until December, because they are cutting classes.  I have also had to put the "lock down" on two students.  I sent an email to their teachers and told them they are not allowed out of class unless they contact me and have an email from me stating they are allowed to go.  Now, while you are probably saying - "Leann that is so mean!!"  Let me also say that these two wander the campus, find every excuse not to be in class and continuously get others in trouble.  And they are SENIORS!!!  So I have to keep them in class to get them to graduate!  We will see how this goes!  If any of you have other ideas, feel free to let me know. 

This week we also celebrated Trevor Painton's time at JW North High School as we said good-bye to him.  The staff had a drop in with ice cream and cake for him and while it was fun, it is sad to have a principal leaving.  However, I am excited he is being promoted to another position in another district to grow.  As Christina Melton always tells me - "Take the opportunities, they don't come along very often." So I am thrilled that a professional colleague is moving forward with his career.  

This week, I also got to learn about Unions and how to document unsatisfactory workers to move through the process to let them go.  It is just like disciplining students and is really not very different than what we would do in SC.  My issue is really just learning the Collective Bargaining Agreement and figuring out how to navigate that as an Assistant Principal.  I really don't have much to do with it until I become a principal so I am okay for now.  However, always good information to know. 

Friday brought another football game against a team in Moreno Valley called Rancho Verde.  We lost this game and it was not a pretty loss at all.  However, we are hoping for the last two games to be a win.  One of these games is against Poly High School where Michael John Roe is the principal so this should be an interesting game.  I keep telling Roe that Poly is going down, however he does not believe it.  LOL!!!

On Saturday I had the chance to go hiking again and seized the opportunity to be outside.  It was a much better day with less fog and the sights were beautiful.  More time was spent exploring some of the rock formations and looking into crevices and noticing the weathering process.  It is a lot of fun to look at the science and historical perspective of the area.  I need to check out some of the other trails.  I don't really like to go by myself unless it is a heavily traveled trail like Iron Mountain so I need to do some reading.  I ate dinner with my friend Erin and made banana bread with some of the bananas from the farewell event on Thursday.

Saturday afternoon kept me busy getting the apartment cleaned up, doing some laundry and working on getting ready for the upcoming week.  On Sunday I got up early and went and worked out for 90 minutes at Gold's Gym.  Yes, I joined again.  I love the cardio theater and I find that when I walk into the apartment I don't want to go and change clothes to go to the apartment fitness room with small TV's so this will make me go.  There was really no one in the theater and I got to watch The Pirates of the Caribbean 3 as I walked!!!   Gotta love Jack Sparrow!  Sunday night I spent the evening at the Roe's.  Jessica and I cooked Mexican for dinner and had the best time playing in the kitchen.  I then took Elyse, Kennedy and Riley for a 7-11 date and was shocked to find out that the littlest female Roe does not like Slurpees!!!  Oh the horror!!!! 

Well the new week is about to start and I thank all of you who have supported me, sent me well wishes and take time out of your schedules to talk with me or spend time with me. I have been trying to make sure that I document events as well.  I have started jars of "memories" where I put the date and the event on a stone and put it in a jar.  I consider myself extremely lucky to have all of you in my lives and am thankful for you letting me in yours whether you are in SC or CA - I hope to have a stone with you soon.

 

 

October 7 - October 20 - Two Weeks

I know, I know, it is awful that I have not put anything up in two weeks.  It has been CrAzY hectic around here and that is not an excuse but it is the truth.  So, let me see if I can pick up where I left off. 

After the car accident on Sunday, I had the rental car and there was not any damage to it really so I obviously could drive it.  Now, if you knew me when I got my Saturn, the week I got it I graduated from college and it got backed into.  Then if you remember the Escape, within one month of having that car it got hit in the back from a mother of a student at LDHS.  I do not have good luck with new cars.  Once I have the car, it is not a big deal and there is not a problem.  I am hoping this "BUMP" is the accident that I was going to be in and therefore the new car will not get hit.  Cross your fingers. 

Monday and Tuesday night October 7th and 8th I had Tablet Roll-out.  It went famously well and I am proud to say that the majority of the Tablets are handed out to Academy students at JW North.  I am waiting on the last order to come in. 

