Back to school season is moving quickly!
2025-2026
A trendy thing right now is to let seniors paint parking spots to claim them for the year. For Ryan, this fun activity was more pragmatically interesting than anything. He prioritized getting up early, as soon as the sign up opened, to claim a spot that would allow him to easily pull into the spot, while also being in close proximity to the school entrance. This is will allow him to cut it as close to arrival time as possible, seeing as he does not generally value punctuality.
Of course, once the spot was secured, he put thoughtful, creative energy into the design. Opting for a design that was minimalistic and involved calculations. Then he got to work!
Layla helped with taping.
finished product
utilizing
I was excited to meet George Couros, a well-known education author and influencer, after I coordinated his visit to our district as the beginning of the year key note speaker. He was funny, relatable, engaging, and the keynote was well-received by staff.
another season of cross country for Evan
Year 5
He's working on his PR.
Unfortunately, he seems to have developed shin splints and is currently working through that.
another tennis season for Ryan
He has a great partner this year. Ryan is sort of a mentor for him. They have good synergy, and have improved together as the season progresses. I also became fast friends with him mom. Bonus!
Must document that I "crashed out" as his coaches for benching him for unknown reasons. It seemed he was being perceived as "phoning it in" and "stubborn." That tracks to some degree, but where is the clear, direct, supportive coaching? The result of the uncomfortable conversations and feelings? Ryan is playing better than ever, and he's getting more attention and communication from his coaches. [Communication for the win!]
We have a senior!
Ryan left early to attend the Senior Sunrise breakfast on the first day.
Evan is off to begin his sophomore year!
School Pictures
Ryan's had an exciting start the school year. On Day 9, he received a lunch detention for being tardy 3 times to first hour! We had no communication about the first 2 tardies, so were not able to intervene on our end. His first hour teacher clearly values punctuality, but did not communicate directly that she takes the tardy policy so seriously (unlike the majority of her colleagues).
After an uncomfortable conversation with the dean and principal, some parental lecturing, and a tiny bit of school policy grace, we thought we'd reset. However, Ryan was marked tardy again two days later and served another detention. (That time it was actually Evan that caused him to be late. Evan was not marked tardy, Ryan was and served a detention.)
Now, we are not opposed to him receiving consequences for behaviors/mindsets we've been begging him to adjust/be flexible with for years. BUT, I am very concerned with the lack of communication and transparency on the part of the school. Despite this clunky start, Ryan is happy to continue with this teacher in this class. He's interested in the content, and doesn't mind the teacher. His ability to not hold a grudge is admirable. We'll see how this goes... Good times.
Hopefully, we can all reset and this will turn out to be a great year!
Have fun, learn lots!
