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.
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