So I picked up the new Jetta on Wednesday.  I left work at 4:30 pm to try and get to the dealership by 5:30 pm to pick up the car.  However, it started pouring rain about 3:30 pm.  Now, let me explain again that people who live is Southern California never really see rain.  In the time that I have been here there has really only been two times it has rained.  Both times it has been a pretty bad rain, but not anything worse than what we see in South Carolina.  There is fog and some mist at times but not at the point that it is disabling to drive.  However, in CA, anytime there is rain, it is absolutely insane and everyone decides to drive 10 mph, which is more dangerous than just driving as expected with the number of cars on the road.    Needless to say it took me about an 75 minutes for what should normally take about 30 minutes to get home and there were no wrecks!!!  I finally made it to the VW dealership to pick up my car and had to wait for about 45 minutes.  I am not really sure why because they had it for four days and I was tired and started to get irritated.  When I finally did get the car, the VW dealer, Scott, showed me how to work all the crazy electronics that is in the car.  The crazy thing is that it has key less entry and start.  So now I have to remember not to try and put a key in the ignition and to remember to hit the start and stop engine button rather than use a key.  It is kind humorous when you consider how long I have been putting a key in the ignition and then I continue to try and put one in this car.  Now, remember that it is a VW key and they pop open.  So while I do not need the key, it still has one that pops out but there is no place to put it.  LOL!!!  I am learning how to use the navigation system in this car as well and am putting in all my important addresses!!!!  It is fun to drive and I was able to make it to work and back for a full week with only one tank of gas.  When I filled up it only cost me $61.00 for diesel rather than having to fill up twice with unleaded for a total of about $85.00.  So, I should be able to save money in the end because I should be able to only spend $250.00 on gas in a month rather than about $350.00 - at least that is the plan.  I still have the Escape and am working on trying to get it fixed, I just really cannot bare to let it go.  I love my yellow car.  I went last week and started the registration process for CA.  One of the teaches at school told me about a local family owned business that I contacted and they said they could do the repairs for much less so we will see.  Still not sure what I am going to do at this point.  I really want to keep both.

This is my new car.  I am still trying to determine a name for my car!

I did get to go hiking last week.  I have not been since I have been here and it is one of the things I love about Southern CA.  It was great to be able to get out and do something that I moved here for.  I hated that I have not been before now but there really was not much time and it seems there has been other pressing items to take care of.  I will say that I have not been working out like I need to and therefore I was sore the next day.  I really need to get back into my workout schedule and make sure that I lose some of the weight that I have gained.  While I walk around all day and I do try and eat healthy, I have not been able to do that near as much as I want and there always seems to be someone with candy around.  Yea, I know, I put it in my mouth but sometimes I just don't think about it.  I need to do a better job of making sure that I am not around it and it is not around me.

I did go back to Disney last Sunday as well after the hike on Saturday with Jessica Roe and the kids.  Unfortunately we went when there was a morning charity event and therefore Disneyland did not open till 10:00 am and it was PACKED.  It reminded me of Disney World on Christmas.  Needless to say, we did not stay long and did not do much.  We left after a short time to head home.  Now, as you know the Roe's are my Southern CA family and therefore I am invited to many of their family events. Last Sunday I was with them to celebrate Elyse's birthday.  We had a great time.  Michael's mom cooked Mexican food and we sat around and talked.  I am excited to be included in their events.

This weekend, I have spent Saturday at work trying to get caught up from the full moon.  Yes, the full moon.  This week was absolutely insane.  Several fights after-school but more girl drama!!!!   I just don't remember that much girl drama when I was in school or teaching at Laurens.  I know there was some but I guess either there was not as much or admin hid it well and took care of it.  I can't believe how many girls really threaten to beat someone up for "talking" about them.  In retrospect, is it because of the bullying campaign?  There is such a fine line between bullying and someone who just does not like you and says they don't like you.  It is absolutely CrAzY what got reported this week as far as girl drama.

JW North did win homecoming and it was a great night.  While they do have their clubs pick representatives, it is a little different here in CA.  This is a HUGE deal and there was loads of events the entire week that started with the dance and ended with the game.  There was loads of events that occurred at the school during lunch.  All the girls wear prom dresses the night of the football game.  This is different from SC.  It was very interesting to see all of them dressed up!

JW North Football Field

Homecoming Half Time Show

Homecoming Halftime Show

The Painton's 

Homecoming Event at Lunch

Homecoming Event at Lunch

Week of 9/30-10/7 - Lots going on

Where do I even start????  This has been a wild week.  So I will try and start on Monday.

