Sad really.

The PrincipalsPage.com Blog now has over 300 email subscribers.

This means each time I post a half-thought out incoherent barely readable blog, over three hundred people receive it in their inboxes.

My assumption is 296 of them can’t hit delete fast enough.

And I’m okay with that.

When I got my first subscriber (back in the late 1960’s), I was moved to tears (not really, I’m a school administrator … we have no feelings because we are pretty much dead inside).

When the number reached 100, I assumed a rather large group of total strangers secretly got together to pull a cruel (and quite funny) practical joke on me.

At 200, I figured most of my readers were spammers and/or prison inmates (Shout Out to Cell Block 17!!!).

Now at 300, I’m starting to feel a sense of regret.

I feel like I should apologize.

Apologize for wasting everybody’s time.

Way too many people read this blog (18,315 unique visitors last month… not that I’m counting).

How many precious hours have been wasted by superintendents, principals, teachers, parents, tech people, and prisoners reading this junk?

It’s quite obvious (to me at least) that I have nothing intelligent to say.

The Evil Spawn is evil.

Buddy the Dog is lazy.

I’m not fit to be married, raise a child, run a school, or own a pet.

Old people don’t like change.

Schools need to implement more technology.

We get it.

Enough already.

Shouldn’t people have something better to do with their time than read this drivel?

Shouldn’t they be working to make education better for kids?

Shouldn’t they be selling illegal contraband to inmates in the next cell?

It’s quite possible I’m making the world a worse place in which to live because my followers are not being productive when they read this blog.

So if you are a subscriber or a visitor, thank you.

And I’m sorry.

I promise to stop.

If you promise to stop reading and get back to work.

Comments: 10
Tags: Buddy the Dog, Evil Spawn/Daughter, PrincipalsPage.com, subscribers, superintendents

Would you like to receive the PrincipalsPage.com Blog via email?

It’s easy.

Just sign up (next to my cartoon wife’s right elbow) to receive notifications when new blog entries are posted.

That’s it.

It’s so easy, Buddy the Dog could do it.

And he doesn’t have thumbs.

Comments: 3
Tags: blog subscription, Buddy the Dog, PrincipalsPage.com

It’s summertime.

This means two things. 

The first is I finally have time to clean off my desk (I couldn’t find a paperclip all year and now I stumble across 1,714 in one drawer… who knew?).

Secondly, I find during the summer people continue to read this blog, but the number of comments go way down (yes, I’m trolling for more comments… I have little or no pride and apparently a great deal of free time).

The lack of comments could be a sign that the quality of my blog material isn’t as strong during the summer.

Or as I like to believe, readers are just way too busy (vacations, yard work, completing court-ordered community service, etc.)

Either way, I thought this would be a good opportunity to write(?) about a few of my half-baked theories that may not qualify for a full-blog.

So here are 10 possibly comment worthy theories of mine.

1.  World Cup soccer is the equivalent of ice skating in the Winter Olympics.

I’ll watch because I take great pride in pummeling less fortunate countries, but in two weeks I won’t be able to name one athlete who participated.

News to soccer lovers:  It still isn’t sweeping the country.  And it never will (although who knows, because I did think horse racing and boxing were here to stay…).

Little kids like soccer because it’s easy to understand (and pretty much every 6 year old likes to kick a ball and eat snacks after the game).

The rest of us don’t love it because you aren’t allowed to use your hands.

Americans like sports we invented.  And we only invent sports if we can use our hands.

I wish it was more complicated, but sadly it isn’t.

2.  There are way way too many loud blowhard white guys on cable news.  The loud I can mute, but is it too much to ask that we diversify a little bit? 

It is 2010 after all.

There has to be at least one obnoxious overweight Hispanic guy/gal out there somewhere who wants to complain about government.

3.  President Obama misjudged the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Turns out it’s kind of a big deal.

People are either incredibly angry or sad for those people/communities directly affected (and maybe more so for the birds covered in oil).

He’s not gaining many votes this summer.

He’s becoming the neighbor who leaves their trash cans in the front yard six days after the garbage has been picked up.

Not a big deal to them, but a huge deal to everyone else (yes, I just compared a massive oil spill to my neighbor’s trash… sorry about that).

