New School Year

In the morning, bright and early, the big yellow buses will begin rumbling down the highways, into the tree covered dirt roads, across the rivers and up to the five schools that make up the Hamilton County School system. Other students will be dropped off by anxious parents, walk to school, or in the case of high school, drive themselves.

Many of these students are more than ready for school to start again, anxious to renew friendships, see teachers, and get back into the routine of the school year. Others are not so eager. The job of teaching would be easy if every student arrived at school anxious and ready to learn, but the job is to teach every student who is enrolled.

Teachers also have mixed emotions about the upcoming school year. The ideal situation would be to have a hundred percent of the teachers well prepared in both attitude and ability. We know, however, that we do not live in an ideal world. There are some teachers who are what I refer to as "the called." These are the ones that live to teach. Others are "the taught to teach" who have been trained and do a good job at teaching. Then there are others who fill the position and do an adequate job most of the time. Occasionally there are people who are filling a classroom, taking roll, and playing school without doing a very good job of it.

Administrators also come in different shapes, sizes, attitudes, and abilities. Some are a better match for a school than others. A good administrator can make a good school better. An adequate administrator can end up dampening enthusiasm of teachers if they let this happen. A bad administrator can poison the atmosphere of a school and damage the morale of both teachers and students.

Most of the times, teachers do not get to choose their administrator. Teachers, do, however, get to choose the attitude with which they go into the school year. A good teacher can make an administrator look better than they are. I hope that it is the goal of each of our teachers this year to make the administrators at each of our schools look like prize winners.

I well remember one year when our principal spent the time at our closing luncheon to pretty much tell the whole faculty off. This was particularly bad since we were all going our separate ways. We came back that fall with a renewed resolve as a group of teachers to see that our school did well. We worked together, encouraged each other, supported all the programs of the school and accomplished wonders. We made our administrator look so good that he was hired by someone else at the end of the year. We had such a good year that we were all really sorry to see him go.

So, tomorrow when I see the flashing strobes atop the buses drift by my window in the early morning light, I will be saying a special prayer for each of the teachers facing those kids in the new sneakers and their fresh school clothes. I will be praying that each of those teachers face this year with resolve to be the best that they can be. I pray for their health, their emotions, and their patience. I pray that they have wisdom, that they plan well, and that they be blessed with students ready to learn.