Monday was pretty tame.  I was in a rental car Monday and Tuesday due to the car challenges of last week.  Monday pretty tame at school.  No huge issues and things are starting to get settled.  We did have the Admin Induction Meeting at Riverside.  I really like this class because it allows me to learn a lot more about what is going on in CA and Riverside Unified School District (RUSD).

On Tuesday, things again were pretty tame at the school.  The normal electronics violations and issues were there but no major disruptions.  I did attend the High School Task Force meeting on Tuesday and that was interesting.  That group identifies what the big upcoming issues are and then we make recommendations.  It is a great group of people to work with and there was some very interesting conversations that we re occurring.  I am excited to be a part of it.  That night I also had the first Tablet roll out for one of the Academies.  It went well and we had 92 students show up and pick up their tablets.  It was great to get technology into the hands of students!!!

Wednesday morning I had to go into work late so that I could return the rental car and get my car back. Upon gong to Ford,  I was charged 903.00 for a set of four tires that I had to have.  However, I am very distraught because that is close to 1000.00 of stuff done on a car in which I really need to get another one.  I just feel like I am throwing money away but I really love this yellow car and I know that I need to let it go.    I went to the Volkswagen dealership to test drive the Jetta again and make sure that I liked it and they looked at my car.   They said they will only give me $1000.00 for the car.  While I know that is probably more than fair, I am upset because I just put new tires on the car and it has a new radio. However, I also don't want to put $3000.00 more into the car with it only getting 22 mpg on the interstate / freeway.  Oh... the decisions!!!

Thursday I had a Common Core Standards Meeting at the district office.  We reviewed DOK at the meeting and it is good that I am on the same page as RSUD.  There was really no new information that I did not already know.  The morning was good but the afternoon was not so good.  While we practiced unpacking a standard, I am not sure where we are going with this idea and if it will be beneficial to do them all like this.  Friday was a typical day with admin meeting and several things to take care of.    I did make it to the North Football game on Saturday and they WON!!! Hooray!!!

Three of Five Admin from North HS at Homecoming Dance

Two of my favorite students!!

Outside Dance - Video DJ

Another two!!!

Ready to get started!!!

On Saturday, I was suppose to pick up my new car.  I went and signed all the paperwork for my new Jetta that is metallic gray but there was something wrong with the key reading the keyless entry and they wanted to do more work.  So now I am in a Passat which is longer and harder to maneuver.  I went to Bank of America for the ATM and the car sits really low.  WOW!!!  It will be an adjustment when I get my Jetta. I am still struggling with having to give up the Escape because I really have no where to keep it.  I think I am going to give it to someone who really needs a car and has the ability to get it fixed because they can work on cars.  I then when and picked up my new iPhone 5s that I ordered two weeks ago and had to spend time transferring all the data, which was a pain because you had to put all the passwords in again.  UGH!!!!  We also had the kickoff dance for Homecoming and it was so much fun.  The dance was outside and there was a video DJ.  The students had a great time and you know that I did as well.  It was a lot of fun to be at an outside dance - thank goodness it did not rain!!!  The students all behaved themselves and danced the evening away - although most of the songs seemed to be Zumba songs!!  LOL!!!  There were no instances of any problems and the homecoming court was introduced with no problems.  However, I was exhausted at the end of the evening!!!

On Sunday I went to San Diego with Jessica.  We went to Seaport and walked around and looked in different stores and ate in Little Italy.  Then we ended up walking around at some of the little boutiques in San Diego.  It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed being in the San Diego and hanging out with Jessica.  She is absolutely fantastic and I am so lucky to have a found a friend in my Michael John Roe's wife!!!!!

Little Italy Festival Next Week!!!

Jessica Roe and I

After I dropped Jessica off I was on the way to the apartment and got hit from behind in the rental car.  On top of that, I got hit, not once but twice!!!  She hit the car twice.  The only thing I can think is, thank god it was the VW rental car and not my new car.   However, I am worried I am going to be sore tomorrow after being hit - TWICE!!  I guess we will see who reads the blog because I did not post this on Facebook.  

This week will be busy - I certainly hope that I can get everything done.  Changing insurance on cars, picking up my new car, dealing with discipline, two tablet roll-out nights and several other events that must be taken care of in a timely fashion.  Cross your fingers and hope all goes well for me this week and that I can survive!!!