Activities

Every Sunday night the staff at my school is treated to a weekly epistle to get us in the teaching mood for Monday, and remind us of things that need reminding. These emails chide us to check the school calendar (an online document that lists some but not nearly all of the week's extracurricular activities), provide shout outs to teachers who have done extraordinary work in the past week, and notify us of various requirements, tasks and challenges to prepare for.

This week, we got the following "I continue to share my deep gratitude to you for your continuing to maintain the excellent learning atmosphere you have all so diligently worked to create so far this year, but this week, let's keep the students even more focused -- do NOT schedule "parties" in your classes, as this tends to divert attention in other classes, and, oftentimes actually creates disciplinary issues for colleagues when their students feel a need to visit your party. See the attached memorandum." While one can debate whether or not it is appropriate to cancel Christmas, some teachers might be particularly confused (in light of this stern warning) by the administration's decision to allow all juniors to pay to watch a movie on Thursday, in stead of going to their classes (where no parties will be held).

We have some grievances here...

First, there is a bit of childish jealously abroad in the teaching staff. The administration has basically told us that there will be no parties (except theirs).

Second, this activity does set a bit of a precedent. Are we now saying we are comfortable with paying to get out of class? During the same week that the teachers have been admonished to maintain their academic rigor?

Third, and perhaps most importantly, it suggests that we have returned to a rule by Fiat. While procedures exist for school-wide approval of activities that raise funds or impact classes (both categories covered by this movie day), none of them were followed. Not a month ago (at the prompting of the administration, who were tired of fielding questions about poorly planned activities) the Activities committee, and the School Planning and Management Team, came up with a form, and a series of procedures (that were approved and supported by the administration) and approvals that activities must get before they can be enacted. These procedures briefly made it possible to require that these activities be prepared at least a month in advance.

At the first possible opportunity, the administration tossed these procedures out the window in favor of Imperial Fiat. It seems to me that there are really two options for the administration at this point. Either A. We are run as an empire, where all decisions must be ratified by the Emperor (at which point... complaining about our need for your approval seems a bit like pouting). Or B. We are a school that follows procedures, at which point teachers might be empowered to make good decisions, through a series of committees, without having to run to the principal for every change in their class.