Friday Focus
May 17, 2019
Belinda' s Story
Here is a link to a story about Belinda's activities this week in Washington.
Ryan Homes
New Administrative Team
Fine Arts Night
Seniors
We have 71 children still in South Madison of the 100 that were with us in 6th grade.
Interesting numbers
5 - The number of "Glamour Shots" locations still open in the United States.
1 - The number of Blockbuster locations still open.
20 - The number of pints we collected at our recent blood drive. They were pleased with that
many donations.
Valerie's Vision
Breaking the Rules
Sometimes its okay to break the rules.
Last night at the school board meeting, all of the retirees were honored. We all know that Mr. Lord is a notorious 'non-hugger'. I even asked him if he hugged his teachers that retired after he gave a recognition speech. Without hesitation, he said 'no'.
To my pleasure, last night Mr. Lord was hugged, and he didn't cringe. With tears in his eyes, he shook all board members hands.
Sometimes we have to put those strict rules we set on ourselves aside. Sometimes it's simply fine to live in the moment. Take a deep breath and embrace life. Those teachable, memorable moments are the moments that keep us human.
Giving fellow staff, students, or families in our community a 'break' once in a while helps create trust, helps form bonds, and helps make memories.
Next week, when schedules are non-stop, don't be afraid to make a memory. Break the rules. Hug someone. Enjoy being you!
True Stories from 41 Years
1. It was the fall of 2003. We were hosting an accreditation team. I was picking up breakfast items at the local grocery store. I was checking out and Lisa Barkdull was in line behind me. For some unknown reason, my credit card was declined. The cashier said it loud enough that I knew Lisa had heard my dilemma. I looked back and Lisa was acting like she hadn't heard a thing as she was scanning the headlines of the National Enquirer. I couldn't believe that right in front of a staff member I looked like some deadbeat. I got out another card and all was good. In mentioning that I was going to write about this, Lisa claims to really not remember the incident. I think she is being kind.
2. Dr. Bolander, the principal at East at the time, and I took some teachers to a workshop on curriculum mapping in Indianapolis. We decided to treat the teachers to lunch. As we started to pay, the cashier apologized, because the credit card machine had stopped working and we would need to pay in cash. I looked in my billfold and found two ones. Bill looked in his and had three ones. We not only couldn't pay for our teacher's lunches, but we couldn't even pay for our own. We sheepishly walked back to the table and let our guests know about our dilemma. They were very nice and thank goodness they all had a lot more cash than the principal's possessed and were kind enough to share the wealth.
3. This one took place in May of 2004. We were having lots of injuries to children wearing flip flops. On several occasions, doors opening or closing had caught a child's toenail and ripped it off. The nurse was very concerned and asked that we ban flip flops the last several days of school. I agreed to the ban and announced it over the intercom at 3:15. What I said was, " Boys and girls, we are not going to allow thongs to be worn at Maple Ridge the last few days of school due to the number of injuries occurring." When I went out to the buses I had several staff members snickering. I remember Jill Mohr saying "Really John? Thongs??" I realized then that I had used the term for flip flops from when I was a kid, which obviously had a whole different meaning in 2004.