Chick-fil-A Revisited

Sunday, December 23, 2018

It's Christmas Break.  We are only a few short days away from the halfway point of the school year and I really struggle starting this blog.  When I mentioned this to my part time editor, part time consultant, and full time spouse she said to me, "why don't you just give it a break for a while."  I thought about taking a break for this reason, I wanted to update everyone on the school's recent School Quality Review (SQR) but I didn't want to bring it up because it so close to Christmas and it is such a depressing topic.  So, here I sit at the kitchen table typing.  First, I'll update you on the SQR and then I'll move on to the reason that I started typing and hopefully we'll end up on a happy note.

Despite knowing that the King's Justice, the royal executioner, is nearby and could possibly lop off the head of every teacher in the school, I decided to ask my colleagues, some no longer at the school, what they thought about the SQR process.  One of my colleagues expressed surprise that this review was actually taking place but another talked about the reality of the situation.  The comments I received start below and I'll be paraphrasing.

"I was shocked to see that the school was under review.  All they see is numbers.  Trust me, this school is so much better compared to some of the other ones.  This school is so much more welcoming and the teachers are so enthusiastic compared to the other schools that I have been in."

"I now get to visit other schools in the district.  Compared to your school there are others that are real shit holes and they belong on the review list, not your school."

"They will love our school.  Bottom line, we can't produce the scores.  Yes, this is a nice school but there is no consistency, no urgency with discipline, and the scholars are very complacent."

"Leadership is so inconsistent as we changed multiple times.  It takes five years to truly turn around a school.  We have issues and we cover them with kindness and excuses.  We can't keep putting band aids on it."

That was very difficult for me to write.  Those were some pretty tough words from my colleagues.  Sadly, as I've been in this school for almost seven years now, they are accurate.

On Friday, December 21st, school came to a halt as it was Christmas break.  I wasn't in the building last Friday so, as far as I know, the SQR results are not in.  Now everyone waits to see what the King will do.  As we approach Christmas and then the New Year I pray that once the results of the review have been analyzed the King will not send his King's Justice, the royal executioner, to our school to lop off around thirty teaching heads and then begin to rebuild the school from the ground up with an entirely new teaching staff.

Enough of that.  Time to move on to my Chick-fil-A revisit.  It's been about a year since I stepped into a Chick-fil-A as I'm not a fast food restaurant type of guy.  On my last visit I had Grr! with me and I was his personal escort so that he could participate in the Bag of Cheer distribution.  This year I was a little more involved in the process.  I guess my involvement was welcomed as I heard a few times, "Schultz, I have a project for you."  So, what was my involvement in this project?  Manage the production line to assemble the Bags of Cheer was one of them.  Here is the production process, completed quite admirably by some of the T-6 scholars.  Pick up one white paper sandwich bag that had a pre-attached green label on it explaining to the recipient what this bag was all about.  Go to the next station, pick up a tree ornament, mostly reindeer made of out popsicle sticks, one gift tag, and place both items in the bag.  The next table contained small clear plastic sandwich bags with two dog biscuits in each bag and that goes into the bag. The next station contained a packet of hot chocolate, a small candy cane, and both items go into the bag.  The next stop is the end of the production line.  The bag is inspected for contents, folded closed, stapled shut, a holiday sticker is placed on the bag, and finally the bag goes on the inventory table for counting.  Got it?  Good!  Now repeat the process four hundred and forty-nine more times.

As it was last year, this is a T4 project with help from others and it is a huge, time consuming process so why does T4 do this?  Paraphrasing T4, "because of the neighborhood our school is in our scholars get a lot from the school and almost always at little or no cost to their parental units.  Knowing this, I felt that it was important that each of our scholars have the opportunity to feel how good it is to give rather than receive."

The Bag of Cheer distribution took place last Thursday.  Just like last year I was on the bus with all of the fourth grade scholars plus several adults and we were heading to the Chick-fil-A.  At around 10:30am fifty or so scholars invaded the Chick-fil-A and began distributing the Bags of Cheer.  Each scholar walked up to a total stranger, with a smile on their face, handed their bag to this person, and got to feel how great it felt to give something to somebody.  There are reasons that I like to hang out in the fourth grade, this is one of them.  There is also a reason that I don't mind eating fast food. The restaurant gave every scholar and adult a free meal.

Here are a couple short stories, and like I've said numerous times in the past, I don't make this stuff up.  First, on the last day of school before Christmas break two teachers left the school permanently.  One left to join some Jaguars and the other left for reasons that thoroughly tick me off.  So what is the big deal with this?  See the SQR commentary above and again turnover hinders any attempt at academic progress.

During the Bag of Cheer assembly process with the T6 scholars one of them asked me this question.  Why is it that when you say the word together your lips stay apart and when you say the word separate your lips come together?  This is also from a T6 scholar.  Who put the alphabet together and why did this person put the alphabet in the order it is in?  My response to both questions was quite simple, Google it.

For several weeks now I've been meeting a T2-M scholar in the main office of the school to read.  Surprisingly, as others didn't think this would work out, the scholar willing wants to read with me.  On this particular day I arrived in the office with three books to read.  I let the scholar pick out the first book to read and, as I always do, I read the title of the book, tell the scholar the name of the author, the name of the illustrator, and then open the book so the scholar can start reading.  This day was different as the scholar told me he didn't want to read.  I looked at the scholar and said, "why don't you want to read?"  The T2-M scholar looked up at me and said, "I can't read because I have to go poop."

That's it.  I'll be out of school until January 7, 2019, so this blog may be dormant for a while.  Thanks for following along for another year and Merry Christmas to all.