A Shake Up. And a Few Melt Downs....

I went to work business-as-usual today. I opened my email and saw that my principal was requesting a short meeting before school which is really rare. I already knew it would be about staffing in our building, but I didn't really anticipate the impact of her words, mostly because I didn't think this would really happen. It happened. She said something to the effect of, "We, and four other elementary schools who are dealing with over enrollment, received extra staffing to lower our class sizes and go back to straight grades." Jaws dropped. People cheered. Everyone took a deep breath and then kicked it into high gear to reconfigure (reconnoiter was my principal's exact word and I giggle every time she says it. So I looked it up. It's a real word. A military term. I'm adding it to my vocabulary.) our classes. Because our superintendent wants this change to take effect on Monday. Monday. Dude.

Our school rallied. IAs came to our room and took our classes. New schedules were made. New class lists drafted and finalized. Letters to parents written. And then we waited till the end of the day to tell our students. The only time I've ever had a class's attention like today was during last years Human Growth and Development unit. You want a kid's attention? Tell them how babies are made, or tell them you're not going to be their teacher anymore. I had their attention. After I delivered the news they had one question.... "Who is my teacher going to be?" That was an easy one to answer.

"I'll be keeping my fifth graders and we've got a great fourth grade team. And, you guys..... come Monday you'll have ten less kids in your class. That's huge." Still there were tears. It started with a few and spread to many. And I was honest with them. This group of 36 kids was a really nice group. But they deserve this. We all do. Learning in a classroom of 26 is better than a classroom of 36. It just is.

Props to a really great principal who was on the forefront of listening to our staff and making this happen. Now, I've got some new lists to make......