A First

Sitting here in McDonalds using the free WiFi, following my one-on-one tutoring session. Lots of strange bouncing around in my head right now. It was so much like my old life in advertising, presenting slide show presentations to a client, in a corporate boardroom (Hilton headquarters, which by the way are quite nice). The difference is I got paid in cash. And the lady I was tutoring is obviously a product of the calculator/computer generation. She did admit the program she was applying for was more concerned with her verbal than her math...she will probably pass, though.

Harder and harder to remember to put something up here. Sometimes I just don't feel like there is much to say, other times I just crave the warmth and oblivion of going to bed. Yesterday was the latter, definitely. Friday was a zoo at school - with one teacher out for a few days (sick enough to be at Dallas at the Super Bowl) and a "black history month" concert in the gym taking up an hour near, but not at, the end of the day...never good to get the kids wound up (they didn't appreciate the music, just the chance to get loud and act crazy) then give them back to their homeroom teachers for 40 minutes before dismissal. Ended up having to call two parents - one of whom we already have scheduled for Thursday parent/teacher. Yeah, that evening where we stay 2 hours after school to talk to parents of discipline or academic children.

And the fallout from my old school still continues. A rumor I had heard is now confirmed on several news broadcasts - a tragedy last year that didn't make a ripple, until the principal got removed. 13-year old (somehow) smacks her head into a steel doorframe in the middle of a hall. I have seen it happen, especially with kids that are goofing around, running, or whatever. Anyhow, she smacks her head good, then goes home, complains of a headache, goes to bed and dies. No accident report filed at the school, no ambulance called (not surprising, as I imagine the kid didn't want the fuss), parents not informed. I would put this all up on a terrible tragedy, except for a couple of things that are hinted at in the news (driven, of course, by the legal team who will be suing the school system). First, there appear to be no security footage of the incident. Whether it was "accidentally" deleted or not, who knows. Second, when the principal was asked about the incident, seems that she claimed it never happened, couldn't explain the lack of an incident report, etc. Add those two together and you get a principal who had several issues with poor judgment, sloppy paperwork, and other things that caused a bad environment...but only got canned because she was about to cost the school system millions of dollars in a lawsuit that is basically a slamdunk for whichever lawyer gets it. The local news station is promoting a special report on this for Monday. Should be interesting.