Week Six Homecoming Edition: Part Three, Just The Facts

     27 September 2026

        I have been through over twenty Homecoming weeks.

       Three buildings, three districts.

       Two had parades. One had...nothing, really. Some games in the gym and a dance and a game that they lost.

        All three have football teams who lose their Homecoming game frequently.

        All three schedule Homecoming Shenanegins all week, interrupting classes and essentially zeroing out the possibilty of moving forward with any content on Friday. Kids are absent for powder puff prep, pep rally prep, pep rally and parade. 

        My Friday of Homecoming week, 2026:

        First period PLT was canceled, because our SLT who is the band teacher had to wait in line at some rental place for 40 minutes to get a trailer for drumline to ride on in at the parade. This his choice. I don't have a truck to pull a trailer, so Thespians aren't doing the parade. Maybe next year we'll find a truck. He doesn't get to whine, but he did.

        Second period Intro. I have eight kids enrolled. They are;

        Four freshmen, three girls and one boy who's never appeard. A ghost.

        Three juniors, one who is a cheerleader, and one who is a ghost. He was enrolled last year as well, I saw him once. He's not appeared in class this year.

        One senior who is a stellar student, CTE and worked the musical last year. They wanted to be in Stagecraft but their schedule wouldn't allow it with singleton honors classes. 

        The two junior girls were in this class when I arrived in January of 2025. One is a cheerleader, the other is an attentive and positive kid whose family life is unstable. They were pulled from class to move schools in March of 2025, and will likely be pulled again this fall, and moved again. She says it's OK, she gets a lot of different experiences. Like I said: positive kid. They would have enrolled in Theatre 2 last year as sophomores if their schedule had allowed, and couldn't get it in their schedule this year, but I appreciate their tenacity.

        The freshmen range from "transferred to our building in September and requested theatre " to "didn't fill out her schedule and was assigned the class." None seem to fire on all cylinders.

        Of these eight, two have Double Secret Nurse Passes---meaning they can leave any time, for any duration of time, with no questions. They also do not arrive on time, so I see them for maybe 10 minutes in a 58 minute period.

        One arrives 15 minutes late, every day. This is second period. In theory, she has a first period she had to attend and so should be somewhere in the building when the bell rings.

        On Thursday of last week, the senior and I were the only ones in class for thirty minutes. 

        On Friday, it was just the two of us for the first fifteen minutes. The cheerleader was clearly at the parade. One of the freshmen showed up. I have no idea where the other two were. So we played JENGA and watched music videos. Their fairy tale assignment cannot be performed with only three of them. Here is what the freshman said while watching THRILLER.

         "I've never seen this before."
         "This looks like a real movie."

         " This looks like American Werewolf in London!"

         "She's really pretty, and so lucky, she got to be in a video with Michael Jackson. "
         "His doctor murdered him, right? Is the doctor still alive? Someone should kill him for murdering Michael Jackson. I love Michael Jackson."

         That was second period.

         Third is Stagecraft. 13 enrolled, nine regularly show up.We were supposed to do model presentations but I forgot it's Homecoming Friday. So I got out the games and bubbles, because we were going to be called anywhere from 10 am -10.15 and told to go watch the parade. One kid is in drumline so he was out. Two others never showed up. One magically appeared after the parade, and my favorite freshman was not present. Her friend said her parents moved her to a different school. This class is my SLO data, and I have to have 10 kids for it to be valid. Awesome.

        We toddled down to the parade, and I swear there were twice the "floats" as there were last year. Not a lot of school spirit on the side of the street that I was posted, but something was different. It felt different than last year. Last year was a mess of pulled teeth getting kids to participate, relocating the bonfire for parking lot reasons--I think the pipes and flooding-- breaking up a fight between parents at the barbcue...this is different.

          Fourth I have Peer to Peer---those are my special needs kids. They got to be on two floats this year!  So there was no way anyone was going to focus for theatre, and that is all good in the hood with me. I handed out bubbles, leggos and Jenga and somehow landed on Prince videos--much to the delight of one of the paras. I like having people my own age around. However, finding Prince videos that are not naughty takes dilligence. It was a great post parade gathering until it was time to go to the assembly. I sat with the kid who is like Rain Man, he can tell you the day of the week for any date you give---past or future. I don't usually play the game with him, but he likes to ask "What day of the week is.....?" knowing I don't know, so I let him play. He also talks to either invisible friends or friends in his head. 

            The assembly was solid, the cheerleaders were on point, the kids in the gym exuded school spirit, they even volunteered to play the dumb gym Homecoming games everyone plays. I watched three of my freshmen poorly manuver "Hungry Hungry Hippoes" and laughed outloud with the teacher near me, who had also noted their struggle. He knew they were my kids based on the fire drill---we stand near one another.

