It’s new crayon season, people! You remember it, right? There is something magical about their smell, perfect organization by hue on the color spectrum that can never be recreated once more than one is removed, and pristine condition that makes even us big kids want to stop what we’re doing and color something immediately. Luckily, crayons are just the gateway to a world of promise on the horizon this time of year.
While it is bittersweet saying goodbye to the lazy days of summer, the start of a new school year has a certain je ne sais quoi. At the Stallbaumer house, we are creatures of habit. My husband, a veteran teacher and coach, lets us all know that it is a new school year by breaking out a new rubber whistle cover. He bought a bag of those rascals a couple of decades ago when he started coaching and likely has them perfectly rationed to get him to retirement.
My kids usher in this new season with their teacher draft. The day the class and teacher assignments are communicated results in a buzz of excitement and activity as they try to figure out what friends they’ll have in each class, share thoughts about the luck of their teacher draw, and decide how frumpy they can be rolling into school based on whether they have P.E. first hour.
For me, the start of school means hitting the road on the in-service circuit. It might as well be my Super Bowl or Catalina Wine Mixer. As you can imagine, our members generally do not want to be paid a visit by their legal counsel. Normally, when I get called out to help a member, it is because of something unforeseen they need help figuring out next steps. We generally roll up in less-than-ideal circumstances when people are at their maximum stress level. In fact, if I had a dollar for every time, I was told by a board member or administrator that they were having a good day until they had to call me, I could hang up my legal pad right now and ride off into the sunset, regardless of how many whistle covers I still had in stock.
However, for two weeks each August, my professional desirability changes, and I get welcomed into school districts with open arms to talk school law with district staff members. I love it. It is a time of exploration and socialization. Last week I drove hundreds of miles; saw buffalo; remembered my headlights have a bright setting; got to slow way down to pass tractors pulling implements; and literally took the roads less traveled by, as it is our state’s unofficial 5th season, construction. When I’m on the in-service circuit, my Waze app navigates me all over our beautiful state, including the occasional cattle path masquerading as a real road, and it is chicken soup for the Kansas fan girl’s soul. I get to put faces with names, catch up with old friends, see the communities served by our boards, and interact with district staff members brimming with enthusiasm for the year to come. Each year, this serves as a mental and professional reboot for me and a reminder of why I do what I do.
The other upside to a lot of windshield time is having time for reflection. As I thought about what to share with you this month to get us geared up for a new year, a few recurring themes from my district visits surfaced.
First, although I realize COVID-19 outbreaks are far from over, the coronavirus clouds seem to be parting somewhat. The last two years have been hard, and tensions have been high. I am sure carrying the weight of producing positive educational results for students while keeping staff and students safe in a looming health crisis felt unbearable at times. But, you managed, and you now possess knowledge and experience in navigating treacherous terrain that will make future speedbumps look like mere seams in the pavement. As I was driving around last week, I realized that it has been a long time since I received a COVID question. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxed some of its COVID-19 related recommendations recently, and the usual flurry of calls when this entity changes advice did not come. Although concern is still high regarding the virus and its variations, it does not seem to loom as large over district decisions as it did in recent years. While I hate to jinx it for us, it feels like we are slowly getting back to normal. Maybe this year will be different. We’re all better, smarter, and battle tested. I hope we can put that to good use.
Second, we are all in this together. It is easy, especially in my line of work, to make things adversarial, to look at an issue and view it as an us versus them situation, or to see it only from one perspective. However, parents, school staff members, board members, and school attorneys have much in common. We want what is best for Kansas students. I got the opportunity to interact with hundreds of school staff members last week, and the questions they asked and their responses to hypotheticals I posed came from a place of genuine concern for students and their desire to meet student needs better. They got into this business because they care, as do our board members that devote their free time to district leadership and the parents that send the students off to school each day. With this in mind, I encourage us all to endeavor to view this year’s challenges through the lens of common interests and to better communicate the student-focused interests served by the plans we put in place or the actions we take whenever possible. My hope, as we step out from under these COVID clouds, is that we can shed some of the divisiveness that has permeated school culture in the last couple of years and find mutual support and satisfaction in making progress toward common goals.
Third, as you prepare to launch this new year, I urge you all to take the opportunity to reboot and refocus on the work that is to be done. Do what you need to do to remember why you got into this work in the first place and recall why you find it rewarding. Take a scenic drive around your district, attend a back-to-school event, go to a ball game, or, for those of you who have yet to start school and have a flair for the dramatic, go watch the back-to-school shopping at your local store. The closer a family shops to the start of school, the more the environment resembles the scene where the parents are fighting over the last toy in Jingle All the Way. Hopefully, whenever you go, you hear the excited squeal of the grade school student that is expressing the joy of finding the perfect unicorn pencil box, the bookbag with a baffling number of pockets, or that big new box of crayons. I hope you find your reset button, and I hope you can enter this school year with a renewed sense of purpose.
Finally, one should never eat anything with au jus while operating a motor vehicle and should always maintain clear packing tape in one’s center console in case an urgent need to tape oneself into a garment with a broken zipper emerges. That is all I have to say about that.
In closing, I want to thank all our board members and school staff members for what you do to help our kids. If my household is any reflection of Kansas at large, we parents are sending these students back to you a little rustier in the art of human interaction and in the science of learning than you gave them to us in May. But, regardless of how close to feral they are, I believe they are excited to be back in school and soaking up any knowledge you dare to impart to them. This is especially true, in our house, if it means they will be better equipped to beat Mom and Dad in a battle of the wits later. With unintended consequences of quality education aside, please know that your labors to educate our children are noted and so appreciated. I hope this next year provides you with many moments akin to opening a new box of crayons, and that you only have an infestation of school attorneys onsite when you desire to have them present. Happy educating, all!
Additional settings for Safari Browser.
