curriculum vitae

Some things in life are bad.
They can really make you mad.
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you're chewing on life's gristle,
Don't grumble, give a whistle.
And this'll help things turn out for the best...
Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life
Monty Python - The Life Of Brian

I was never crazy about my job as a school principal.  It sounds silly now to say that I only took it on because our out-going principal and the then-district superintendent asked me to, but that's the god's-honest truth about why I did it.  I never aspired to be a school leader and I struggled every day, for seven long years, to try to graciously manage, keep safe, and empower our staff and students.  My every misstep, each of my failures, were all too glaringly public, every one of them leaving an indelible bruise deep on my heart. Whatever meager successes I may have wrought from the endless contention that seemed to always be waiting for me at the threshold of my office door were far too few and hardy worth celebrating.  

In what became my last year in the role, when a midcareer faculty member on one of our hiring committees responded to the question asked of her by an earnest young interviewee, "Why do you love working here?" with the the shoulder-shrugging reply, "I'm sorry, you should skip me. I've got nothing," I knew my time as a school leader was done. My heart finally fully broken, my sails withered for lack of wind, I sent a 3:00 AM email asking to be relieved of my administrative duties, and to be allowed to return to the classroom for the remainder of my career, to our new superintendent that night.

During my time as a principal, whenever I found myself "chewing on life's gristle," rather than grumble (or whistle), I worked secretly on a couple things to salve my broken spirit: one, a letter of resignation that I was never able to honestly give to our faculty (though I did send it to them all as "a gag" one April Fools Day morning) and, two, what follows below: a self-styled version of what I've always thought of as my professional curriculum vitae, or "the course of my life" for the seven interminable years I spent in the principal's office. It's not much, at the end of the day (or moreover a career), but it really is just about all that I've got to show, as a sort of summary, of my time spent leading one smallish too-often dyspeptic elementary school as best as I could for as many years as I could do it and only until I just couldn't do it any more.

Needless to say, after happily accepting a 40% reduction in pay, it was with nothing but  great relief that I returned to the classroom to teach once again.  I ultimately concluded my career in public ed as a fifth grade teacher (I officially retired in July 2020) some two years later.  For whatever it's worth, I never seriously ever considered applying for another school administrator job.  So my CV is reproduced here for the first, last, and only time, merely as an historical record of what was and, perhaps, I suppose, had it not been for the shoulder-shrugging, what could have been... 
 

Select pages to enlarge.








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May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. -- Ed Abbey