          Side note: we've had two unplanned fire drills. One from the theatre, where a kid snuck  in during construction and pulled it---the construction workers told me they just stood and watched him---and one from smoking in the second floor boys' room. UGH.

          Lunch included toddling down to the office to get a Gatorade and muffin, as admin likes to ply us with sugar on these days. I had a nice exchange with the principal---details later---which was unforseen, she never talks to me. And it's fine, she's not mad, just very busy and important. Usually I get fly bys from her---like after The Odd Couple she was standing at the doors and said "I am a very proud principal right now"---moments like that are gold. If you know, you know, this is new territory for me. I have spent 20+ years as the unwilling but committed thorn in admin's side.

            Fifth is my "advanced" 2/3 class. I have five enrolled but six show up---one kid can't enroll because his college schedule impacts Wednesdays, and he will be late. But he comes anyway, 'cause he's a Thespian and loves theatre. Unsure where he was on Friday, but only five showed up. Two of them were in the parade, so we had to dissect that. Then they actually wanted to learn more about breaking down monologues, so we worked. First time that day.

            Sixth is another Intro, six kids enrolled, four show up on the regular. Two of them were the struggle bus freshmen from the assembly. They were far enough away from the event to attempt performing their fairy tale scene, but honestly freshmen aren't freshmen any more. COVID halted so many developments that they're still in seventh grade. I had to lecture them on maturing a bit to make it through theatre scenes, but I'll have to turn this into a reading hist/lit class. The boy can barely function, he has major ADHD and no paperwork---so it's not identified or diagnosed. 

            I subbed for seventh period since I have it off. It's a freshmen lit class and I knew a few of the kids, so that was relatively painless. The group of trouble making boys were quiet, I don't have to have been previously introduced to them to identify who they are. I made them deflate their ball, and when he blew it up again I just looked at him. "Sorry, Miss" and he stopped.    

            Then I gave a sub a ride home to Highlands Ranch, came home and watched American Werewolf In London and said "This looks like the video for 'Thriller'.

            SCENE.

            

        

        

60 Years Are Too Many: Nancy

         26 Sept 2026

        I want to live kindly, correctly and as unselflishly as possible. 

       "As possible", because I am a teacher and I make just enough money to  pay my mortgage, car payment and insurance. I donate at the holidays, both time and money.

        And that's all I can do.

        I have to fight the instinct to stop at every intersection with a person in need, invite them into my car and bring them home. Let them shower, feed them, see how I can help get them back on their feet.

        I fight it because my husband would divorce me. 

        So when I sense an opportunity, I stop and think.

        Friday was that moment.

        I don't generally wait until 4 pm to leave. I do not have a 7th period, and I've been known to sneak out to avoid teenagers in the parking lot.

        Also, remember I'm in 233 now on the second floor. I can't just scoot out the dock door to the parking lot. I Can Be Seen.

        Friday morning the front office called and asked if I'd sub seventh period on the fourth floor. I have no reason to say no, and they pay me, so...sure. I have no real reason to say no other than "I don't waannnaaaaaa". 

        Friday was a scheduling mess due to Homecoming. Dude, I've been at this 24 years and if you're going to schedule a parade and an assembly on Friday, just call it at noon and send everyone home.  

        Right. That would make sense.

        So during first period, there was a knock on my door. It's a hooligan ghost door that will lock itself. As only three students showed up for class, I assumed it was a fourth. It was not, it was the sub from next door. 

         If she was anywhere south of 70 years old I would be shocked.

         She wore a golf visor, and had an easily answereable question about when we were supposed to take the kids down to see the parade. Her name was Nancy.

          I didn't see her the rest of the day, until I was leaving the building at 4pm. I had to schlep back to the second floor from the fourth floor, and gather my effects. The point of this is I am  generally not leaving the building with other teachers.

          So as I'm gathering, the lightning flashes and the skies open up, pouring buckets of rain. The thunder shook the building, and one flash I swore hit the parking lot. 

          I trundled down the two flights and saw Nancy standing, looking at the quickly puddling parking lot. She had her phone out, and she casually and calmly looked up at me. "Are you going to Englewood by chance?"

         I live west, in the opposite direction, but I paused. I assessed the very real possibility she was going to have to take a bus, and had her phone out to get an uber. Which would cost her her day's earnings as a sub.

         I paused. "I'm not going to Englewood, but I can give you a ride."

         Flustered a bit, she said "The hub is in Englewood, I live in Highlands Ranch."

         Which is even farther, and south, and a drive I hate almost as much as I hate I -70 to Aurora.

         "No biggie. I'll give you a ride. C'mon."

