February 10 - 22
OMG!!! It is Monday at 2:00 pm and the natives are restless. Someone must have put something in the water. At 2:00 today there was a fight over a cell phone between friends, a kid that disappeared from the office and reports of students and Facebook messages being sent back and forth about trying to buy guns. I really feel like there should be a handbook for all Assistant Principals electronically that is updated each day when these items come up. I mean, I am learning so much about all of this. It is "On The Job Training!!" So between 2:00 and 4:00 pm it was crazy kid stuff with items from over the weekends and fights that have occurred. I mean really, some of the things are nutty. My friends and I in high school did some crazy things to each other but we knew when to stop. Apparently this past weekend on Friday, a group of kids egged another student from another school's house. On Saturday the kids went back to the house they egged to apologize and got into a huge fight with the family which resulted in physical punches. A different group of kids were gong to go back and make things right and apologize on Sunday- really???? I mean when they did not accept the apology the first time, what makes you think it is going to work out the next time??? Well the word is the dad of the family had a gun and threatened the kids with a gun. So now we are in investigations with other schools, their SRO's and students trying to figure out the real story and what we can do to end the problem and get the kids to move on so everyone is safe.
Tonight we also had our Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) meeting at the school. This included an opportunity for students, teachers, parents, community members and anyone else to talk about the needs of the school and what the district can do to ensure that all students are successful. The meeting called for a lot of interaction and statements about what North can do to help students be successful. The comments were very interesting and insightful as to what students, teachers and the community would like. It will be interesting to see what is put together for the entire district as far as needs and desires.
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| LCAP Meeting |
This week has been nutty. On Monday we had another issue with kids in the back of the school so now we have two issues going on at the school. Issue 1) We had a group of kids decide to work with another group of students from a neighboring high school to egg a house. Then they went back to apologize for egging the house and the one kid got beat up. So then they group that egged went back to try and apologize again and dad came out with a gun, or so we are told. Ummm…. really, you go back to apologize????? Do these kids think we are idiots??? Needless to say this has contented to blow up and the police are involved now. There was a three hour meeting between the schools the other day to try and come to some kind of solution for this whole situation. To top it off these are athletes and basketball no less, which we are in season and now while we are investigating the situation, there are people who are saying the schools are dragging their feet. Which is not true. The truth is that we have Issue 2. Issue 2) we are having some Hispanic students arguing with some African American students which is causing a lot of problems that we are dealing with for the safety of all of our students. This has taken hours upon hours to deal with because we don't have any one incident that is leading up to the issues. We have many different kids involved. We have a lot of non-students and adults that seem to be causing some problems and we are having to bring in parents and have conversations with them about the situation, hence rehashing the story and getting more information then piecing together what we know. It has been a very long week and therefore a lot has not gotten done that I was hoping to do. The other assistant principal, RIch is dong a great job helping to try and deal with all of this while showing / teaching me as well. One of the student brought brass knuckles to school and when I called the SRO to ask when he would be in and told him, he said, Leann, those are serious. I said thank you, please come….LOL!!! Victor is training me as well. I would like to remind people that being an Assistant Principal is literally "On the job training." No possible admin / ed leadership class can prepare your for gangs, he said; she said, YA YA Girls, fights or the zillion of other things that come up. I just hope that my judgement and handling of situations is appropriate and I thank goodness I have Rich who I can ask questions to and a secretary who smiles and bears it all with me. Thank you Jaque!!!!
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In case you did not know what Brass Knuckles look like.
So I have off on Thursday to fly to NYC to spend time with the ATC girls. However the storms are coming through the east and while I have called Delta to see about re-routing I can't do anything. So I am off on my way at 5:00 am to get to my plane and am not sure whether I will make it to NYC or not. The agents at Delta told me that if they were letting me leave San Diego that I would make it to NYC but I am wondering if they are just talking to make me happy. I go ahead and check in and as I am in the terminal I find out that the other girls will not be joining me, their flight is canceled. They are going to try and rebook for Friday but I am on my way and will be getting to the city by 8:00 pm. It was pretty uneventful except for the pilot for the Atlanta --> LaGuardia was caught in Washington so we they had to find another pilot. The were able to do that and we got going by 5:00 pm. When I go to NYC I took a Shuttle from the airport to the hotel and it was the worst shuttle driver ever, I swear I was going to throw up or he was going to kill us with his stop / go / quick turns and crazy driving. I have driven almost all over the US, including northern states but he was nutty with the rain, sleet and snow that was all around. I got to the hotel about 9:00 pm finally and was just tired from traveling. I got a grilled cheese from the restaurant and came to the room to watch the Olympics. The hotel is called the Hudson Hotel and it is very Retro Sheik. Very compact, cute and reminds me of being in IKEA! Putting four girls in here is going to be interesting. Good thing it is only for three nights, since I am here by myself tonight. LOL!!! Looking forward to the weekend and exploring NYC while I am also hoping that Squeak is alive and well in CA!