4.  Twitter is great.

It’s also causing people to be less productive at work.

My estimate is employees are costing their companies $4.3 trillion dollars each year by Tweeting when they should be working.

But that’s just a guess.

It could be more (feel free to follow me on Twitter… @principalspage).

5.  Tony Hayward (head of BP) and General McChrystal (head of Afghanistan) are on my short list for Idiot of the Year (lucky for them we have a lot more year left).

Both should speak less.

Much less.

6.  My desk is like my dorm room in college.  It’s a magnet for crap I think I’ll need later, but as it turns out, it’s just crap.

I’m making a personal plea on behalf of everyone who holds a meeting or a convention.

Stop giving us free stuff.

We can’t handle it.

And we definitely can’t throw it away.

7.  As I get older (and older) winter is too cold and summer is too hot.

I have no point here, I just want to go on the record that I’m seldom happy with the weather.

No matter how bad my day, I always look forward to watching the weatherperson with contempt.

8. My daughter (the Evil Spawn) wants to be older.  I want her age to be frozen in time.

This is no doubt the first of 19,767 arguments we will have between now and her 18th birthday (again, could be more… I’m just guestimating).

9.  Education is changing.  Fast.

And the worst part is most teachers/administrators have no idea.

In 5 years most of us won’t recognize schools, curriculum, evaluations, or the technology advances.

My only hope is all of this makes education better.

But with the government involved, it’s 50/50 (but then again, isn’t everything).

10.  Buddy the Dog sleeps a lot.

And by a lot I mean at least 20 hours a day.

He only awakens to eat, roll over so we can scratch his big hairy gut, bark at big trucks (garbage, FedEx, UPS, busses, etc.), wander aimlessly around the yard, and use the bathroom (also a lot… and I know because I mow).

His life is exactly how I envision my retirement years (I especially look forward to the belly scratching).

Feel free to comment. 

More importantly, enjoy your summer (it’s going fast).

Comments: 17
Tags: BP, Buddy the Dog, cable news, Evil Spawn/Daughter, FedEx, General McChrystal, President Barack Obama, PrincipalsPage, The White House, Tony Hayward, Twitter, UPS

It was bound to happen.

Educator blogs.

Educator offends.

Educator gets fired.

Sooner or later someone in my profession was going to lose their job for writing a blog (Click HERE  and HERE to read the whole story).

A bad blog can be your last blog.

Lucky for me, I’ve never written a bad blog (or a good one now that I think about it…).

This story caught my interest because I’ve had people ask, “Aren’t you worried about being fired because of your blog?”

No.

The PrincipalsPage.com Blog isn’t that bad (it’s what I like to call consistently mediocre…).

Plus, I can be fired for all kinds of things (legal reasons prevent me from going into more detail).

Having a blog shouldn’t increase the chances of losing your job.

In fact, the benefits of blogging far outweigh the risk of being unemployed.

A blog is a chance to help people, not hurt them.

I do worry stories like this one will make educators hesitant to blog and it shouldn’t.

As with most things in life, it all comes down to common sense.

The rule for educators blogging is quite simple (and there’s just one).

Don’t blog about anything you wouldn’t say loudly in public.

If it’s not appropriate for the teacher’s lounge, the school hallway, the office, at a parent-teacher conference, or in the stands of an athletic event, don’t blog about it.

It’s not that hard.

If it deals with a student or employee, error on the side of caution.

One day someone will walk in my office (or former office as it will then be called) and say, “Get a box.  Get your stuff.  And get out!”

But it won’t be for a bad blog (again, legal reasons prevent me from going into the exact details of what will lead to my inevitable unemployment).

Mainly because I try to think before I type.

And certainly before I hit post.

Blogging isn’t hard.  Good judgment is.

Comments: 2
Tags: education blogs, Elizabeth Collins, PrincipalsPage.com Blog

An unusual title for a blog.

School Administrators might be wondering why I didn’t name it “School Board Meeting Train Wreck”.

Fair question.

It’s because I like my job.

Don’t get me wrong, I prefer not to work, but I do enjoy being employed.

Something about having a constant stream of bills coming in the mail (or email… it is 2010 after all).

