I left my house a bit before 7am to get to the school before my 8am start time. I walk through the notorious neighborhood, and it doesn’t look anything like what I expected. The housing projects aren’t the typical high rises, but rather small two-story row homes. Aside from the high proportion of fences, bars and rottweilers, I could have thought I was in Northeastern PA, or any other town that uses row homes. I didn’t see the things that others told me about the neighborhood. We’ll see what happens in the future. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised by the area.
I get to where I think the school is, and the 4 story massive school building is completely covered in scaffolding and black fabric. I double-check the address on my Blackberry’s Google Maps, and indeed I was in the right spot. Yet, there was not a single designation on the street, on the scaffolding or visible on the building that this was a school. For all I knew it could’ve been a factory or some other industrial center–it would have fit the neighborhood.
Once inside, each of the 48+ classrooms have the 14′ high ceilings with the large area in each room. The “offices” are the size of classrooms in my last school. Sure it doesn’t have the elevators or other “modern” conveniences by last school did, but the space certainly makes up for it.
After meeting with the principal, I was given some assignments for the beginning of the year. Apparently, one of the AP’s is on FMLA leave for a few months, so someone needs to take over their assignments. I am now supervising the youngest grades (PreK-2), along with working on safety and the arts. I’m excited about it, especially since I requested a K-8 school so I can gain experience in the younger grades.
All in all, most of what I saw my mentor do today was entirely mundane, but so essential to running a school. She had numerous meetings with contractors, parents and teachers, ensuring that all would be properly prepared for the first day of school. The rest of the afternoon was spent editing handbooks, memos and other documentation that must be handed out to the staff in the next few days. None of the work was glamorous or even fun, really, but it’s all about being ready for the children.
