Goodbyes, Hellos, and The Wildest Week of the Year

I always kind of figured I’d finish out the year at ZV Elementary School.  I had been there since August and was having a great year as an Assistant Principal Intern.  My colleagues were congenial, my boss was inspiring, and the kids were freaking adorable.  But this week everything changed.  Sparked by an Assistant Principal's abrupt departure at a local high school, I was invited to interview for the open position on Monday.  By that afternoon, I had the job offer.  I spent the next few days in a fever, trying to simultaneously wrap everything up at ZV while preparing for my new job as an official Assistant Principal at NV High School.  It was a crazy week, but no two days were crazier – or more different – than my last day at one school and my first day at the other.

Goodbye, Soaring Eagles

I arrived to school early on Thursday so I wouldn’t miss a single kid getting off the buses or being dropped off by their parents.  They didn’t know it yet, but it was my last day at ZV, home of the Soaring Eagles, and arguably the best and highest performing school in the county.  As the kids poured off the bus, I gave them each a high five or a fist bump.  After my first day back in August, I had never forgotten the power of my hand.  To the kids, there was something magical and empowering about bumping fists with Mr. Olsen.

From there I went into our media center where our principal does the morning announcements via video feed.  At the end of her routine, she passed the time over to me, and I announced my departure and new assignment.  As I bid farewell to the students, the camera captured my internal struggle to mitigate my emotions.

I spent as much of the day as I could out and about among the students.  I played with them at recess, poked my head into their classrooms for a wave, and had lunch with them in the cafeteria.  In return I received lots of hugs, fist bumps, and questions from kids with puzzled countenances: “Why are you leaving us?”  “Do you have to go?”

Later that afternoon while I was finishing up some paperwork, Kaylie, one of my favorite students and the most adorable little kindergartner in the building, brought me a card that she and her classmates had made for me.  They had drawn pictures of me, pictures of them, hearts, and some of them seemed to just put down a smattering of all the shapes, letters and numbers that they knew.  It was a precious gift, and it wasn’t the only one I received that day.  I later got similar cards from the second graders, then from the third.

By the end of the day, I was exhausted.  I had so many loose ends to tie up and so many kids to say goodbye to.  I simply couldn’t do it all.  After I had sent the kids off on the buses, Ms. Garrison, my mentor and principal, asked me to come into the media center.  When I arrived, the ZV faculty and staff were waiting for me with a round of applause and a table covered in cupcakes in our school colors.  I instantly turned red and experienced that rush of awkward emotionalism where you don’t really know what to say or how to act.

“No matter where you go, you’ll always be a Soaring Eagle and a member of the ZV Family,” Ms. Garrison eulogized.  She then thanked me for my service.  I, in turn, thanked her and everyone there.

“I have learned so much from all of you,” I said.  “My goal is now to take that knowledge and apply it to other needier schools in the district.”

One by one, members of the staff came by to wish me good luck.  One by one, the cupcakes were devoured.  One by one, the cars in the parking lot disappeared from sight until it was just me and the custodians left.

Welcome to NV High School, Home of the Vikings

I knew that my life as an AP at a low-performing high school would be dramatically different from my life as an AP Intern at a high-performing elementary school.  That prudent forethought is probably what saved me.  Had I not properly prepared myself mentally for what lay in store, yesterday may have done me in.

I arrived early in the morning, at about 6:45.  I entered my office.  As I flipped the light switch and the fluorescent bulbs awoke and buzzed over my head, I discovered a small, barren desk before me without a computer or printer.  There wasn’t even a chair behind it to sit in.  A custodian - an affable guy everyone called Hollywood - said he’d see if he could find me a chair, and I thanked him for it.

I put my bag on the desk to spruce the place up a bit.

I eventually met my new boss, Dr. Jerry Butterfield, at my morning duty station, an area known as “The Crossroads”.

“This is where it all happens,” said Dr. Butterfield.  “If there is a fight, you’ll see it from here.”

The two of us talked through some logistics and protocols for fights, cursing, disrespect, hats, and headphones.  Dr. Butterfield is a giant of a man.  He stands about 6’5” and probably weighs in around 275 lbs.  He was once the most highly recruited football player out of Vance County, and after playing college football at UNC, he had a short career in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals.  I looked up to him as he fired off about kids and laying down the law.

The first students started to enter the building around 7:30.  Early on, a group of black girls were walking towards us, and I heard them whispering and saw them looking at me.  Two of the girls were smiling, but one had a distinct scowl on her face.  Just as the passed us and moved further down the hall, the skeptical one said loudly and with attitude, “I don’t know that man.  He cute, but I don’t know him.”

During the rest of my morning duty with Dr. Butterfield, we kept getting interrupted by a steady stream of students – my former students – who wanted to come by and say hello.  I was surprised at how many of the kids I actually knew, and was very pleased to be seeing some of them again.  I got a few hugs from the girls, a few handshakes and tepid smiles from the guys, and in a few cases I was stuck in that awkward situation of trying to remember a name from years ago.  I ended up just saying something general like, “Hey you,” or “Oh my goodness, look who it is,” then just moving the conversation forward.

I suspended my first student before 9:00 a.m.  If I was under any illusions about the way life was going to be at high school, they quickly evaporated.  After that I got a call from Butterfield on my radio to meet him at the Crossroads, where he was about to deal with a student that had just cussed him out.  I got there in time to see another suspension take place.  Then we got a call from a teacher who said that two of his students had simply walked out of class.  The day had hardly begun, and already I had processed more suspensions in an hour at NV than I had in seven months at ZV.

The day continued in that same vein.  I met a lot of new students, connected with a lot of formers, and put out one fire after another.  My radio never stopped calling me to another crisis.  Lunchtime at the cafeteria was a circus.  Couples were kissing and and touching in ways that I will not detail.  Boys sagged their pants and wore their hats in front of teachers and administrators without a hint of remorse.  Everyone seemed to have their cell phones out and ear buds in.  Dr. Butterfield, who was standing right there with me, told me in no uncertain terms that this behavior was not tolerated at NV.  But as I looked around at what the students were doing, and then at what the staff – even Dr. Butterfield – was doing, and it made me think that if this kind of behavior wasn’t tolerated, we’re doing a pretty bang-up job not tolerating it.  Trying to follow the orders of my superiors, I told several students to take off their hoods or put away their phones throughout the day, only to see the same students doing the same things an hour later.

Channeling my inner-Joe Clarke

The day was a marathon.  It wasn’t until 3:45 that I realized that I hadn’t sat down or eaten all day.  My lunch tasted especially delicious.  Then I realized I hadn’t used the bathroom all day, either, so I made my way to the faculty lounge, which also has the faculty bathrooms in it.  When I got to the door it was locked, and I still hadn’t been given a key.  So, to avoid an accident on my first day, I went into the boy’s bathroom down the hall.  I entered the poorly-lit bathroom that felt more like a prison cell and inhaled the gag-inducing combination of urine and smoke.  I looked at the dirty walls and inspected the creative profanity etched or markered upon them.  I held my breath and did my business as quickly as I could.  As I rushed over to wash my hands, I noticed that there were soggy cigarette butts in two of the three sinks.

I returned to my office (which now had a chair, thanks to Hollywood) and took off my shoes to rub my aching feet.  I turned on some music and went to work documenting my day’s activities and organizing my office.  No one ever came to see me.  I poked my head into the hallway a few times, but all was quiet except for the speakers on my computer.  Everyone had left in a rush, as is the custom on Friday afternoons.  I worked until dark then walked to my car – the only one left in the lot – and drove south to pick up Celeste.