Plus, I’ve heard about challenging School Board Meetings but I’m not personally familiar with the concept (no charge for the sarcasm).

My latest meeting ended late (don’t they all).

Once it was over, I decided to drive home so I could go to bed and not sleep (it’s a tradition at this point).

As I was cruising down a two-lane highway listening to Lady GaGa on the radio (I don’t get her, but you have to admit her songs are catchy), I passed a car that appeared to be parked with the headlights on.

Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal, but this particular car was parked in a ditch.

Heading the wrong way.

I was a little taken aback as I drove another quarter mile down the highway.

It occurred to me that while I saw a car in a ditch, I hadn’t seen an actual driver.

I was now faced with a moral dilemma (like there aren’t enough of those at School Board Meetings).  Should I go back and check on the driverless car, or should I go home and not sleep?

Before you judge me, please realize that School Board Meetings can be tiring.

And I need my sleep (even when I can’t).

But you will be happy to know that I did the right thing.  I turned off Lady GaGa.

And I went back to see if I could help.

During the 30 seconds it took me to backtrack, I had a couple of thoughts.

One, I was hoping I didn’t find a mangled body in or around the car.  Two, I was desperately trying to remember how to do the Heimlich Maneuver.

I realize I should have been thinking about CPR, but it turns out that I used up all of my good brain cells during the School Board Meeting.

On a positive note, if I had returned to the scene of the accident and found someone choking… they would have been in excellent hands.

I pulled up beside the ditch and immediately recognized there was a problem.

The ditch was muddy.

This was a problem because I was wearing a white dress shirt and a lovely green tie (Happy St. Patrick’s Day everybody!).

If that wasn’t enough, I didn’t have a coat (stars were out… not a cloud in the sky..  it was freezing).

At first glance, it was easy to confirm my theory.  There was definitely a car in the ditch.

But I didn’t see a driver.

That was bad.

Because now I had to go into the muddy ditch and look in the car.

Mangled body parts here I come.

But then I heard a strange sound.  It’s hard to describe, but it sounded a lot like “Duuuuuuuuuuuude”.

It was dark, so I couldn’t quite figure out where the sound was coming from.

Then I saw him.

The driver.

He was behind the car.

The good news is he didn’t seem to be hurt.

The bad news is he wasn’t wearing pants.

Actually, that’s not true.  He had pants on.

They were just around his ankles (I didn’t ask).

As he struggled mightily to work his belt, I did ask him if he was okay (didn’t catch his name, so we will call him Mr. Jeff Spicoli).

He assured me he was.  Then he kept saying he didn’t know what happened.

One minute he was driving home and the next minute he woke up and his car was in a ditch.

Well, there you go.

I asked him how he got there and he said “By road”.

Fair enough.

I asked him if he had a phone.  He said “Did you say spoon?”

Alright then.

I told him I would call 911 for help.  He thought that was cool because he needed to get his car out of the ditch.

Plus, he was hungry.

Understandable.

Wrecking a car does produce an appetite.

I called 911 and then Spicoli and I waited for what seemed like hours.

During this time, he thanked me for calling a tow truck. 

Whoops.

It seemed like Spicoli and I were having what I like to call “A Failure to Communicate”. 

This could be bad.

Especially if he sobered up before the cops got there.

Plus, he was holding his car keys between his fingers in a way that made me think he could be considering stabbing me in the kidneys.

And I hate it when that happens.

It was close to midnight and I was standing on a deserted highway with Spicoli and he’s about to be arrested (and not by a tow truck driver).

On top of that, he’s got the munchies and probably nothing to lose by shanking me.

We waited.  And waited.

He asked it I should make another call.  I said “I’m not ordering pizza.”

Then after about 14 hours, the police showed up.

Spicoli said “Ah duuuuuuude”.

The policeman asked me if he was alright.  I said “Define alright?”

A few moments later, the officer sent me on my way.

I left as fast as I could knowing I had my latest blog.

I also had an understanding that I lived through another school board meeting.

And for once, that was the least dangerous and weird part of my night.

Now I just have to avoid bumping into my new friend on the streets for the next 50 years.  Just to be safe, I’m never going out to eat pizza.  Or surfing.

