As certainly as the final bell rings for the summer vacation, the beginning bell for summer school will ring shortly thereafter to summon all those with less than stellar grades to recoup credits failed during the regular session. This summer it will be my fourth year to share my vacation with these precious souls. I mean this sincerely in that I actually enjoy the role of summer school principal. It amazes me to see these kids suddenly take seriously the same curriculum they chose to sleep through in the fall. This year I chose the summer theme, “The Spirit of Excellence” with a patriotic theme, not only to encourage the students to do there best in this election year, but to also remind myself I am working for Uncle Sam, who has found it quite comical to thrust me into a new tax bracket!
I started planning summer school about a month ago with a lot of help of folks who have a tighter grip on the new “budget.” This year we would only run classes that are full, only enroll students with “F’s” (No “D’s) and absolutely no “go-aheads” for students to take extra electives in their schedules. Even with these limitations we still managed to enroll approximately 1200 students for the session. I began hiring teachers based on last years enrollment, trying to take in to account the restrictions on enrollment. Despite mybest efforts, math classes simply did not fill and I was forced to “hire,then fire” three math teachers. My heart broke as I received an email from one of those teachers asking to be put on the sub list lest he “lose his house” this summer. This is NOT my favorite part of the process!
Yet another challenge in addition to “staying within the budget” was the fact that there would be no middle school session this summer and all the special education students needed to be “housed” on our campus. This was quite the challenge in that our high school physical plant was not designed to accommodate 24 special education classrooms in which most needed ADA restrooms as well as five areas for diapering students. Because of a recent bond issue, the campus, which houses most of the district’s severely handicapped students, was under construction for the summer. Finding facilities suitable for these students was might I say, challenging! Diapering students in biology labs isn’t the best scenario, but despite limitations we learn to make do. I have never quite understood how a law suit which pertained to equal access in public transportation translated into forcing extremely handicapped students into the backs public education is good or the “least restrictive environment” for them but who am I to question the wisdom on those who sit on the bench. Obviously these judges have never attempted to diaper a student in a Biology lab or with limited funding attempted to accommodate their special needs in lieu of purchasing new textbooks or fix a leaky roof. But someone saw the wisdom that each public school must accommodate the needs of ONE while thirty-six students sit with raindripping on their heads. To me it doesn’t take much “horse-sense” to see that the few students with severe disabilities should have their own facilities and funding to indeed assist their needs rather than forcing ALL public schools to produce “less than adequate” substitutions using meager funding.
OK… I went there, now moving on. This summer we have 51 teachers, 70 special education aides, 9 campus supervisors, 4 clerical, 2 counselors and 2 administrators serving students from two comprehensive high schools and a magnet high school. I was thrilled I was given an awesome team of professionals who were fun but knew how to get the job done! One counselor and my assistant principal was from the other comprehensive high school, the second counselor was from my high school and I haven’t stopped laughing yet. I think I will put our show on the road! In an attempt to break my assistant principal from wearing “his” school colors, I challenged him to a bet that the school administrator whose school had the most discipline referrals would have to wear the other school’s colors weekly. Should I mention that I lost that bet the first week and was “paraded” around during the break wearing the other schools colors! In my shame, I would much rather the students take pride in their school colors rather than their gang colors.
Inaddition to meeting with the staff regarding rules and regulations, I took time the first day to read them to students. “Summer School is a privilege, not a right.” Although I do not like to dismiss students from summer school, repeat offenders are dropped from the session. Students must earn 56 hours of seat time; showing up late or ditching class also eventually results in a drop from the session. When a student is sent to the office with a referral they automatically lose an hour of attendance which factors into their allowed 6 hours before they are dropped from a class. Need I say more, summer school runs itself! Makes one wonder, how different the regular year would be if education was indeed a privilege instead of a “right”?
