As an administrator, there is no such thing as a “break” from school. When teachers are taking the time recharge and rejuvenate, administrators are busy planning for next year and doing all the behind the scene things that teachers never see.
As a teacher, I looked forward to time to spend with my children. Summer was a great time to bond, do the theme park thing, and really get all of the much needed mini house repairs that I had been putting off for months. Don’t get me wrong, my husband was good at getting these things done throughout the school year, but when it came time for summer, I could really ramp up the honey-do list.
I haven’t been a teacher for almost a decade so I really can’t remember too much what it felt like to take time for myself. As an administrator, I only get a week here or there – whenever I feel like I can step away. This year, I have taken my year right away – COVID really made it necessary.
Currently, I am sitting in a cabin in Georgia which happens to also be on a lake. My daughter is happy – she can go out on the canoe any time she wants and the hot tub is fair game. My husband is happy – there is a dock that he can walk down to and go fishing 24/7 if his heart desires. For me, it’s a time to unplug, recharge, and spend quality time with my dog, Apollo, the Cavalier King Charles pup that follows me everywhere. (It’s ok that you just googled what a Cavalier King Charles is – and yes – I have a tri-colored). I didn’t realize until right now how badly I need this time.
This summer is bitter sweet for me. We all struggled with how COVID was effecting our school and luckily we put the right protocols in place that our teachers adhered to so our exposure to COVID was minimal (I can say this because we had a parent call every few weeks about an exposure of a student who hadn’t been in school for a while when I would also receive a call daily from my daughter’s public high school due to exposure at the school. There was even one point that they called to tell me on day 10 that my daughter was supposed to be quarantined due to exposure until that day. Again I digress.)
Back to why it’s bittersweet – I’m going to miss some very important people in my life. Firstly, I have an amazing member of my Student Services team that is moving to a school closer to her home. I get it. I understand. If I could avoid the 40 mile per direction commute I would, but this person really helps to lift my spirit and let me know I am not alone. I will truly miss seeing Ms. Gonzalez every day – but hopefully we will get our podcast started so I know it’s “temporary” as far as not seeing her everyday, but it will not ever be the same.
There have been some shifts in the teachers within the building, too. We have an amazing Civics teacher who has been recognized by the company as the amazing person that they are so she will be gone more than she will be on campus. That saddens me, but I know that Ms. Lopez and I will spend our birthday together so there is always something to look forward to.
Lastly, every time we move on to another year, we lose students. I will definitely miss our 8th graders – especially Malik. He was the first student to accept me as a new member of the admin team and when it was his last day he was so frustrated and couldn’t understand why he was crying so hard. It’s ok – we’ll miss you, too.
Now as I spend time on vacation – as unplugged as I can be in the mountains of Georgia with a laptop and a little wifi – I will recharge and refocus for the wonderful possibilities a new school year can bring.
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