Cleaning Up Other People's Mess
Almost a month ago I participated in our school's music theater production. At the drama teacher's request, I assembled and conducted a pit orchestra. We did pretty good. The roster included eight hired guns. I submitted all the invoice information to our drama teacher, who passed it on to ASB.
Last week I discovered that no one has been paid yet. I went to check on it, only to find that there was a lot of red tape holding everything up. Procedures weren't followed... the proper paperwork wasn't filled out... I don't know how it's going to work out.
I shouldn't feel responsible, but I was the one who contacted these people and I feel like it's my reputation on the line. Illustrious Drama Teacher doesn't have to move and work in the music circles, but I do... and in the interest of keeping good relations with these folks, I'm going to follow up on it until it resolves.
the problem is... I doubt any of these people will work for us again.
Choosing Your Battles
Last week there was also a big meeting where the representatives from three schools got together and negotiated the use of the big district theater facility. Our school was supposed to have first pick for dates in the second semester. I submitted my requested dates (only two, mind you) to the New Republic High School rep (the drama teacher, no less) and trusted that it would all work out.
I didn't get my June date... in fact I didn't get any date in June. I got bumped out of the theater all together.
Now... before I went into a volcanic outrage - I checked in with some of my NRHS art teacher colleagues. Apparently, nobody really walked away with what they wanted, except perhaps my colleague over at Rival High School, whose classroom sits right behind the theater itself.
Now, there's a lot of issue here, more than I can blog about right now (lucky you). One of them is the argument about whether or not that theater is a school facility or a district facility. It really shouldn't be an argument, since the folks on Mount Olympus (The district admin) have said repeatedly that it's a district facility, thus pulling any favoritism from the home school. At the same time, I do sympathize with the PA teachers at RHS - If I had a stage connected to my own classroom but had to sacrifice small animals to pagan gods just to get to use it, I'd be pretty upset as well.
Principal Leto was involved, although he was decidedly biased free when it came to meeting the needs of the PA programs from various campuses. I think he was the one who ultimately pushed my dates off of the June calendar. Part of me was pissed that he didn't fight for my dates more, but at the same time I know what kind of a guy he is - he's not going to look out for just his own campus - he is a former PA teacher himself, and he's trying to take care of everyone involved. The only thing I can really fault him for is not sharing the outcome of that meeting with me directly - I had to find out a couple days later by looking at the finalized calendar that was e-mailed out. (He did apologize for that - sincerely)
The truth is, I've always been a little uncomfortable performing at Sister School. I usually end up using my colleague's rooms as holding tanks - and I always have to worry about how respectful my kids are being to his facility. I'd much rather perform at the local university - I know the orchestra director very well, and he gets me one of the recital halls for dirt cheap. It's a better stage for instrumental performances, and it's easier to keep the kids contained. Also, I could go the really easy route and just host my June concert outdoors here at NRHS - with the only problem being the accoustics. It's only the principle of the thing that bothers me - why promise first pick when I end up getting no pick at all? It seems the system needs re-working... as many people have noted.
The one thing I hope that makes it's way back up to Mount Olympus is that it would be in the god's best interest if they built a a PA facility at NHRS that was capable of relieving some of the stress of splitting the theater at RHS between three high schools.
In the mean time, it looks as if I'll continue to rely on off-campus facilities for my programs.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Just Like Everybody Else
I have a love/hate relationship with special education. On one hand, a lot of the special ed students have been some of the sweetest kids I've known, and I really enjoy working with them. Other times, however, I feel like I'm overburdened with an abundance of them in my classes - particularly choir. There was one year when one of the special ed teachers sent me her entire caseload of 10 kids (a third of my overall class) simply because she wanted extra time for prep. 10 special ed kids in one class with no aide.... yeah...
The worst case I had was years ago - a kid named Scotty. He was enrolled in my beginning instruments class - for what reason I can't imagine, other than he refused to go into choir. The big problem with Scotty was that he was so needy that I couldn't work with anyone else when he was there. After two weeks of ignoring about twenty other kids, I finally said something to the S.E. director (a friend of mine) who basically responded with "I'm Sorry" and "Mainstreaming is required by law."
