Picture Day

Picture day went off without any significant problems. I signed up to monitor the picture line for both morning sessions, fulfilling my two extracurricular activities for the year. Our job was to check that students were in appropriate dress code for their ID photo, which is also their yearbook picture. Both boys and girls are required to wear a collared shirt; what they wear below the waist is not an issue. The boys are required to be clean shaven and have a proper hair cut--we are a private school. We sent one girl home that had died her hair pink--no outrageous hair colors allowed, 6-8 boys who had not gotten their hair cut short enough, and several young men who did not shave.

One of the boys approached for not shaving was accompanied by his father who objected, asking the teacher, who has a mustache, why his son had to shave when he did not. The teacher did not want to make a scene, so he got another teacher, who was clean shaven, to take over. At this point the father became angry and left with the son. Later they returned and he tried to sneak onto the line again. Those of us who were there noticed and I suggested that we back off and report the incident to the assistant principal in charge. The assistant principal pulled the boy and his father out of the line and sent them home. While most parents are respectful and cooperative, this is an example of the other kind we sometimes have to deal with.

My bike riding this summer has been relaxing and has improved my average blood sugar levels. The cell phone I found earlier this summer was returned to its owner. The next few weeks turned up some found change and a few tennis balls in the street across from a local court. Yesterday I found a credit card at the curb in front of an apartment complex along my regular route. I took it home and called the bank on the card to report I had found it. They took the information and asked me to destroy the card.

On my father’s side of the family I am the 5th of 12 grandchildren. Two of my older cousins have passed away, and another is gravely ill; having contracted a malignant form of brain cancer. She is on her 70’s and has been given only a couple of months to live. Tomorrow I will take my only surviving aunt--my father’s sister--to see my cousin (her niece) in the nursing home where she is living. I promised my aunt I would take her to see my cousin several weeks ago, as much for myself and for her. My cousin’s sister-in-law will also be coming. I don’t know what to expect when I see her. We hope that she will be feeling well enough to go to lunch with us, having been told by her children that she is able to make short trips if she is strong enough that day. At any rate, I am fairly certain that it will be the last time I see her alive.

The To-Do List

Last Monday marked the end of a very uncomfortable week at our home. On the 4th of July our central air conditioner broke, leaving us exposed to the oppressive summer heat. It was a failed weld on the heat exchanger that allowed all the Freon to escape. The part was still under warranty, but a replacement had to be sent from the warehouse and could not be installed until Monday. The house is cool now and everything is back to normal.

Yesterday I was able to access my AP Chemistry scores from the College Board website. Almost all of my students did quite well. Those who did not achieve as I would have liked were no surprise. On a national basis, somewhere between 50 and 60% of students taking the exam get a high enough grade to receive some kind of college credit for taking the class. In my two classes almost 80% scored this well. Every year I invite all my students who score well enough to receive college credit out to dinner sometime during the next school year. There will be 30 students who qualify from this year’s class. Last year 15 out of 24 students who qualified went to dinner with my wife and I in March. I would like to have the dinner earlier this year, maybe as part of the homecoming week celebration in September.

Tomorrow, a new garage door is being installed. I have spent the last three days cleaning out the garage of all the accumulated junk so the door can be installed. Most of the junk in the garage consisted of left over materials from our home remodeling; including 17 interior doors that were replaced. The old doors were solid wood with an oak veneer. They proved too difficult to refinish and we ended up replacing all of them instead. I hate throwing anything away, so they were stored in the garage in the hopes of finding some use for them. I wanted to cut them in half and use them for wainscoting in the finished basement, but my wife said no. I ended up advertising them on Craig’s List and found someone who wanted them to build a privacy fence in his back yard. I kept one, along with the two parts to an old vanity to make a new workbench. After the doors were removed I purged four garbage cans of junk and useless building materials leaving a clean, organized, and almost empty garage. With the instillation of the new garage door tomorrow most of my summer projects will be complete.

My summer routine has slowly evolved. I get up at seven and have coffee and something to eat; on the deck if the weather permits. I work on school related things for next year for about one to two hours on my laptop—on the deck as well—then go for my daily bike ride. When I return I check my blood sugar, eat lunch, and shower. The rest of the afternoon I work on my summer to-do list until dinner. Once a week, usually on Monday, I go out for breakfast, go to school, work for several hours, then run errands. On those days I usually skip the bike ride. My next home project will be to order some mulch and spread it around where needed in the yard, and then make some needed repairs on the storage shed. If all goes well and my wife doesn’t add any new jobs to my list, I should have two or three weeks of complete rest before the grind of a new school year begins.

Summer's Half-Way Point

The 4th of July is my birthday. In my younger years, the 4th was always a family get-together. The event started at the home of my mother’s cousin who had a home on 2 acres and attracted from 50 to 60 relatives. Most of those people are dead now and as my mother’s cousin became ill the event broke up into several smaller parties. My uncle took over about 25 years ago; the attendance becoming my grandmother and her 5 children, 20 grandchildren, and 12 great grandchildren. Twelve years ago we stopped getting together on the 4th and replaced it with a family reunion later in July. This is run by my two uncles on my mother’s side, and will eventually fall to their sons when they leave us. Only 3 of my grandmother’s 5 children are still with us, my mother and one of her sisters having passed away. Since the death of my older cousin in a car accident 30 years ago I have been the oldest of the grandchildren. This reunion is literally the only time I see some of my cousins because they live out of town and don’t come in for Christmas. We get together again this year on July 25th and I am looking forward to it.

Most teachers at my school consider the 4th of July holiday the half-way point in the summer vacation. We just received information about picture day, July 23rd. Every summer, on the last day of summer school, the school schedules new ID pictures for all students. The students come in and have a new photo taken; the photo is used to generate a new student ID for next school year and doubles as their yearbook photo. At the same time, students pick up their new schedule for September, and find out who their teachers will be for the next school year. Students who have a problem with their schedule, or just want to change it have an opportunity to speak with the registrar. Needless to say, the line outside her office is 20 deep for hours.

The next several weeks after ID day I will field numerous calls to have students moved from one level of Biology to another. Usually, the parent wants her son or daughter moved into Honors Biology. The reason given for the placement request is that the feel that their student belongs in a higher level. In reality, it is because they have found that their son or daughter has been placed in a particular teacher’s class and, because they have heard bad things about this teacher, they want them moved to another. The registrar will not move students because of a request like this--only the principal has the authority to change teachers within a level, so the parent contacts me (department chairman) to request the level change; which would result in the teacher change they wanted in the first place. We are aware of this ploy, and I turn their names over to the Honors Biology teacher who makes the final decision--which is almost always no.

I usually volunteer to help supervise the picture line on this day; giving me a chance to visit with former students as they line up to have their photo taken as well as catching up with colleagues I don’t have contact with during the summer. Teachers are required to “volunteer” for two activities every school year, and since we all have to come in to have our ID photo’s taken anyway, my attendance takes care of one of these. I also hope to meet with the new Physics/Chemistry teacher on this day and get her up to date with the Chemistry syllabus. She has already meet with the Physics teacher and been brought up to speed with him. If things go well I will be home by noon.