          As we ran to the car between pummeling rain drops, she repeated how much she appreciated it and how kind I am. She told me she lived at the Audrey senior living in Highlands Ranch Town Center and the bus ride is only an hour, but the rain had her thinking about an uber, or just waiting, so she just asked me.

         Once in my car, she said "I tell stories". I said "Cool, that'll be a nice ride." I stopped for gas nearby and got her to give me the address of our destination. It predicted 31 minutes but it took 45 due to stupid traffic at Santa Fe and C470 and the rain. But I didn't care. I wasn't going to the Homecoming game, just home to watch a horror movie with Jim. No Big Plans.

        On the drive, she regaled me with her life story. 

        I did not get her age but 70 may be a low estimate.

        She has two cars, but one is a classic she does not drive, and the other she avoids because it needs work. She'd rather take the bus and use her sub money to travel than use it to repair the car. Which she uses to drive to the foothills to take photos, as an amateur photographer.

        She lived in Canada, attended the same college as Martin Short who is two years younger or older than she is---(I looked it up, he's 76)-- I can't remember if she mumbled he was behind her or ahead of her at school, only that it was two years. She has a degree in psychology and worked in "What they used to call 'Bedlam'".  Fell in love, got married, moved to Germany---her wife was German---then to France and Italy, and then grew apart and divorced.

        She travels  A Lot. 

        She spent the summer in Morocco, Italy, Greece and Spain.

        She was bitten by a cat in Morocco and spent the day with three 30 year old men running around trying to find a vaccine clinic.

        She likes to work out, and is not afraid to walk to and from bus stops.

        She explained that the roads in the US are horribly kept, and when you drive from Ontario to the US you can tell when you're in the US by the way the roads are maintained.

        She is a tall woman, and a bit mumbly. I'm afraid once or twice I didn't quite catch everything. She said she subbed in a middle school where a girl screamed at her relentlessly, demanding to know if she was a woman or a man.

        Which brings us to the age thing, you guys know how that can go---is that an old man or an old woman? The height and golf visor can add to the confusion if you're not a fully realized human. Full Realized Humans could care less which one you are.

        I think she said "I identify as female but I'm ( mumbled 'gay' or 'male' or something else?)" but cannot confirm. She is very kind and was patient with the kid as long as she could be before calling admin. Admin removed the kid (I want to know what school this was, because THANK YOU YES) and it was a two day assignment, so the second day they gave her an honors class with a better sort of pupil. She had a lovely second day there. She is not mad at the screaming child, she seemed confused. She's been subbing for 10 years so this can't be the first time she's encountered a middle school demon.

         I told her the kid was not an outlier, there are too many entitled jerks who think they can talk to adults like that. She did agree that she sees that behavior, but loves being around kids, loves subbing. She had no children of her own, this is a way to connect.

        She studied sketch writing in Canada and writes "a little bit". I think she worked as a writer on a show for a minute, but again; mumbly.

        She loves to golf, which is evident by her golf visor.

         She lives in a senior living apartment, which is not assisted living or a home. It's independent living she pays $1200 a month for. Her neighbors are a variety of mobile and not-so -mobile folks, and one travels with her. Many of them also travel. She swears by travel and cannot imagine being still. She literally subs to travel.

        She asked if she could buy me a coffee or something for giving her a ride, and I thanked her but begged off since it was getting late and as much as I enjoyed listening to her, I was out of spoons.

        I left her with "You are living your best life. Good for you." She smiled and shrugged and I sharpened my tone "I will never retire, and I've never been able to travel. You are doing this for those of us who cannot. Accept it gracefully and live fully."

         I hope she subs at Kennedy again. I hope to see her, and encourage her to write or to let me write about her. Her stories are fascinating...at least the parts I can hear are fascinating. 

         She is 74 or 78 years old, traveling, writing, taking photos and subbing. 

        Scene.

        

        

60 Years Are Too Many, Week 6: When You're Old Not All Assumptions Made Are Bad.

     25 Sept 2026

                                                            Homecoming Postcards

        Homecoming was this week. The parade was this morning, and I swear we had twice the participants as last year. It's still trailers pulled by trucks, but the kids really put their hearts into it. AND MI/S (special needs) had both Unifed Sports and a Commander bus for those students. It was truly wonderful.

        Last year is my only comparison, and I had heard from a colleague that we only have six cheerleaders. There were only five on the float because nobody gets permission slips signed anymore. I assume that is also why there were only a handful of football players looking morose on their float. 

        However, there were 10 cheerleaders at the assembly and what appeared to be at least 15 football players. The cheerleaders last year were sloppy, under rehearsed. A few of them are still on the squad, but something has snapped into place somehow, because they were great. Snappy, precise, focused. 

        I also got a whiff of school spirit in the "rivalry" between freshmen and seniors. I have to say, things are very different this year, and I'm hesitant to name it.  