I hate going over peoples head, but I did that time - It wasn't a matter of adjusting a lesson plan or coming up with an alternative process to accommodate Scotty's needs - I couldn't meet the needs of the class with Scotty there. So I went to the principal, and he forced a compromise - Scotty would attend the class two days a week. The S.E. director said it wasn't enough, but I wouldn't let go of the fact that he was still getting far more individual attention that the rest of the class. She wasn't happy with me, but I think she eventually forgave me.... I think... my parting comment from that meeting probably didn't help - "Look, I know you're looking out for Scotty's needs - I'm trying to do that, but I need to look out for everyone else's needs too, and it's frustrating that you're not helping me do that."
For the next two months I found myself working overtime to come up with alternative lessons for Scotty. I'm not complaining about that - I made a deal, and I was determined to see it right. Besides, I came up with some techniques that proved helpful for other students later on down the line. Then suddenly Scotty disappeared - transferred or moved, I can't remember which. Go figure.
Over the years I've developed a reputation for being one of the "friendly" teachers to Special Ed. I don't mind that at all, but sometimes when you get 8+ special needs kids in a single class, then it starts to feel like the purpose of the class is to mainstream the Special Ed. students. My friend the S.E. chair and I argued about that on more than one occasion.
This year hasn't been too bad. I mean, yeah.... I have Autistic Billy - who, need I remind you, is the district's most problematic case. I mean, I can't tell you how many times some random person with a clipboard has shown up during choir to watch Billy for a few minutes - sometimes in pairs. But besides being a little quirky, Billy isn't all that bad. He's even managed to behave himself in concert (a fact that reminds me - God sometimes cuts me a break). Maybe it's just because choir is early in the day, and he doesn't have time to crank up his tantrums... I don;t know, but I'm not pushing it.
I have five other Spec. Ed. kids in the class - and except for the little Vietnamese girls who occasionally gets out of her chair, and runs/stomps around the room before being corralled back to her place (yeah.. she runs and stomps at the same time - I can't explain it...) they are barely noticeable. They're all pretty nice, and they all seem to be having a good time. Funny thing about autistic kids (which shouldn't be a surprise, really) they are usually really good at memorizing songs.
The one who's got me a little worried at the moment is little Odette -who previously only mildly annoyed me by persisting to ask every single day when the day of the next concert is, and what she is supposed to wear (I know... it's an 'autistic thing', so I let it roll. Eventually it became part of my routine - take roll, answer Odette's questions, send her back to her seat and then do warm ups.)
But recently Odette has decided that she's going to join my advanced choir - a heavy SATB group that regularly works on stuff like Vivaldi, Mozart and what not. Her family got her into voice lessons to prepare her for the audition.
I fear that audition... fear it like a drunk fears election day. I mean, of course I'm not going to prevent, nor even discourage her from auditioning... but folks, I've had her in choir for two years now... I know how she sings. She can hold a melody and she's aggressive about trying out for solos (she actually got one once) but she's not capable of harmonizing or holding her own in a polyphonic setting. I just don't see how it could work.
...But....
She loves to sing, and she's already decided that she's getting in... I don't know if her parents are as determined as she is, but the fact that they got her a private voice teacher seems to be an indication that they at least think it's possible.
Ugh... I'll be sure to blog how that turns out....
The worst case I had was years ago - a kid named Scotty. He was enrolled in my beginning instruments class - for what reason I can't imagine, other than he refused to go into choir. The big problem with Scotty was that he was so needy that I couldn't work with anyone else when he was there. After two weeks of ignoring about twenty other kids, I finally said something to the S.E. director (a friend of mine) who basically responded with "I'm Sorry" and "Mainstreaming is required by law."
I hate going over peoples head, but I did that time - It wasn't a matter of adjusting a lesson plan or coming up with an alternative process to accommodate Scotty's needs - I couldn't meet the needs of the class with Scotty there. So I went to the principal, and he forced a compromise - Scotty would attend the class two days a week. The S.E. director said it wasn't enough, but I wouldn't let go of the fact that he was still getting far more individual attention that the rest of the class. She wasn't happy with me, but I think she eventually forgave me.... I think... my parting comment from that meeting probably didn't help - "Look, I know you're looking out for Scotty's needs - I'm trying to do that, but I need to look out for everyone else's needs too, and it's frustrating that you're not helping me do that."
