With each passing year that I teach, I become more and more comfortable dealing with upset parents. Things that might have given me an ulcer some years ago barely register on my stress meter.

Case in point: Tonight we hosted a beach bonfire for the music students. It was simple: Kids show up and bring $5. We bring food and wood. Roast some hot dogs, make some smores... watch the sun go down. As long as no one gets any pyromanic inspired ideas, there shouldn't be any problems. And there weren't.

So I advertised the end time at 8 p.m. Mostly so that the parents of 7th graders could come and get them. But I also knew that the high school kids would want to stay until the beach closed (10 p.m.) and I was prepared to stay with them to make sure eveyone got rides, etc. A few of the younger ones left at 8. Most of them started to drift away at around 9. About fifteen kids were left when the Newport Beach Police politely shuffled everyone out at 10.

I get home to find an angry e-mail from a parent who was upset that they came to get their kid (7th grader) at 8, and had to wait an hour before he showed up in the parking lot. They were pissed that they didn't have a contact number to call and say "Hey, where the hell is my kid?"

Now , I can understand their frustration. At the same time, I think that if the kid knew his ride was coming at 8, and didn't bother to wander out there until 9... maybe they shouldn't be letting him out in the world without his own cel phone / homing beacon / tracking device. (I'm sure there's a few transmitters left over from Wild Kingdom)

It also occured to me that had one of the parents gotten out of the vehicle and gone looking for their kid, they would have found us inside of a few minutes, being that the fire pits were located in a single area on the beach and we were the closest one to the parking lot.

Nevertheless I sent a very nice and semi-apologetic e-mail back to the family in question.

*sigh* Sometimes the ants have a hard time walking around the leaf.

Horror Movie Smack-Down

So Palpatine officially responded to the horrendous behavior on behalf of the students (particularly the senior class) via school wide announcement on the PA system on monday. She may have inadvertently thrown down the gauntlet with the class of 08. Studnets were telling me that their classes were laughing much more than they were taking it seriously. As much as I expected.

At the same time, the address was probably inevitable. I don't know what else Palpatine could have done... she couldn't have just said nothing. But I have a sinking feeling that the rogue element of the senior class was more encouraged than they were shamed.
Watching the year play out may be like watching a couple of oversized lizards scream at eachother in Japanese and trash Tokyo as they duke it out.

Ugly is to the bone

There are times when I think that I need to introduce a little more competition into my routine. Then there are other times when I think competition is completely overrated. Take last night's football showdown with our rival school, *THEIR SCHOOL*. What once might have been a healthy rivalry has turned into an excuse for our students to unleash the most foul aspect of their psyche. It was one of the worst examples of crowd behavior at a high school sporting event that I had ever witnessed. There were times when a large block of students stood and chanted in unison "FUCK YOU *THEIR SCHOOL*" across the field. From what I understand, the opposing stands returned in kind. Lets not forget the coaches and parents yelling and cursing at the referees.

Somebody explain to me how this is healthy competition.

And the one time I wouldn't have minded to see Palpatine to go "Yoda" on the rowdy group of students... well, all she managed to do was turn to one of the teachers and say "Go do something about that." (Needless to say, said teacher just gave her a "you've got to be fucking kidding me" look as Palpatine walked away). I guess there wasn't much of anything that anyone can do with a large crowd of intoxicated, unruly adolescents.

And you want to know what the best part is? Someone decided that this would be a good game to feature on Fox Sports.

Of course... we lost. It's not a fair match to begin with. We're not even in *THEIR SCHOOL*'s league. They also have a marching band about four times the size of my band. That's always fun for our self esteem.

But speaking of my little rag-tag band... they did pretty good, considering that we had precious few melody instruments (and the fact that a lot of the experienced players from jazz declined to play with us... even though they were at the game) I had a lot of beginners show up and hang out with us even though they couldn't play any of the music.

That kind of enthusiasm should be rewarded... and it was... today... with four dozen doughnuts.

Odds & Ends

* After being plugged, jammed and permanently locked for the last six years, the door to the choir room suddenly and mysteriously works fine. Same with the lights in the off-shoot locker hallway just outside the music rooms. Both of these things happened without work orders. It helps to have friendly relations with the custodial staff.

* I found that a black widow spider had taken up residence in the rear doorway to my classroom. I stopped to admire it's sleek design, and the boldness with which it built its web and flashed its vermilion warning up at me, defiant of any retribution. This was just seconds before I drowned it in a cone of "RAID"

* Recently, one of my colleagues donated a set of very nice home stereo speakers to my classroom. I set them up in the choir room... I've been meaning for some time to set up a decent sound system in there. Today I bought a stereo receiver, hooked it up to the speakers, plugged my iPod in and let it rip. It was awesome. I juts hope that the wall between us and the history class next door is thick enough to absorb the bass.

* I no longer go to Starbucks in the morning before I go to work. I started to lose a little weight over the summer, and I figured I might as well help it along. No more cheesy or sugary snacks at break. The bowl in my cabinet that used to be filled with candy is now overflowing with health bars. It's a start.

Out of the starting gate

So far this year has started out with a great deal of promise. Going into the first day, I knew that a lot of kids were being funnelled into the music department (some against their will). Fortunately, the admin wasn't set on locking those kids in if they were resistant to being there. Now, a couple of weeks later, the dust has settled somewhat and we still have about 30 more students than have ever been enrolled in the music dept.

I got lucky... no major personality problems. In fact, most of my troubles are logistical. Too many kids, not enough working instruments. Also, I don't exactly know if I can use my regular concert locations... some of my groups might be too big.

But what I have is a dedicated group of kids who are willing to help. My student leadership group is starting out strong. They're jumping on things before I even have a chance to tell them. Also, I have parents coming out of the woodwork to help out. It's really nice.

One parent caught me in the front office as i was checking my mailbox after school and said "I'm so glad you're still here" I thought she meant that she's glad she caught me before I went home. Turns out she was worried that I would leave *MY SCHOOL* after last year.

It's that kind of thing that makes you realize that you're in a good place.

Of course, there are other little rainclouds still roaming around. As nice as Palpatine has been lately, I know that leopards rarely change their spots. Given the fact that I think that my issues with Palpatine ultimately spring from our differences in the way we percieve the universe... well, I think it would take something pretty drastic for her to turn around the way she wants us to think she has.

I hate to sound like a pessimist, but I heard domething yesterday that didn't entirely surprise me. Apparently the drama teacher is now fuming at Palpatine because she told a student to take a sport instead of drama, because "Drama won't get you into a good school"

It's easy for a blind man to board up their windows... they can't miss a sunset they've never seen.