"You're Looking for Black and White"

It is Saturday August 29th and I am relaxing back in my good ol town Austin, Texas. My first week as an Assistant Principal was very, very interesting. I have stories about students, teachers, and parents. Heres how it all went down....
The first day of school was great. We welcomed everyone and they all went into the gym. Once 8:00 am rolled around the Superintendent started the assembly by instructing everyone to stand for the pledge. Once done, he immediately said, "As you know we have a new face and we are very excited to meet him. He has a few words for you." Although I am not afraid to speak in public, especially to students, I was not ready. I did have my speech ready for later so I included a bit of that. I had a little speech "why am I here" which pretty much talked about the goals I have for the school...about pride and how important it is for the school and town and the last part of it said, "I am also here to make sure teachers succeed" which was my entrance into the rules, dress code, and consequences.... It went well....
A few funnies that happened during the week..
* a teacher opened a kids bag to help him with unpacking his school supplies and a dead mouse was there.... she called me, i took the bag, asked the superintendent what to do and in the calmest tone said, "just throw it away" haha its like he has been there a million times...
* all the kids saying Mistah H
* parents complaining that we gave free backpacks bc they had already bought some... (insane!)
* driving the volleyball girls to a private school for a game (the second day of school!) and getting there with them wearing unmatching kneepads, old uniforms, and NO PRACTICE! These are 6th, 7th, and 8th graders.... the opponents all had matching everything including a shinny headbands..... we beat them the second game, but lost the series... its ok though!
* 1st grade teacher in her second year having a panic attack because she could not control her class.... i talked and calmed her down, we went in the classroom and went over procedures with the kiddos..... they were quiet, but still need to improve alooot..... its soo loud in there and they are bullying her! "BOYS AND GIIIRLS GET QUIET!!!" i dont think that is a good strategy....
* Skulls everywhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! there are skulls on shirts, shorts, shoes, backpacks... everytwhere.... They are unofficially not allowed (not in the handbook) but there was no way I could enforce the ban since most students wear them. I sent out an email to everyone saying that skulls were ok. Below is the email...

Teachers,
As you know, we currently have an issue with students wearing skulls on almost every article of clothing. Knowing that they are popular, retailers jumped on the back to school opportunity to dress everything with them. This week I have seen skulls on t-shirts, pants, shorts, backpacks, and even shoes. From students in Pre-K to Adults, skulls are in.

Evil, no….rebellious, maybe…..accessible, affordable, trendy, and in our students closets, yes. Instead of making parents buy their children new clothes, let’s make this a transition year and allow students to wear them for now unless they have blood, knives sticking out, or anything of that sort. Use your judgment. The same will go for shorts without buttons or zippers since parents and students were not notified of the changes until the first day of school. We have had problems with that as well.

Below are some pics I got from your regular retailers. (Wal Mart, Tj Max, Kohls) These would be acceptable. Let me know if you have any questions.

The response was good... not much resistance... so we're good!

* Working with my football team all week (im also the AD/Football Coach... my title has alot of slashes ///////) Anyways I have great kids. 6 Man Football is going to be interesting....... Im having them do something every Friday and this one was to write their teachers letters thanking them... this is an email i got yesterday
I just wanted to let you know that I was very impressed by the letters that I received from 4 of your athletes that are in my pre-algebra and algebra classes. That was very thoughtful and meant a lot to me as well as to them. Thanks for making a difference!

* LESSON OF THE WEEK - "You're looking for Black and White" I had a huge incident that came up this week..... While I was at a meeting for the elementary teachers talking about different things (changing the lunch schedule since we have like 100 kids eating at once... its a mess!) a little 1st grade girl came to me and said "We were in PE in the playground and that little boy kissed me on the lips." WOAH... my stomach immediately dropped and I was being faced with my first serious situation. I asked her to describe it and she did... apparently there were a few little boys playing and egging on another kid to do it... they all went to her and it happened. I talked to the little boy, which is a great charming kid, and he denied it and blamed it on someone else. When I called the other kid in, he was taken by storm "WHAAT, I DIDNT KISS HER, YOU DID." He was starting to cry.... In response to that, the original kid said, "OK, WE BOTH DID" Baam... that was all I needed. I told the other one to go back to class, the guilty one to sit outside, and then tried to figure out what I was going to tell the little girls parents. ring..... ring.... ring... "Hello" - "Hi Mrs. A, this is Mr. H from school. There was an issue today...... " I went on to explain it and she thanked me for the way it was handled and for contacting her.... She even said not to punish the little boy much..... Now off to call the parents of the little boy.....ring...ring...ring... "Hello.." did the same as above, but this time the response was incredibly rude! The mistake I made was to tell her about the possible consequences.... as soon as the mom heard ISS, she started yelling and yelling and yelling..... She said the boys grandmother would go pick up the kid.... in 1o munutes she was there and COMPLETELY IGNORED ME! "Come here sweetie.... lets go"
Later the mom called wanting to talk to the Superintendent, not me.... He was not there so I answered the phone in an attempt to reason with her.. aside from lawyer threats and inexperience insults. I made an appointment to meet with her at 5:15 with the Sup.... 5:15 came along, she came in, and also, completely ignored me.... the meeting lasted about 2 hours and she yelled, cried, insulted, and offended me... I had soooo many things to say back at her, but I did not.... she would not have listened. When I spoke, I said nothing but positive things in a low tone of voice, honered her for being so involved in her kids life, and mentioned how everythign played out. I also told her that as far as I knew, her kid had been in ISS for about 2 hrs, had a call home, and a parent conference so as far as I knew that was 3 consequences and that would be the extent of the discipline. After I said this the tone changed.... we chatted a bit more, and she left happy although she requested that I always consult the sup for discipline problems with their kids..... whatever... haha
She left, the sup raised his eyebrows and said good job, and told me Welcome to Administration.... He then shared his crazy parent stories and this one was nothing compared to his.... When I asked him, what is the rule? The kid kissed a little girl! He said I was looking for a clear black and white line... a rule in the rulebook.... and in school, especially with the little ones, you cannot have that... the consequence should be a gut feeling...you assess the entire situation and give the appropriate consequence...

well that was a little summary of my first week... i will get on here as much as possible and share interesting things that happen... ohh!! one last thing... i got a call from a grandmother and she said I was a blessing to the school.... then she said the funniest thing ever in her country accent.... "white people like you because you look like us, and the messicans like you because you speak their language.... " funny.