For the next two months I found myself working overtime to come up with alternative lessons for Scotty. I'm not complaining about that - I made a deal, and I was determined to see it right. Besides, I came up with some techniques that proved helpful for other students later on down the line. Then suddenly Scotty disappeared - transferred or moved, I can't remember which. Go figure.
Over the years I've developed a reputation for being one of the "friendly" teachers to Special Ed. I don't mind that at all, but sometimes when you get 8+ special needs kids in a single class, then it starts to feel like the purpose of the class is to mainstream the Special Ed. students. My friend the S.E. chair and I argued about that on more than one occasion.
This year hasn't been too bad. I mean, yeah.... I have Autistic Billy - who, need I remind you, is the district's most problematic case. I mean, I can't tell you how many times some random person with a clipboard has shown up during choir to watch Billy for a few minutes - sometimes in pairs. But besides being a little quirky, Billy isn't all that bad. He's even managed to behave himself in concert (a fact that reminds me - God sometimes cuts me a break). Maybe it's just because choir is early in the day, and he doesn't have time to crank up his tantrums... I don;t know, but I'm not pushing it.
I have five other Spec. Ed. kids in the class - and except for the little Vietnamese girls who occasionally gets out of her chair, and runs/stomps around the room before being corralled back to her place (yeah.. she runs and stomps at the same time - I can't explain it...) they are barely noticeable. They're all pretty nice, and they all seem to be having a good time. Funny thing about autistic kids (which shouldn't be a surprise, really) they are usually really good at memorizing songs.
The one who's got me a little worried at the moment is little Odette -who previously only mildly annoyed me by persisting to ask every single day when the day of the next concert is, and what she is supposed to wear (I know... it's an 'autistic thing', so I let it roll. Eventually it became part of my routine - take roll, answer Odette's questions, send her back to her seat and then do warm ups.)
But recently Odette has decided that she's going to join my advanced choir - a heavy SATB group that regularly works on stuff like Vivaldi, Mozart and what not. Her family got her into voice lessons to prepare her for the audition.
I fear that audition... fear it like a drunk fears election day. I mean, of course I'm not going to prevent, nor even discourage her from auditioning... but folks, I've had her in choir for two years now... I know how she sings. She can hold a melody and she's aggressive about trying out for solos (she actually got one once) but she's not capable of harmonizing or holding her own in a polyphonic setting. I just don't see how it could work.
...But....
She loves to sing, and she's already decided that she's getting in... I don't know if her parents are as determined as she is, but the fact that they got her a private voice teacher seems to be an indication that they at least think it's possible.
Ugh... I'll be sure to blog how that turns out....
Sunday, May 23, 2010
The Show Must Go On
So this weekend we had our annual themed dinner/show event. It's a big production that involves a lot of parent volunteers - and a lot of blood, sweat and tears on everyone's account.
This year - I was forced to rely on my parent support much more than I had before. In years past I could spend my nights up until the wea hours of the morning planning and organizing. Now with a 7 mo. old at home, I have to devote almost all of my home time to family.
Aside from the food and musical entertainment, we always have something of a dramatic element going as well. Last year, I tried to write the script myself - that resulted in the participating performers getting their final draft on the morning of the event. Miraculously we pulled it off - mostly due to the improvisational skills of the kids.
This year I decided to let the students handle the script... for better or worse. The girl who stepped forward to do it was someone with little or not theater experience. I was afraid to read her script. So i didn't. Really - I didn't know what was in it until I saw it play out on the day of. Kids had been telling me what she put in it - lots of pop-culture and movie references. They were afraid it was going to be way too hokey. I thought about stepping in and inserting my own script at the last minute, but then I remembered my promise to let other people handle those aspects... so for my own sanity, I just let it go.
Sure enough - it came off pretty well. Here are some of my favorite lines:
Anyway, the point is, we got through it.