        It smells like hope.

        The building is 126 students under the district projection, and kids still disappear from my roster, or never appear when they are on the roster. From that perspective, nothing has changed. 

        But the assembly was different. I have no school spirit, and I will actively snuff it out if it comes anywhere near me, but I found myself enjoying the cheerleaders, the stupid homecoming gym games between classes, the sashing of homecoming royalty. The kids were not hesitating to participate and they were genuinely enjoying themselves. Last year it was like pulling teeth to get anyone to do anything. 

        Maybe it's because I knew one of the nominated senior queens, she's my Gen Ed kid in Peer to Peer. She's in choir, did the musical last year, but exists on the fringes. Other choir kids are more popular, I am usure how she got the nomination. Apparently her boyfriend was nominated King, so perchance there is an Elon Rat fixing the voting.

        The building is adding a CP---which is a certificate, less than an associates but more than doing nothing---program for kids concurrently enrolled in college.

        Why This Is Bad For Performing Arts.

        When kids are concurrently enrolled in community college and high school, they are physically absent from the high school for a chunk of their day, morning or afternoon. Which impacts electives for these kids, who discover that they can't be in choir because it's the same time as their college physics class. So all perofmring arts take a major hit, as most kids who want to be concurrently enrolled because they are over achievers are our kids. Our lower level numers remain the same, but any kid who wants to continue in performing arts finds it more and more difficult with concurrently enrollment, clubs, IB, CTE, etc. 

        They prefer teachers inside the building with a masters to teach these classes. Generally. I'm not asked to do it as Who Cares About Theatre. CCA had a college level theatre class that was tech, but I didn't have a masters so nobody asked me to teach it. Which is fine, I had one kid who wanted to take it. So he did. 

        The principal sent out a google form asking us to anty up if we have a masters. This is information easily available from HR, but whatever. So I answered "Nope" and when asked for comments, I said "I'm IB not, MFA, and I have masters hours in humanities but didn't finish". Because I felt pressured to write something by way of an apology for being No Help At All.

        I ended up with face time with the principal due to Homecoming, and she said  "So you have a masters, about the CP----" and I laughed. I worked with her at Hinkley. I work with her here. I filled out the google form. At no point has anyone ever said "kryssi has a masters".

        I smiled and shook my head. "Nope. It's my age, everyone just assumes I have one. I was IB."

        Not all Ageism is negative.

        She then determined that since AP theatre exists, they should send me to summer AP theatre camp training, or see if the district would kick in $ for me to get my masters so I can teach theatre here for kids who are concurrently enrolled...I think? I guess?

        But I wanted to leave...

        I dunno. Nobody's ever cared enough to follow through. I thought about doing the concurrent enrollment gig at Hink, I was going to just get my Masters in Lit or Creative Writing or something. But I didn't have the fundage. Money Is A Whole Thing.

        ADDENDUM: After I wrote this, I walked away, wondering why the principal thinks I have a masters.

        UMMMM....if you know you know, I have a masters cowl I liberated from a previous building. It's a costume piece, and I've worn it to the two graduations I've attended.

        Oooops....heh heh...I didn't even think of that.

            

        I'm just logging information. Nothing is likely to happen.

        Scene.

60 Years Are Too Many: Week Five

         19 Sept 2026

        Well, it's been shitty. How're you?

        Two of my plans are taken up by PLT meetings, I'm being observed every week, office hours are taken up with DDI and the theatre construction has halted, but there are no seats or electrics or boards or sound system or anything "new" in the shop other than outlets. There is also no evidence that they intend to install the ADA lift at the apron so my students can access the stage directly, instead of being "othered" by going through the horrifying hallway or dock door, which is always cluttered and takes time to clear a wheelchair path.

        AC power cord update: I brought an extention cord from home. I plugged it into the south wall, and plugged the RENT ME AC unit in. 

        No breakers were injured during this experiment, but the plug was again stupid hot. Since the weather has broken a bit, I did not turn it on again after Monday.

        Other than that...it's been great with the students, for the most part. No shitty there.

        The kids I have are respectful of the new No Cell Phone law, and I love it. I'm sure all teachers do, I'm getting much more accomplished without that distraction.

        My Theatre 2/3 class, who are "advanced"----so identified because they were in the fall play and musical last year---get to have a real acting class this year. Last year, in order to get shows up----Hold Please. 

        Clarification: when one is literally rebuilding a department from a crater, one must put something on the stage. Unlike bitcoin scams, theatre has to actually produce A Thing for kids to see in order to understand that the theatre exists. One cannot say "join theatre class" with no evidence of theatre performance in the building and expect kids to line up.