Comments: 8
Tags: Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Jeff Spicoli, pizza, School Board Meetings, school boards

I survived my trip to San Antonio.

Sadly (for blogging purposes), nothing out of the ordinary happened.

I don’t mind saying, I felt a little jipped.

No drama.  No “incidents” on the plane.  No random stranger doing something stupid.

Just a Google Conference.

I say just, but it was so much more.

A 12 hour conference (sounds long, but it’s not really that long once you figure in snack time… and I do love my snack time).

The conference was many things.  Mainly it was an overload of information.  But in a good way.

Now that I’ve had a few days to comprehend my experience, here are my thoughts (in no particular order). 

• Conference hotels gouge you.  Bad.  This should be a crime, but instead it’s considered good business.

• The Alamo is still next to the mall (and surprisingly small… The Alamo, not the mall… it’s huge).  If that wasn’t bad enough, The Alamo is now directly across the street from Fuddruckers (I wish I were kidding).

• It came to my attention (in the first 14 seconds) that employees of Google are way smarter than me.  Way smarter.  Way way smarter (and childlike… they looked 12 years old).

• Presenters with a sense of humor interest me.  Your information can be life changing, but after sitting 9 hours straight… I need a laugh.

• Google employees seem to really enjoy their jobs (they seem happier than educators… maybe because, in my mind, they are allowed to take their dogs to work).

• No matter how much you know about Google Docs, Google Calendar, and everything else Google… you know nothing.  Actually you know less than nothing.

• A 3 hour layover doesn’t sound like a long time, but it is.  Time spent in the Atlanta airport is like prison.  Every second lasts hours (and there’s no early release program).

• Ben and Jerry’s serves a fabulous lunch.  I recommend adding a brownie to whatever entree you order.

• Google’s applications are free.  Microsoft’s are not.  You do the math.

• Outdoor heated pools are still cold when the temperature is in the 50’s.

• Google Calendar has a thousand great features.  Unfortunately none of them get me places on time.

• All schools are different.  All schools are the same.

• No matter where you go, there are interesting people.

• Eating Mexican food while wearing a suit almost never turns out well.  Or at least for your tie.

• They sell a lot of jumbo extra large margaritas on The Riverwalk in San Antonio, yet you never see someone fall in (the river).  How is this possible?

• Now that I travel extensively (not), every airport in America looks the same.

• Did I mention Google employees are smart?  I did?  Sorry for repeating myself, but I’m stupid (or at least way less smart than them).

• You can’t decide the long-term direction of your school district after a one day conference.  Even if it’s Google.

• One day soon, there will be a news story about a divorce caused by too much Twittering.  One of the spouses will have had enough.

• Airplane seats in the emergency row are pure gold (so that’s what it feels like to stretch my legs…).  They are First Class (or Business Class) without the free booze.

• Google Docs is free magic.  I would explain it to you, but I’m still trying to process it.

• Every tech nerd in America owns/wants an Android phone (sorry Blackberry… you had a good run).

• If you walk up to me and say “I’ve read every blog you’ve ever written”, you might want to consider getting a job.  Or possibly a date.

• If you recognize me in an elevator, I might want to get a restraining order.

• Microsoft should be worried.  If Google plays their cards right, Word and Excel may eventually disappear from schools.

• How do people taller than 5’10” fit into an airplane bathroom?  Even more confusing, how do they use an airplane bathroom?

• All airplane stewardesses (flight attendants.. whatever) look tired.

That’s my trip.

To summarize, it was an honor and a pleasure.

I’m thrilled to be one of only 2 (?) superintendents in the country to be a Google Certified Teacher.

I now feel like I know so much.  And I feel like I have so much to learn.

Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Google.

Thanks Buddy the Dog.  Without your video, I’m just a creepy guy talking to himself.

Comments: 4
Tags: Atlanta Airport, Google, Google Calendar, Google Docs, GTA, Microsoft, Riverwalk, San Antonio, The Alamo

Easy.  Read the blog before you answer.

This may be my shortest entry of all-time (# 351 if you are scoring at home).  It’s really a question disguised as a blog (so much for disguise).