Ah, I almost forgot - as part of God's on-going process of testing my will - he decided that not only should I get sick shortly before the event, but my whole family should too. So on the day before, when I normally oversee everything from equipment transportation to decorating, I was home tending to my wife and baby boy. On the day of, I myself was so sick I had to repeatedly duck into the men's room to empty whatever I had left in my stomach, which wasn't much as the day wore on. Afterwords, the parents didn't let me stay to help clean up - they didn't even let me drive myself home. One of the moms drove me home, while another drove my car. It was a good thing, too - half way home I had another dry-renching fit (into a plastic bag that we were smart enough to bring) - and I barely made it up the stairs to my porch.
Somehow - everything just magically got done without me....
This year - I was forced to rely on my parent support much more than I had before. In years past I could spend my nights up until the wea hours of the morning planning and organizing. Now with a 7 mo. old at home, I have to devote almost all of my home time to family.
Aside from the food and musical entertainment, we always have something of a dramatic element going as well. Last year, I tried to write the script myself - that resulted in the participating performers getting their final draft on the morning of the event. Miraculously we pulled it off - mostly due to the improvisational skills of the kids.
This year I decided to let the students handle the script... for better or worse. The girl who stepped forward to do it was someone with little or not theater experience. I was afraid to read her script. So i didn't. Really - I didn't know what was in it until I saw it play out on the day of. Kids had been telling me what she put in it - lots of pop-culture and movie references. They were afraid it was going to be way too hokey. I thought about stepping in and inserting my own script at the last minute, but then I remembered my promise to let other people handle those aspects... so for my own sanity, I just let it go.
Sure enough - it came off pretty well. Here are some of my favorite lines:
Luke Groundrunner: Excuse me miss, do you know how to get to the Kingdom of Genenova?
Girl (In squeaky voice) - Follow the yellow brick road!
********
Luke Groundrunner: I am on a quest to become a knight.
Black Knight: Regular or Jedi?
Anyway, the point is, we got through it.
Ah, I almost forgot - as part of God's on-going process of testing my will - he decided that not only should I get sick shortly before the event, but my whole family should too. So on the day before, when I normally oversee everything from equipment transportation to decorating, I was home tending to my wife and baby boy. On the day of, I myself was so sick I had to repeatedly duck into the men's room to empty whatever I had left in my stomach, which wasn't much as the day wore on. Afterwords, the parents didn't let me stay to help clean up - they didn't even let me drive myself home. One of the moms drove me home, while another drove my car. It was a good thing, too - half way home I had another dry-renching fit (into a plastic bag that we were smart enough to bring) - and I barely made it up the stairs to my porch.
Somehow - everything just magically got done without me....
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Middle School Mayhem
Captain's Log 05192010 - I'm walking up to the front office with an 8th grader who needs to talk to a larger authority figure than I.
* I would like to acknowledge my colleague, who inspired me to fight middle school immaturity when I saw her a drag a wimpering MS kid into the office last week for kicking his friend.
8G: "This sucks what did I do?"
Me: "You were throwing food... and yes, it does suck"
8G: "I didn't throw it, I tripped and it flew out of my hands"
Me: "I watched you throw a cheesed-up bagel at the boys bathroom door and laugh your butt off when it stuck."
8G: "I was laughing because I tripped. I'm getting busted because I have big feet!"
Me: "No... you're getting busted because when I told you to clean it up you just stood there and kept laughing"
8G: "I was... thinking about what I should do...."
Me "Son... don't go into a life of crime. You're a horrible liar."
* I would like to acknowledge my colleague, who inspired me to fight middle school immaturity when I saw her a drag a wimpering MS kid into the office last week for kicking his friend.
Friday, May 14, 2010
May Madness
Once again - too much to blog, not enough time. That and I keep starting posts but not finishing them. Well... I figure, if DaVinci can be revered as a great artist despite his lack of follow-through, why can't I?
Let me recap as best I can:
Music Theater
We finished a successful run of four shows in two weekends. I had a good pit orchestra to work with... of course, half of them were hired. As per usual, our drama teacher managed to dress a good number of the female cast as prostitutes and some of the males as gay strippers. The part that really cracks me up us that he's Mormon. he wont go into a liquor store, but he'll order from Fredricks of Hollywood without so much as blinking.