        So Theatre 2 last year-with kids I had cobbled and nursed when I arrived in the spring of 2025-- was used as rehearsal time for the shows. This fall thus far they have read Our Town  and performed the wedding scene using expressionism. As a break before we start the next history unit, they were tasked with a simple improv prompt: find a childhood character you all know  and put them on trial for something silly. Five minutes to talk, five to structure, five to rehearse and perform: done.

        This was Wednesday, a block day so class was an hour and a half long.

        I learned: Nobody had their parents read to them.

                        Not everyone watched Sesame Street.

                        Finding a common element without using Dory, which was fine but a few had 

     watched Finding Nemo as teenagers, and they wanted something from their childhood.

                        Not a single kid had a single clue how a courtroom trial works.

        After an hour and a half, they had decided they all "ish" knew Tom and Jerry.  I put it on the TV for them and watching that cat and mouse was pretty entertaining. It's been years. The student who was raised with the show said she calls it "rage baiting" because Jerry is such a jerk, and we all gufawed with laughter. When they began fumbling with the definition of "Prosecution" I had to intervene. 

        The next class period, we watched a 13 minute video made by some high school kids in Texas that walked through a mock trial. 

        After that illuminating experience, they got out 3X5 cards to work on their arguments, and watched the video a second time.

        They stalled when nobody could remember how to be sworn in.

        I heard: " I swear to tell the whole truth because God."

                      "I promise to swear to tell the real truth and not lie."

                      " I swear I won't lie, I'll tell nothing but the truth, ask God."

                       "What even is 'whole truth'? Like you need to say that?"

                       "I promise to uphold the aims and ideals of the International Thespian Society."

          By the end of a 58 minute class they had the words for swearing in, the structure and were writing their scripts.

         I'd like to draw your attention to the first intention of this theatre break: improv.

         And the second element: 15 minutes.

        We are now 148 minutes into a 15 minute break, they've had to write down arguments and they aren't performing until Monday.

        This is not a fail, this is an illuminating moment. Kids can't work together without finding common ground first. Second, they have to understand that what they do not know can be learned together and that new information influx supports their goal. During rehearsals, the show is the common ground. Without that, they were on the struggle bus.

        They could have easily let the natural leader choose a character for them without really understanding the character. But they didn't. 

        They could have left the kid -who not only was never read to but never watched kids movies, only Tom and Jerry DVD's her parents had- behind.But they didn't. 

        A leader easily could have taken the helm and said "We have 15 minutes, who cares if you understand, I do, so just do what I say." But they didn't. 

        They represent everything that is great about theatre.

        Meanwhile in Theatre 1. I have six kids enrolled second period and four generally show up. I also have six enrolled in sixth period, where three generally show up. Although this week the sixth was added, and she seems to attend, so one day we had four.

        I am turning this class into a Theatre Hist/Lit because I do not know how to teach an intro level theatre class with fewer than double digits. 

        We tried learning the improv game "Questions", only to have it break their brains. They like creating short scenes with a prop or given dialogue, and I like that they work together. I started with the Greeks and Oedipus as the roster was changing and collaborative work is impossible when there are different kids present in every class. So we started with history and lecture and vocab.

        So in the name of "tableaux" they created original scenes this week, and had a great time. I am encouraged enough to believe we can do two person scenes next week, but if one of the randos shows up I'll have an uneven number...whatever. Three person scenes are historically a shit show, because one of the three never comes to class, and someone else ends up subbing in.

       I'll give it a try this week, and if it fails we'll shift to creating fairy tales with combat and mime. 'Tis my Go To.

        Stagecraft are my new favorite people. I love these kids. They watched Legally Blonde  and tracked the tech vocab, then we read She Kills Monsters  and they chose a tech to track. They created a morgue of their tech, and last week worked on sketching the design and they are in it to win it.They are grateful to work with their hands and use their creativity outside of an art class. They are deeply appreciative that they do not have to perform, and were deliciously agreeable to adhering to the rules as we ventured into the costume shop. 

        No notes. Once the musical is locked in, I am confident these kids will turn into hungry hungry tech hippos.

        Peer to Peer is rough without a stage. Last year we would work 90% of the time in the classroom, but go down to the stage once a week for a "field trip" where they could stomp and jump and scream and roam around. Five weeks trapped in the classroom(s) with or without AC has been tough. And I still don't know what I'm doing, I have no idea how to teach Sped in any real capacity. I've pumped Harp for ideas, and their "What I Love" speech/slideshow went really well two weeks ago. I'm trying to work on creating something more hands on than the sock puppets----which we'll do, they love those----but not individual. Something they all build. Like the acting machine we all did in our intro classes, but with physical pieces. I make them build animals and locations with their bodies, which is about as abstract as they get. When we have "down days" they have jenga and leggos which are a huge success. 

