This may be a short post but I wanted to post this week. One of the changes from SC to CA is that when budget cuts hit in CA, teacher contract days were reduced. Many districts decide to extend Thanskgiving Break, Christmas Break and provide for a winter break in February as well. I am in a district that starts late (last week of August), takes a week for Thanksgiving Break, two weeks at Christmas, and gets out the first week of June. There are other districts that start earlier in August, take a week at Thanksgiving, three at Christmas, one the end of February and then still have a Spring Break.
The one thing that is similar is that the days leading up to these breaks are always a little odd and crazy at school. Last year we had a few students who came to school drunk or tried to drink at school but literally only twice. We did have students with marijuana on campus and those that would smoke before school and come on campus. We also had students who had drug paraphernalia such as bongs and such they would bring. In SC I remember a lot of students coming to school drunk or those that would bring pills to try and sell and occasionally marijuana but not like there is at the school I am at now. However, remember I was not an assistant principal in SC. But I was friends with a variety of people who would share these stories with me about what was happening with students in discipline. So this past week was busy with a number of students who came to school drunk, was drinking at school, we had some who made marijuana brownies and brought them to school, another that was selling cocaine, and then the normal marijuana that kids bring. Now the crazy thing - all of this was with our 9th grade students! We have a tough group of 9th graders this year and this is just another challenge for us at school. Usually the drug dog comes in but we did not have the drug dog this week for whatever reason. Needless to say, we do have a lot of students who are not out on suspension and some being recommended for explosion as well.
I was also sick this week. At the beginning of the week I ended up with my mom's cold that she brought from SC when she visited last week. This past weekend, I started feeling badly but Monday and Tuesday was tough with a headache and nasal congestion. I have been surviving off of Dayquil, Nyquil and Afrin Saturday through Thursday and finally started feeling better on Friday and was able to go the day with only one dose of Dayquil in the morning. I got home on Friday and was able to clean the entire apartment and start laundry. On Saturday I got up early and went to workout at the gym. I was suppose to meet a friend in the morning but they canceled on me due to them being sick. While I am really bummed about it, I completely understand. So Saturday I spent the morning dropping off my boots to have new heels put on them, running errands for the last of the Christmas presents I needed. I was also able to use the time to get all the laundry done and get all the gifts labeled and put into bags. While I did not get Christmas decorations up, there is not really many to be put up and my plan is to do that on Thursday.
This week I am looking forward to some rest, reading, some time with friends and working on the PhD. The deadline is May so I have to get on top of things and get it done. I hope that all of you are doing excellent and looking forward to a restful week.
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