New Computer
A new iMac now stands in place of the G5 that was stolen. Of course, now we have to upgrade our software, since protools 7 won't run on OS X 10.6. Oh and we attached a security cable to this one.... just in case...
The World of Tomnorrow
Well, we've entered into serious talks about a new performing arts facility on campus. The space I'm sitting in right now will probably eventually be one of the back rows of a new theater. My rooms will be demolished and rebuilt on the back of the theater building. I've seen the proposed plans, they look pretty sick.
The only problem is that the theater the district wants to approve for us is kind of small and won't accommodate the kinds of projects we would like to do . The architects kept pushing the space as the perfect venue for "intimate performances." The problem is - we'll still be relying on off-campus facilities for most of our drama and all of our dance productions.
My music groups could probably use the space well - our rosters are still medium-smallish and we don't usually sell out 300 seats. Still, I'm standing with my colleagues on this one - it makes no sense to spend over $10 million in bond money on an arts facility that will mostly be used for the occasional guest speaker or musical recital.
I think the board's rationale is that they don't see why they should build a near-identical facility on every HS campus - our cross town rival already has a big theater that is available to everyone. They want to build a smaller facility to accommodate more diverse productions district wide. The problem is, there isn't much of a need for an "intimate" performance space - the perfomring arts teachers will all still be scrambling for time at slots the bigger theater.
At the first meeting we had with parents teachers, administrators and the architectures, there weren't any representatives from the school board - the poor architects got an ear-full from the teachers and the parents, who were unified in their reaction against the proposed design. Principal Leto (who was sitting behind me) was trying to keep the peace. He seemed to be the only person (besides myself) who sensed that it wasn't the architects who needed to be vented at. Also, I could tell he was afraid that any backlash that found its way back to the school board might hurt, rather than help, our chances of getting an acceptable compromise.
Anyway, the plan for right now is to cool down, bide our time. Do a little bit of poking and see what happens.
Let me recap as best I can:
Music Theater
We finished a successful run of four shows in two weekends. I had a good pit orchestra to work with... of course, half of them were hired. As per usual, our drama teacher managed to dress a good number of the female cast as prostitutes and some of the males as gay strippers. The part that really cracks me up us that he's Mormon. he wont go into a liquor store, but he'll order from Fredricks of Hollywood without so much as blinking.
New Computer
A new iMac now stands in place of the G5 that was stolen. Of course, now we have to upgrade our software, since protools 7 won't run on OS X 10.6. Oh and we attached a security cable to this one.... just in case...
The World of Tomnorrow
Well, we've entered into serious talks about a new performing arts facility on campus. The space I'm sitting in right now will probably eventually be one of the back rows of a new theater. My rooms will be demolished and rebuilt on the back of the theater building. I've seen the proposed plans, they look pretty sick.
The only problem is that the theater the district wants to approve for us is kind of small and won't accommodate the kinds of projects we would like to do . The architects kept pushing the space as the perfect venue for "intimate performances." The problem is - we'll still be relying on off-campus facilities for most of our drama and all of our dance productions.
My music groups could probably use the space well - our rosters are still medium-smallish and we don't usually sell out 300 seats. Still, I'm standing with my colleagues on this one - it makes no sense to spend over $10 million in bond money on an arts facility that will mostly be used for the occasional guest speaker or musical recital.
I think the board's rationale is that they don't see why they should build a near-identical facility on every HS campus - our cross town rival already has a big theater that is available to everyone. They want to build a smaller facility to accommodate more diverse productions district wide. The problem is, there isn't much of a need for an "intimate" performance space - the perfomring arts teachers will all still be scrambling for time at slots the bigger theater.
At the first meeting we had with parents teachers, administrators and the architectures, there weren't any representatives from the school board - the poor architects got an ear-full from the teachers and the parents, who were unified in their reaction against the proposed design. Principal Leto (who was sitting behind me) was trying to keep the peace. He seemed to be the only person (besides myself) who sensed that it wasn't the architects who needed to be vented at. Also, I could tell he was afraid that any backlash that found its way back to the school board might hurt, rather than help, our chances of getting an acceptable compromise.
Anyway, the plan for right now is to cool down, bide our time. Do a little bit of poking and see what happens.
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