Back to School

Summer always seemed so much longer when I was a child. The days were endless, the weeks seemed to stretch out forever and I really cannot remember a time that wasn’t sunny!
I have always loved summer.

This July my family took a few weeks away from our home in Bermuda to spend at our cottage on Georgian Bay. Between swimming and sunning and climbing rocks with the boys, I spent a good deal of my time rebuilding a major section of our docks. The job involved prying up old planks, hauling rocks and timber, and sawing and levelling and shimming to give at the least the illusion of being square. But, as with every job like this, most of all, I hammered.

I have to admit, there is something intrinsically satisfying about pounding nails. Unlike people, they generally go where they are needed, stay where they are put and, even when they get a bit rusty, continue to do the job that you ask them to!
Definitely good for the soul!

Aside from this therapeutic hammering, I was faced with an interesting engineering challenge of tearing out an aging infrastructure that had been in place since the cottage was built in 1945 and starting from scratch with a new design, updated materials, and a clean slate. That is not to say that I didn’t have various generations of family critics who lamented the changes and ached for the “good old days” of stepping through rotten boards or tripping on uneven joints. But even they appreciated the eventual outcome which was a blend of the old and the new and provided the opportunity to stand on what was firm and had stood the test of time while appreciating the value of change and growth.

Schools are a bit like my dock. Once in a while you have to tear things out and start over, but for the most part, each school year sees a new and unique blend of the traditional and the innovative, skilled experience and energetic learning on the job and the amazing dynamic that is created when differing approaches combine to create a wonderful learning experience for each child and young adult.

This September was my first back in a school in over 10 years. As the hot and humid days of August wound down, things cranked up in every corner of the campus. Repairs and renovations which had proceeded at a languid pace for the previous month, quickly ramped up with the iminent arrival back of staff and students. Garbage was carted away, floors were stripped and refinished, lawns and fields were mown, the gardens tended and bit by bit the place began to shine in anticipation of the year to come. Late in the month, the faculty began to trickle back in. A hour or two here, a morning there, full days for others and soon the place was humming with the sound of productive effort in each and every classroom.

Schools like to pretend that that first week back of professional activity days and meetings are what starts the school year off on the right foot. But as I stood up at our opening staff meeting and pontificated on my lofty goals for the year, I knew that I was following, not leading, the pack. Ideas had already been shooting around - by email, over drinks on the beach, and even through Facebook - and most of the staff arrived back that Monday morning prepared to hit the ground running. My real role was to keep myself and my leadership team out of the way!

Oh, I held a staff breakfast, and hosted afterschool drinks at our house, but for the most part I became a voyeur as the real work of preparing for our students got underway. The end of the week saw a few teasers for what was to come - an open house for the 3 year olds; a first half-day for the P1s; and a stream of parents and kids parading through to purchase uniforms, check on first day details, and generally try to get a glimpse of their new teachers and classrooms.

Then came Tuesday, the day after Labour Day, when the floodgates openned and a sea of shining faces streamed in. The energy level was palpable; the excitement - electric! Teachers and students alike were genuinely thrilled to see one another after two long months apart.

And so it begins. You know, I have always loved summer - but this year I remembered that I love September even more!