        I'm not on solid ground with these kids yet, even after welcoming Sped into my IB classes at Hink. That worked because there were eight IB kids and eight SSN kids---it was one on one. Last year P2P only had two Gen Ed kids , the total enrolled was 18 and I forced them to do two shows in the fall. This is 21 kids  with just me and one Gen Ed kid and no stage to perform on. I will probably write them a spooky Halloween play they can invite their parents to come see in the classroom.

        We have chosen a musical, I'm waiting to hear about rights. It's one I did at Littleton and it was the greatest/worst experience of my career. Since all signs are pointing to this being my last high school musical, it will close another circle.

        I've been closing circles for six years, dude. Edward Albee said "Sometimes it's necessary to go a long distance out of the way in order to come back a short distance correctly." Jerry commits suicide by coersion to come back a short distance to make a human connection. I get that's my journey and why I'm at Kennedy, and why this is the end; my short distance correctly. So there's nothing deeper to closing the circle, or knowing the department will not make it regardless of my efforts. 

        Hink was my great distance out of the way. Literally and figuratively. I knew going in that it was temporary, I just didn't fully grasp why. 

        In my neurotic hubris, I assumed it was to save me from the disaster of COVID. Had I pursued legal action against my previous buiding, it would have dragged out into the following August 2020.

        We all know what happened in March of 2020.

        But this was October of 2019, and I had no idea what was coming. None of us did.

        Had I chosen to move forward, I would not have had a job at all during the lockdowns. God floated Hink at me as a life boat to get across the great distance. It was only temporary, and I knew that.

        I had decided to just do as I was told and "be still, and know that I am God" and figured if something else was supposed to happen, it'd have to do so without me applying to every open job.

        Kennedy literally called on my cell phone in September of 2024. Yes, the building itself called me. :) The AP had come from Hink, and said the words "Do you want to come here and do what you did for Hinkley?"

        I said yes. Because I didn't apply, I didn't ask;it appeared.

        I also knew it would be my last high school teaching job. I have no interest in leaving until I'm booted out. This is where I'm supposed to be. This is the final destination to come back a short distance correctly. 

        Hink is where I learned what I needed to finally Do It Correctly.

        I'm not there for the district or the building. I'm there for the kids.

        I don't care if it's 100 or 10. It's not about that. It should never be about that.

        They came to school. They signed up for theatre. I teach theatre.

        If one ignores the flaming dumpster of education and fear, I'm actually doing very well.

        Scene.

 

        

        

            

60 Years Are Too Many: What's Going On?

     19 September 2026

    The first week the principal celebrated our incomprehensible leap from an orange rating to green---skipping yellow. There is  A Lot to that story, today we're focusing on how the distrcit seems to feel about our building.

     When I was hired in December of 2024, the school had a yellow rating, on its way to green, after struggling in orange a few years. Somewhere in there, maybe 2023, the new principal arrived. So I walked into a school that was under the district watch, but only slightly. Which is what YELLOW means.

    By Augst of 2025 when I attended my first faculty meeting, the biulding had somehow crashed back to orange. This was bewildering to those around me, and there was a lot of talk about the district "having it in" for the building, and "moving the goal posts".  I cannot speak to the truth of any of that, only that it was overhead.

      The theatre, gym and film class were all scheduled for large, expensive Mill Levy renovations in 2026, so none of what was happening with the rating and the gossip matched the money that was on the horizon. Why would you stomp a school that is getting new stuff --new stuff the voters approved, mind you.

        The core teacher and our AP's busted their asses last year to get us out of orange. They are not in the building this year to receive accolades, as they have moved on. AP's do that, if you're an AP you want to be a principal someday. However, because they did all the work with the teachers, the principal cannot answer critical questions posed by the distrct regarding how  it was accomplished. 

     That and the backhanded email received from the superintendent, which was essentially "Well, you did it but I have no idea how and we'll see if you can maintain the rating which I doubt."

      Now you're caught up.

      Week Five we receive an email from the principal stating that our enrollment is under the district prediction.

      My first question is why is the district predicting our numbers? We know what's up, and we could accurately predict a baseline.

      The district predicted 126 more students than enrolled.

       I'd like to see the math and where exactly they thought those kids were coming from.

       So, after celebrating busting ass to get to the green box, the principal will now have to cut at least one teacher and possibly three support positions in week six of the new school year.

        To clairfy, a teacher will no longer have a job on 28 September.

        I've been through spring RIB (Reduction in Building, it's also called Reduction in Force but I tend to say RIP because it can also mean Reduction in People).

         I'm not here to whine that I may be cut. In the first place, they just renovated the theatre after I mounted the first fall show and musical in ten years. However, the schedule is a nightmare and sophomores don't get an elective, so all of my work produced single digit class enrollments. 

        If you're cutting by class size, I'm in line.