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| 911 Memorial |
New York was amazing. I left Thursday morning with no problems at all and made it there through Atlanta and to LaGuardia with no delays. However, my friends that were suppose to meet me there on Thursday night had their flight canceled out of Columbia. They rescheduled and had their flight canceled on Friday morning as well out of Greenville. It took awhile but they finally made it out of Greenville to Atlanta and then to New York to join me. On Friday night we walked down through Times Square and hit the largest Macy's EVER!!! It was nice to see where the parade takes place. On Saturday we did a tour of the entire city with a company and got to see the highlights and most talked about attractions. On Sunday, we went to see a Broadway Show. We saw Cinderella and it was magnificent!! The costume changes were amazing and the music was fabulous!!!! We also went to Grand Central Terminal and the building is BEAUTIFUL!!! Well worth the trip to see. The trip home was another story. When we got to LaGuadia we had plenty of time to make it to the terminal and get on the plane. I had to go to a different terminal to fly to San Diego and actually made it on the plane. The problem is that once they put us on the plane, they made us de-plane due to mechanical issues. When I got off the plane there was a huge line at the gate and I knew that I would not be able to get through the line in time. I checked my Delta App on the phone and it told me it could not re-route me. I called the Customer Service line and it read my SkyMiles card number and told me gate C18 was my new gate. I turned and went to gate C18 and there was no one there!!!!! A nice man named Muhammod was there and searched for me a new flight. He got me a flight from JFK to San Diego if I could make it to JFK by 7:10 pm. I asked him how he would suggest I get there if there was a bus or subway and he ordered me a car in which Delta would paid for. When I asked about my bag, he said it would be delivered to my house since it was Delta's mechanical problem but it would not get there for a bit. I told him that was fine and headed to the car. Needless to say I made it to San Diego and home so I could be at work on Tuesday. Now, there are pictures on my Facebook page in case you would like to look. My bag arrived on Wednesday morning at 1:00 am, but no, I did not get up for it. I just let it sit on the porch until the morning. :) I will say that I think Squeak missed me. She has been following me around and crying all week! Just look at this cute face!!!
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| My Squeak |
This week has been a little nutty at work. Lots to do and not enough time to do it in. Busy, busy, busy. One of the AP's is away because his daughter is getting married and therefore the discipline has increased. This is not a huge deal other than the fact I have not really had time to get to the students. Tuesday we did Action Walks all morning and then I retaught the DOK during 4th, lunch duty and PTSA meeting followed by meetings with parents who have students with chronic absences. Wednesday was a expulsion hearing, lunch and learn, meeting with a teacher and then a program coordinators meeting. I got to see students on Wed morning for awhile. On Thursday, I had to go and talk with another teacher, did some discipline, taught DOK again and then we had a staff meeting as well as School Site Meetings and PTSA that night. We also announced the John W. North Teacher of the year. Carolina who is wonderful. She does a lot for students on campus and is amazing. On Friday we had the admin meeting until 11:00, a fight, lunch duty, a testing coordinator meeting and then an IEP meeting. It has just kinda been never-ending. I am not complaining - I like the busyness of the schedule and the life of an Assistant Principal. It is fun to try and fit it all in. So, guess what I will be doing this week - seeing kids!!!!!
On Saturday, I went to work at 7:40 am to be there for Saturday school, CAHSEE Boot Camp and to see about getting some work done. Well, let's just say how evil I am, I did discipline while I was there. I got the kids that were there for Saturday school so I did not have to call them to the office this week. Hee Hee Hee!!!! It was not near as many as I would have liked there to be but it was a start!!! At 2:00 pm I was at Party at the Plaza, a open house at a shopping center to showcase the schools in the area. It was a very large turnout and very interesting. Needless to say, I "Shut the Plaza Down," or at least the party. I was there until 4:00 pm and then cleaned up with the kids. It was a fun time and I got to see some of the other schools.
So as I type this tonight, I am sitting in a freshly cleaned apartment from Friday on a newly made bed with fresh sheets and a cute kitty curled up with me as I finish up some correspondence. I am excited about tomorrow, Sunday. Jessica and I are going to get our nails done and then to cook dinner for tomorrow night. I am hoping to get some laundry ironed as well. So, even though I am not in SC, the tasks are still the same - gotta have ironed clothes for work. The Joe R. Adair Outfit does not cut it anymore. LOL!!!!
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