Do you think it’s weird to eat out when you are alone?

I’m not talking about fast food.  I’m talking about sitting down, ordering, and eating in a restaurant.

Would you do it?

Have you done it?

Or do you just find this uncomfortably creepy. Maybe your preference would be to simply starve to death?

Or are you like me and eating alone with all of your friends (aka…my creepy uncomfortable feelings) is normal?

I do this even when I get the sense the hostess and waitress find me sad and pathetic.

I mean more sad and pathetic than usual.

Discuss.

Comments: 18
Tags: bears, eating out, fast food, hostess, PrincipalsPage.com Blog, waitress

Every so often, I try to write(?) a blog that encourages (or shames) educators to embrace (or a least try) technology.

While I don’t know if I’ve made any headway, I’m not willing to give up.

Most school administrators don’t know jack about technology (we could have a longer conversation about what else administrators don’t know, but this is a family blog and we need to watch our language).

I point this out because I would include myself in this group.  Most of us learn the basics, but we are hesitant to delve any deeper into the ever-changing world that involves computers (and other iStuff).

Show us how our email works, explain the basics of Excel, hook up a projector so we can present a bad PowerPoint with far too many words, and maybe even sign us up for a Facebook or Twitter account (this last one is just an example because I realize most administrators are frightened of being Tweeted).

Oh, I almost forgot cell phones.

We need our phones.

Sort of.

We only know how to use 12% of their capability, but we know we need them.

Since administrators find cell phones confusing (and frightening), we try to keep them out of our schools.

I not sure why we are against students bringing mini-computers (that their parents paid for) to school, but we are… and it’s not up for discussion.

This lack of understanding and interest in technology is disturbing.

We are educators after all.

We went to college so we could teach the future, not the past (I hate the “teach the future” phrase, but it seems to fit here).

Yet we continue to ignore technology.

This may be a generational issue.  It could be a question of ambition.  It’s probably something that I don’t understand (again… administrators… we aren’t the sharpest knives in the drawer).

Whatever it is, I shouldn’t complain too much.

For the last 3 years, I’ve benefited from being one of the few administrators who blog.

There are certainly others, but most have been unable to combine my complete lack of understanding of the English language, with just a hint of sarcasm (like the last 5 words), and an almost perverse ability to blog on a consistent basis.

What can I say, it works for me.

When I say I’ve benefited, I don’t mean financially.

Blogging doesn’t pay the bills.  Or a single bill now that I think about it.

But it has given me opportunities.

More opportunities than I could have imagined.

The greatest thing about blogging… it makes you smarter.

Way smarter.

Granted, I started out in the deep end of the dumb pool but blogging has broadened my understanding of education.

And what superintendent or principal doesn’t need an upgrade in intelligence (I will give the teachers reading this a moment to compose themselves as they wipe away the tears of laughter)?

Blogging is free professional development at your kitchen table (or wherever you choose to type… I’m not here to judge).

No college class required.  No long drive to a workshop that might not be terrible.  You don’t even have to try and find a mentor (which is the French word for “someone who doesn’t want to see you fired”).

It’s simple.  You blog.  People read it.  Then they tell you what a moron you are.

This is how you learn and broaden your perspective (it’s a form of tough love).

It’s great.

And so informative.

I think every administrator should blog and become part of a larger discussion on education.

I also think people fear they may say (or type) something they will regret later.

Possibly.

But the reward of what you can learn far outweighs the risk (really, what is the downside from learning more stuff from more people?).

And the students are worth it.

PowerPoint will only take you so far (even if you use 105 slides with really small font).

Comments: 5
Tags: Excel, Facebook, iStuff, mentors, school administrator blogs, Twitter

It’s official.

And a little sad.

The PrincipalsPage.com Blog just got it’s 200th subscriber (actually it was the 202nd, but I’ve been busy… with my day job and all).

This means two things. 

One, 200 people receive the newest blog entries via email as soon as I slop them down and hit the publish button (which I’ve been known to do by accident halfway through a blog… sorry).

Secondly and most importantly, it has become apparent that there are 200 people in the world who are unbelievably bored.

Seriously, you should think about doing charity work or something at least a little more productive.

