school turnaround | Like a Phoenix Rising

So hello again my friends! I deleted all of my old blogs to start all over. A LOT has happened since my last post in 2015 when I was still teaching in Chicago Public Schools. Here’s a brief OVERVIEW (imagine flashing lights and sound effects as we bounce through time)

2015 Finished Administrative Certification & started looking for a Dean, Master Teacher, Department Chair, etc. position. (SPOILER ALERT – it took 3 years of looking while still teaching before I got my first offer)
2016 Still teaching and heavily involved with contract negotiations that led to the first Charter School Strike Authorization vote in the county (SPOILER ALERT – a deal was made at 4 am on the day of the strike so we didn’t have to strike but WOW was that a learning experience)
2017 – Offered and accepted first Assistant Principal job at a Junior High.
2018 – Finally got engaged to long-time partner who I’d lived with for 10 years while vacationing in San Diego (SPOILER ALERT – covered my bunion surgery scar with my first tattoo on that trip. (Thanks Pappy McCall @pappyfromjersey at Tahiti Felix’s Tattoo Museum!)

- Then went bar hopping getting free drinks everywhere we went because we had just gotten engaged!
- Aww look where we got engaged on the roof of the St. James Hotel!!! (SPOILER ALERT – It was one of the only structures to survive that awful early 1900’s earthquake which in retrospect I should’ve taken as a bad omen. But thanks for a great trip St. James Hotel!!!
March 2019 – Got married! Looked super fancy – had a super rocking wedding. Skateboards and nerf guns were included. The Riverdales DEFINITELY got played.
May 2019 – Husband hit by a car & almost has arm amputated. SUPER STRESSUL. (SPOILER ALERT – did you know that the majority of marriage infidelities are discovered in hospitals? Mine was! Injured husband’s mistress bumps into me at the hospital. Someone call Shonda Rimes because have I got a STORY TO SELL!!!)
Later in May 2019 – Offered a position for an Assistant Principal at a Turnaround School with my mentor. Needed the 12-17 hour demanding days to distract me from the infidelity dumpster fire at home soooooo….. I took the job.
September 2019 – Filed for divorce. (SPOILER ALERT – Man that sucked!)
January 2020 – 1st year of the turnaround is going well! It only cost us TONS of union meetings, blood sweat & tears, and LOOOONNNNGGGG hours. But things are ON A ROLL. We’ve GOT THIS!! (We thought we did at least!)
March 2020 – COVID. (Like I said – we THOUGHT “We got this”. Turns out “We don’t got this!)
Later in March 2020 – My first direct COVID exposure – TIME TO QUARANTINE!!!
April 2020 – Divorce is final. (While alone in quarantine and no human contact except with my buddy Don Julio while in my sweat pants!)
June 2020 – My dear sweet black kitty Selina (who isn’t even 5 years old yet) is diagnosed with diabetes. Are you kidding me? (SPOILER ALERT – I was now shooting up my cat twice a day. Feeling like a total scum bag everytime because she hated it and I felt like human trash because it made me feel so sad to do it to her.)
July 2020 – Am I really getting ready for a whole school year in Covid? Yep (Oh yeah and my boss got forced out so there’s now no principal! SPOILER ALERT – They didn’t hire one. AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!)
August 2020 – Good job kitty-mama – the vet says that Selina’s glucose is regular. Kept shooting up my cat twice a day! (This means I am tied to the house as I have to be there exactly every 12 hours to do so!)
Later in August 2020 – School “starts” – if you wanna call it that. Kids are in – kids are out – some kids are just MIA. Teachers are scrambling and exhausted teaching synchronously and asynchronously. (Is Covid over yet???)
October 2020 – HS football is cancelled just in time for me to dip my toe into the dating pool for the first time in over a decade (too bad everything is closed and there’s nowhere to go)
Later in October 2020 – Selina succumbs to diabetes and passes away. (SPOILER ALERT – turns out it DOES get worse than finding out your husband was cheating on you for 3 years BEFORE you even got married. MANY MANY TEARS and MARGARITAS FLOWED)
January 2021 – District gets permission to be a vaccination site for the county. In exchange for using the district building the health department vaccinates the District employees first. (January 25th – SHOT ONE DONE! THINGS MIGHT BE LOOKING UP!!!!)
February 14th 2021- Got tattoo to memorialize my forever-broseph Selina. (Thanks @nicksharratt from Fudo Tattoo Chicago!)
February 25th 2021- SHOT NUMBER 2! WOO HOO!!
February 27th 2021 – Start dating.
March 2021 – Things are devolving at work. All positive turnaround momentum has been lost without consistent leadership. People start to resign. Guess who the excess work falls on? Those who are staying. (SPOILER ALERT – that includes people whose cheating husband stole a LOT of money from them and desperately NEED their salary so they need to keep plugging away)
May 2021 – Aggressively looking for a new position so work is MISERABLE and NEGATIVE and an EMOTIONAL DRAIN (SPOILER ALERT – things weren’t all bad because the dating is going REALLY well and things are getting a little serious with a really awesome person!)
July 2021 – Offered a DREAM job in a DREAM district and ACCEPT
August 2021 – The start of Covid school year #2.5 – but so far IT’S BEEN AWESOME!!!