Whew! School is back in session. Over 1300 hormonally charged teenagers are swarming up and down the hallways of our school. Most of them are even going to class! I have been inundated with kids who need schedules and those who want schedule changes. Our freshmen are still trying to find their classes and get there on time. I wouldn’t describe it as chaos, but it isn’t exactly a finely tuned machine yet either!

Yesterday marked my 22nd first day of school as an educator. Its all just a matter of scale. In my first year as a teacher it was all about my five classes and getting my classroom ready. Now? It is all about getting an entire school up and running, trying to make it all come together.

I still love it. I really do.

I just keep coming back for more. Does that make me a masochist? Not really. Those who share my profession understand the lure of the fall, of new beginnings, of really trying to make a difference. Our experience tells us that there will be many trying times in the next nine months. It is an emotional job dealing with teenagers, working with other people’s kids. Already I have visited with kid who was shot over the summer, pregnant girls, other kids with various problems.

A large public high school is like a kaleidoscope of society. We have students who drive new expensive sports cars and students who are homeless. We have kids that colleges are falling over to offer scholarship money and kids who are just trying to scrape through and get that diploma. We have honor students and those who will sell drugs. I really don’t think that the general public knows the challenges that so many of our kids face and that we face in trying to educate them. Ever tried to teach Algebra to a kid who sleeps in a different place each night of the week?

I’m all about trying to improve our student’s performance, of getting those test scores up. We owe it to the students to offer them the highest quality of instruction and to push them to do their very best. But there is also the human needs that have fallen to schools to handle. You wouldn’t believe the stories we hear every day.

But I remain an optimist, having seen so many kids overcome so much and do so well. I want to be part of that, to play my small role in making it happen. I want to deliver that pat on the back, that verbal kick in the rear, that encouraging word, that pointed dose of reality that some kids need.

I want to remain in the game, coach.

Here we go again!
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