Even while I may question the good judgment of my readers, I realize I’m very lucky.

This blog has been an opportunity to spout off on a variety of issues.  Education, burning popcorn, Swine Flu, Tiger Woods, politics, my Evil Spawn, Buddy the Dog, my travels (however limited), and any other weird stuff that pops into my head.

The blog has helped me reach outside the walls of my school and be a part of much larger discussions.

I’ve been asked in the last couple of days if the blog has made me a better administrator (seriously, it couldn’t have made me worse).

The answer is it has. 

Probably in more ways than I know.

It’s given me the opportunity to learn from people who are much smarter than me.  They come from all over the world and bring so many different types of experiences and views on education.

Turns out if you write it, they will come (yes, a Field of Dreams reference… one of the 10 best movies of all-time).

While I can’t say I’ve helped them, they’ve certainly made me better (again, not that hard people).

I got my 100th subscriber in late September 2009.  That was 26 months after I started blogging.

It only took 4 months to reach 200.

By my math I should reach 1,000 sometime around…  never.

But who knows?

Stranger things have happened.

Like a Superintendent who blogs.

Or even weirder, the fact that people are reading a Superintendent’s blog (and it’s not about busses, report cards, or current school events).

Comments: 12
Tags: blog subscriptions, Buddy the Dog, PrincipalsPage.com Blog

A single meeting can drag on for hours.  Days last forever.  And weeks seem like they will never end.

How is it that a decade can fly by so quickly?

By my estimation decades are about 10 years long (feel free to double-check my math).  That means the last ten years accounts for approximately 1/8 of my life (if all goes well).

I’m starting to get the feeling that I’m living on borrowed time (my life is half over… I hope it wasn’t the good half).

Before the inevitable happens (I’m crossing my fingers that my Evil Spawn doesn’t put me in a nursing home… or a crate), I want to acknowledge how things have changed for me since the good old days (the year 2000).

Back then:

I was a punk teacher who thought I had all the answers.  Now I’m a punk school administrator who realizes that I don’t have any answers (and barely know all of the questions).

I coached a high school varsity boys basketball team.  Now, I coach 3rd and 4th grade girls.

In 2000, I didn’t own my house, truck, a suit, or have any investments.

I believed athletes were honest (steroids), hard-working, and good people (sorry Tiger, but I’m still heart broken).

I trusted politicians.

Buddy the Dog didn’t rule my house (that I didn’t own).

I was a year away from meeting the Evil Spawn.

And hearing my wife curse like a sailor during childbirth.

I didn’t have a Master’s or Specialist’s Degree.

I had never been to Florida, Texas, California, Colorado or basically anywhere.  Mainly because I had never been on an airplane, in a cab, or on a train.

I didn’t have a passport.

Or a cell phone.

We had a computer (that was huge), but it was slower than the phone I now carry around in my pocket.

I used to read the newspaper and look forward to the mail arriving.

Google, Twitter, Posterous, and thousands of other technology things were yet to be discovered.

I was newly-married (and yet my wife hasn’t aged a day in the last 10 years… yes, she reads the blog).

I hadn’t written a blog, read a blog, or heard of a blog.

My big concern back then was Y2K, not the Swine Flu.

Gas was cheap, but I never thought about it.

I spent my evenings watching TV, not working on a laptop.

I had a credit card, but no money to pay it off (because every cent went to student loans).

Any maybe the biggest thing… in 2000 I had absolutely no concept of time.  I didn’t think about the future.  I didn’t think about anything. 

Oh, how life has changed.  So quickly, in such a short time.

It makes me wonder what I’m about to face in the next decade.  What we are all going to face.

In the world.  At school.  In our personal lives.

For me, the next 10 years means I will celebrate my 50th birthday (how is that possible?), my 25th anniversary (what was she thinking?), and my daughter’s high school graduation.

My biggest hope for the next decade is it goes a little slower than the last one.

And I don’t end it in a crate.

Note from wife… Newly married?  We got married in 1995.  A half a decade prior to 2000.  Does that still qualify as “newly married”?

Comments: 3
Tags: basketball, decade, Evil Spawn/Daughter, Google, Posterous, swine flu, Travel, Twitter, Y2K