Meeting the parents of my new kindergarten students

When I retired from the public schools and went to work in a private Episcopal K-12 school, I had a lot of adjustments to make: 

• The Principal and the Headmaster actually prayed with me before I was hired.
• The Headmaster greeted me by my first name on the first day of orientation.
• They fed us breakfast and lunch every day during orientation.
• If I needed some assistance with moving furniture in my classroom, I only had to ask once.
• Every faculty member was there because they genuinely cared about making a difference in the lives of the students.
• I had my own parking space.
• We had staff meetings when they were needed, not just because it was Monday.
• My day is spent actually teaching the children. I have afternoon car duty but I don't have to implement a program that will be forgotten the next year when another new initiative comes along.

I kept thinking somebody was going to pinch me and wake me up from a dream during orientation.This sweet spirited place seemed too good to be true. Once I got the workdays under my belt, it was time to get ready for Meet The Teacher Day. For those of you that are teachers, you know what it is like to build up your reputation in a school over time. I had misgivings about being the "new kid on the block" even though I had taught for thirty-one years. Parents at my old school loved me, I enjoyed my colleagues there, and I had a terrific teacher assistant. I had never worked in a private school before. Would the parents here accept me?

I remember wanting to make a great impression that day so I put on one of my best outfits and, horror upon horrors, high heels. I am a sneaker or flats kinda teacher and only pull out heels on special occasions. Due to the lack of parking on that day, staff was asked to park off campus and take a shuttle bus to school so that parents would have plenty of room for parking. 

My new school is right across the street from my former public school.  I knew of a small local park nearby where I could walk to school and get there a lot quicker so I skipped the bus and walked to my new school. Meet the teacher day went great and wasn't any different in my private school than ones I had experienced in the public schools. I was excited about this new class and the parents appeared very supportive. I was tired by the end of the day and my legs practically bowed out as I trudged back to my car. Those high heels made my feet ache like crazy. 

I had walked into the entrance of the park when a white suburban came flying in and made a u turn facing me. A big guy got out and started running toward me. I hunched down and said "Don't hurt me" and didn't know if I should hit him with my pocketbook or one of those darn shoes that had made my feet throb. He didn't give me time to do either as he came over and gave me a big sweaty hug yelling "MRS. B!!!!" About that time, his mother emerged from the passenger side and I recognized her immediately. He turned out to be a former student who just finished football practice when he spotted me from the main road. We all laughed as I told them that he had scared the living daylights out of me. I couldn't get over how big he was! 

It was such a treat to visit with them for a few minutes. This high school football lineman told me that he had unearthed his Wonder Years book from Kindergarten a few weeks earlier. In the book, there is a special page designated for each month. I post lots of group or individual pictures on each page so that the child will have a memento of his or her kindergarten year. He told me that it had been so much fun looking back over his kindergarten year. It warmed my heart to hear that! At the rate it had been beating when my former student first came charging at me, it needed a little warmth.

I still do a Wonder Years book and would be happy to share pictures with anyone interested!