Hiya.
I’m George.
my love language is gifs.
I’m a parent—but don’t worry—I’m not one of those parents.
…okay, maybe I am, but that’s okay. (I think?)
PSSSST…
If you feel like you don’t wanna read through everything… just keep scrolling until you see the big bold header—you’ll know it when you see it.
Depending on who you are, I’ve got a few things to say to you…
If we’ve not met before: “What the heck haven’t we met? How can we fix this? Hope you enjoy gifs.“
If we’ve met or you’ve read something I’ve posted: “Sup. Yeah, I know—here we go again. Glad you enjoy gifs.”
A little about me and hopefully it’ll give you a crash course in how this crazy dad sees the world and goes about said craziness…
My name is George, I have a daughter in 1st Grade, and this is our first year at Pinecrest Tavares; before moving to Tavares we were at Pinecrest Lakes (Minneola/Clermont). I believe it’s my job to embarrass her every so often… so I figured that 1st Grade is a great time to start.
My brain thinks in bullet lists and I love moving pictures—no, not movies…GIFS.
Getting on the same page.
Not sure if you read my last academic paper (read: “gif-infused vent post”)… but TLDR: when we don’t know what we don’t know and we don’t know how to get answers—things become a dumpster fire (even if it’s imaginary). Click to read what I wrote previously.
In mentioning what I may have posted before, I apologize if I come across as not taking things seriously, I’ve learned about myself that Imma go crazy if I don’t do one or both of the following in annoying/frustrating situations where I care a lot about the outcome:
1) Find something I can laugh at
2) Find something I can do to help
The reason being—other than trying to keep sane—it helps me focus just on the things that I can actually affect and reminds me that I have a part to play in the solution.
Maybe I went a little overboard…
Knowing that I have my frustrations, I often ask myself if I’m the one going crazy—yes, the answer is yes—or if anyone else is experiencing the same things that I have.
So…I joined a few parent pages.
Particularly, the parent pages of some other Pinecrest schools (particularly Pinecrest Wesley Chapel, Pinecrest Nevada, and Pinecrest Sloan Canyon). I watched/listened and even asked around a bit about their experiences.
My goal was to learn a bit about what works and what doesn’t work and maybe put together something to proposal to you, my fellow kid-herders, and then to our Pinecrest. Specifically, I asked about communications, teacher-retention, and parent involvement.
Here’s some of what I learned…
PAWC has a very involved parent organization (to the point where their parents get to vote on school start/end times)—but it’s very small—with their parent community/FB group being very active and which is one way to get concerns on the radar of the school.
Nevada’s parent group is run by administration, and their communication is definitely a constant stream of information, but I would also imagine that it can be overwhelming.
Communication is varied on teacher, a few school schools have a communication outline, but I wasn’t able to pick-up on their efficacy without living it.
A few of them are experiencing teacher turnover too; it IS a big concern nation-wide for a wide array of reasons. While it wasn’t news to me, I had been reading about how many are leaving the education field but it was helpful to see how the transitions were handled at other schools.
Growing pains are tough to transition from, but IS possible. The burden of building projects is carried by the administration, but will of course affect the entire school body. Everyone tries to stay ahead of it, staffing, classroom shifts, etc; but of course there’s no clear remedy to it. From what I can tell, it’s as much about parent support as it is the administration’s ability to plan, organize, communicate, and collaborate.
Collaboration is huge. The responsibility of collaboration is equal, for the school to invite and for the parents to participate—and for both to own the outcome.
Contrary to the GIF… there is no One Solution to Fix It All.
slow your scroll…
This is the section I was talking about earlier…
How you can help…
(This is the part of this you probably actually want to read)
Look, yeah, by now you are probably getting the sense that I’m crazy—or at least you’re getting that idea. I get it, at the end of the day, I’m just a dude typing on a keyboard (who probably has a people-pleasing problem). That said, I know I don’t speak on behalf of every parent/guardian (and I don’t expect to), let alone speaking for the whole of the parent/guardian community. There’s a very good chance that you don’t agree with what I say (or think) and I know I haven’t experienced what you have experience. I also know that I don’t know everything.
But [dramatic emphasis]… I want to learn, I want to be a part of making things better. I want my daughter, your kids, the teachers, and anyone else who is going to be a part of my daughter’s life and education—to be able to be a part of something really really awesome.
What I can assume we share is a desire to see a better community as a whole at PAT. Meaning… helping students, parents/guardians, teachers, local supporters, and staff alike to grow in a safe, healthy, and strong environment. We want to see clear communication and experience authentic collaboration—which means it takes clear communication and authentic collaboration to make it work.
If you have even the smallest desire to see that happen… I’d ask that you consider the following…
Read the proposal I put together
“Sign” with your support (if you do actually support it—if not, no big deal…really)
AND/OR
Give me feedback (if you have it)—it’s helpful. Optionally, you can just DM me and tell me to suck it up and get over it—I am honestly cool with that too.
I want to know about your experience. I want to know what you think—even if we don’t agree or you think I’m just talking non-sense (I always figured my wife isn’t the only person who thinks that—so I guess you’d be helping her out too…)
Consider making it a priority to attend the next PALs meeting
And last… SHARE SHARE SHARE. Hit that bell, like and subscribe (just kidding. There’s no like or subscribe feature, it was too expensive). Know another parent or family whose input could really help this conversation or proposal? Let them know! This proposal needs your voice and their voice—the voices of people who can share their experience and who gives a cr—care.
Included in the proposal:
Proposed “Contact List” resource
Proposed “Communications Outline” resource
Proposed changes to PALs, including:
A way for parents to have topics added to the agenda
A place in the agenda to discuss, or at least get updates on, topics that parents would like to be addressed
Open discussion for a new day/time or structure for PALs meetings
Drawing attention to some current shared concerns (e.g., communications, teacher retention, etc.)
Word Vomit, in Conclusion
Here’s the plan…with what I’ve put together, I’d like to propose to the administration a plan that will hopefully help with some of everything—if at least formalize the real concerns that we have. I have already spoken to Mrs. Schanck and will be reaching out to set a time to connect.
I’m all about getting sh—stuff done. Especially when it comes to my kid. Thank you for helping that happen; even if you read this and say “Nah, I want no part of this…” Thank you.
Okay. You made it. You saw the wall of text and you scrolled. You are my people.
Jk.
But for real—the difference in knowing the community can grow and believing that the community can grow (and work through the problems) is putting together a plan and doing something with it. AND…being part of a community making it happen together.
I know you’ve probably got 5,297,493 things going on including whatever 2,648,746 things your kids have going on…I just wanted to say—whether I know you or not (but really, if we don’t know each other yet…let’s fix that)—YOU ARE KILLIN’ IT.
There’s always a fire to put out, another activity to carpool to, ___ minutes of iReady, and another “are-we-really-talking-about-this” conversation going on…but be encouraged: you got this, you’re definitely not alone (you are my people), you gave it your all today and there’s always tomorrow.
—George