        We already cut back to one art teacher last spring, and we're bare bones for CTE and IB. ROTC is in the same hurt that Performing Arts are.

        What you need to do is cut a program.

        The principal at Hinkley told me that. She referred to me as the arm that needed to be chopped off to save the body. 

        Blink. Blink.

        I mounted three full shows, two cabarets, a collage and a showcase my last full year in response to her words. Then I turned around and left of my own accord.

        They no longer have a theatre program. And I left on my own terms.

        Cutting arts and art is never the answer. When you have one kid graduate with their IB diploma, it's probably time to cut the program. When CTE engineering classes are single digits, it's time to make a hard choice.

        A small building can be a strong building---but you have to decide what makes you strong.

        Adding a CP program for kids who are concurrently enrolled in college strains the building, it doesn't strengthen it. You may get more kids enrolled in the building, but they aren't in seats. So your building numers may improve slightly, but you are still "down" students and have done nothing to help IB, CTE, PA  or ROTC. That is another clear step to killing performing arts.

        I get to criticize because none of these choices are on me. I'm just Schleppy the Clown. I'm focused on making sure the kids I have are coached to the moon and back in theatre, and are given the same performance and experience opportunities as a bigger school.

        Scene.

60 Years Are Too Many: 9/11 25

     13 September

        Every 11 Sept I take a moment at the beginning of every class. Just to see what they know. Just to remind them it happened. They weren't even born yet.

        I am glad to hear it's in their history curriculum, apparently it's part of the eighth grade curriculum, and they remember that they learned about the towers, a few remember the Pentagon and only one had learned of flight 93.

        I do not beleagure the myraid of conspiracy theories or legion of medical issues, especially now that the receipts have been revealed proving what Jon Stewart has been fighting for over two decades is true. They're all true, our government sucks. What else is there?

        I don't note the time stamps---I had to do that when I taught Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close---that's rough.

        I simply say "This is where hate leads".

        I don't care if the US government knew, or even helped orchestrate it. It wouldn't surprise me. I've never been a blind flag waver, I see our government for who they are.

        Somebody had enough hate to pilot those planes into buildings, knowing they would die in the process.

        And that hate spread to hate for an entire religion, and fear of brown people, and more hate of "the outsider" and  25 years later, ICE is shooting American citizens and throwing brown folx in concentration camps with no probable cause other than the color of their skin.

        So my thesis, with the photo of the second plane approaching the south tower, is simply "This is where hate leads".

        When you are fed only one side of an issue, and that side is hateful, it becomes almost impossible to see any other aspects.

        There is little discussion, which I should allow but honestly, when I have 100% of my students looking at me, wide eyed and nodding, they need not discuss. They know. They live it, and they're doing their level best to lead with love.

        And, additionally, I'm not feeding them any conspiracies or health issue updates. I have one blanket thesis which ends with "Lead with love in everything you do". 

        Telling theatre kids to lead with love is like telling jello it's jiggley. They aren't the ones who need to be reminded, but I hold out hope that their example impacts others who may need a reminder or example in their own life.

        Fear is how you control people.

        And you instill fear with hate.

        It's that simple.

        It's ridiculously simple.

        It's identifiable and preventable.

        Yet here were are, 25 years later, fueled by hatred of "the other", believing the fearmongering "They're criminals! They'll take your jobs and rape your daughter!" 

        Somehow, though,this is the moment the millionairs lose control of the country.

        It's too much all at once. We were OK when it was covert.

        We acquiesced to covert cover ups; we believed Ollie North worked alone, we bought that US corporations had  nothing to do with Rwanda and then said "Our government is not going to get involved to help". We accepted all of their lies as long as they didn't interrupt Friends.

        It is a long and exhausting list, do your own research---DO NOT USE AI, try The Guardian, AXIOS, The BBC, or University articles. Or try a great guy called Pissed Magistus. My point stands: we turned a blind eye to what they were doing as long as it didn't impact us directly.

        Reagan deregulated, dismantled and destroyed, handing perks to the millionaires, leaving hospitals without the ability to care for those suffering from mental illness and flooding the streets with disregulated human beings in need of care. 

        That didn't effect enough of us directly.

        Enter Trump.

        The mask came off. He clearly alinged with with billionaires while we scratched our heads and wondered "How the hell did we end up with so many billionaires?"

        He openly lies, threatens and dismantles the constitution and free speech. His base cheers him---even when they lose their own jobs, healthcare and farms.

        And we stand gobsmacked, frozen in terror, wondering what we can possibly do when he has not only lit a thousand fires, but fired everyone who was in place to prevent those fires. So many fires and no firehoses. And no water thanks to drought and data centers.

     Then he started rounding people up based on their color and shooting white people who protested.

