It seems like the week was totally occupied with SWOS ... Southwest Open School, the publicly chartered alternative high school I'm on the board of. I think the frustrating part of the role is the way it reminded me of what I gladly left behind when I retired from the guvmint at the end of 1995 ... bureaucracy. It seems like every nonprofit board I'm on faces the same tasks ... bylaws, contracts, position descriptions, performance standards, evaluation procedures, etc., not to mention budgets. And frequently, when you get into it far enough, you find that the mechanisms essential to these processes have not been put in place and need to be reinvented (sometimes overnight) in order to move on. I'd rather be out taking pictures with Sandy!
There's the other side, too ... the side that keeps me in the game. Sandy and I sat in on three sophomore portfolio presentations Wednesday, presentations given by sophomore ("lower house" students) who are applying for admission to "upper house." They present their portfolios to a panel of staff of their choice and two upper house students of their choice. I was so proud, both of the sophomores and of the way the upper house students carried out their duties!
SWOS students have almost always been to one or two other high schools, and to hear their comparisons, and to hear them say they finally started WANTING to go to school at SWOS, is really rewarding.
The SWOS board meeting last night had lots of meaty issues to cover, several of them ones that we are behind the curve on. I chaired in the absence of the president, and we managed to get through the agenda in less than two hours. What a relief!
Tonight is the SWOS prom, which should be one of the rewarding parts of being on the SWOS board. We're going to go, and it will be fun to see how the kids look at this event. They seem to recreate themselves at every event.
Next Tuesday is senior portfolio presentation ... a BIGGY for the seniors. I was so impressed by this occasion last year and I'm looking forward to it again. Just reading the portfolios thoroughly takes me a couple of hours in advance (I'll be on a panel interviewing three seniors), but they're so rich, so laden with personal insights the students have gained, as well as demonstrations of their capability. Not like my high school experience of 50 years ago!
Beautiful dawn starting to show; this April storm is over. The grass will be bright green and I've heard it may get up into the 60s for several days. Before the next snow storm. tv
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