        And still...we stand...flabberghasted and frozen, hoping blindly the midterms will make a difference. Because we cannot fathom that democracy has fallen, surely there is still hope. How could anyone in their right mind vote for this?

        It's too late for that, friends. We were lulled into a coma by consumerism and drive through cofee.

        The catch word "woke" has become a dirty word, just like "liberal". But it doesn't matter, because most of us were not asleep, we foolishly believed that going into healthcare or education was the best way to fight what was coming. We knew. We saw it. We tried.

        And we failed.

        And so as a "Woke Liberal"  I would like to say that I was never asleep. I saw it. I voted against it every time. I went into education. I raised kind, thoughtful and resourceful children who create community in their lives. I have friends and colleagues who did the same.

        So how...HOW is the majority running this country cruel?

        I read Heather Delaney Reese, I follow Meidas Touch and Aaron Parnas.

        Before they arrived I was a BBC and Al Jazeera reader. I like straight news.  Politics Girl is in my heart, but she yells---and she should, nobody stop her---but I cannot take it right now. I need boring. I need facts without the volume at the moment.

        Where is Walter Cronkite?

        Remember when the news was boring?

        I was not raised by news-interested people. My family was entertainment oriented. I cannot speak to why this was. I can only patch together my experiences as a child,and it is likely they just accepted that the government was lying to them, but as long as they had jobs, why get wound up about the other side of the world?My mom bought People Magazine every week at the grocery store. I have no memory of the news being on. We watched Wonder Woman  and The Six Million Dollar Man/Bionic Woman and Little House on the Prairie. And Roots.

        Wild, right? I was 10 or 11 (depending on which month it aired) and in elementary school but by god we watched Roots, and my mom was all up in it, disgusted by white southerners as only a person raised in Colorado can be. She had no real experience with that level of racism, even though she had lived through MLK marches and his assassination and school segregation. She just didn't associate that with her own lived experiences in DPS.

        As a kid in white suburban schools, I was hard pressed to say I had encountered any kids of color, ever. I did have a Mexican friend once. My choir teacher in elementry school was a woman of color. I loved her to the moon and back. I gave her lipstick for Christmas.

        I'm not off track, stay with me. My family was entertainment oriented but we did get the daily news. We were Rocky Mountain News subscribers because my mom said the Post was "too political". Which I now know was code for "Too Left" or "democratic". I now know, most Republicans were News readers in the 1970's and 80's. All I noted at the time was that if my friends' parents got the Post, their parents were college educated. This is a fact as observed by a child, don't even start with me. Data is data.

        My parents were not college educated.

        Facts are facts. Do with it what you will.

        If you track that data just casually, it equals republicans being unaware of or unwilling to engage in political discourse, or hear any ideas that are "left" of their own. If you track the data just casually, these same people prefer entertainment over news.

        Because Lynda Carter's boobs are more important than what really happened during the gas crisis. And rather than watch or listen to the boring news, my parents just joined the "Jimmy Carter is the worst president ever" club, only to switch gears later in life when it became clear what had actually occured, and Jimmy continued to live his life as a good and honest Christian, building houses and giving back. 

        And true to the mind set, my mom pretended she never disliked Jimmy. Apparently I made it up.

        This was a windy track, but a track. 

        I am educated. I lean left. I listen to other people, I do not shout them down. I am not my parents, who seemed largely dissinterested unless it was to belittle. My willingness to listen and learn created a person who can smell bullshit and has no patience with liars.

        I have always hated politicians. All of them. I thought I liked Ben Nighthorse Campbell back in the day, but then he switched sides.

        I have never voted for a winning presidential candidate. I voted against a candidate and the other guy won, but that was a vote against, not for.

        They all lie. Maybe they don't start out that way, but eventually they are corrupted.

        I hate that about myself, as it means even though I have voted in every election since 1984, I knew my vote didn't count. Yet I still voted and I see clearly who our representatives are.

        But I did it. And I didn't hate people who voted differently. Since 2016 I have a lot of concerns about how people vote, but I don't hate them for it. I honestly wish to know why, but when I ask, I get rhetoric and attacked for being a liberal. 

        Attacking is not an answer. It's hate.

        Yet they hate me. I had a relative call me a "communist" and tell me to move out of the US. Simply because I oppose the war in Iran. I wasn't even yelling, I was just stating my position as I am allowed to do as an American with free speech. You are allowed to state yours also,I did not come over to your wall and call you names.

        So I will keep going forward with love. I see you, I see why you make these choices and I believe you are harmful. But I don't hate you. I will not see how karma responds to your hate, but I believe it will do so.

        I accept that you hate me. 

        There is nothing I can do about it.

        But you aren't going to stop me from being positive and teaching others to love and listen and make up their own minds once they know the truth.

       Scene.