School Daze

We survived the first week of back-to-school! This is Dylan (age 11) outside his new 5th grade classroom in the brand-new Blue Ridge Middle School on the first day of school, Wednesday, August 6. I hope he can keep that upbeat smile all year!
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For all the 18 years we've lived here on the mountain, our entire school district (4 schools) and all its facilities have been contained on one large piece of property. No matter what grade my kids were in, they were just a short walk across a parking lot from my classroom. Now we have the brand-new middle school/junior high school about a mile away. Grades 5-6 are on one side and grades 7-8 are on the other, with shared gym, cafeteria, library, and nurse's office in between. It's pretty traumatic for Mom to have her baby boy so far away now!
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Jacob (age 17) is now a junior at the high school where Mom teaches. He's jealous that his sister Sarah (age 18) graduated in May and didn't have to join us for that first day of school. She'll soon have her hands full with a job and college classes, though.

As for me, here I am (the Mom) at my old desk in a new classroom in a different building. Our growing high school was able to expand into the former junior high since it has been vacated. When I arrived in 1990 the high school had about 400 students; today it has over 900. Now we have an "East Campus" and "West Campus" so we're feeling pretty upper class collegiate these days! My new room is in the East Campus, where the old junior high computer lab was located.
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This is my 19th year at Blue Ridge High and 14th as department chair. As you can imagine, I've accumulated a lot of materials in that time, especially during the 12 years I spent in my last classroom, so making such a major move in a few short weeks was an overwhelming job. Much thanks goes out to Sarah and Dylan, who helped set up my new room and singlehandedly moved most of my furniture for me!
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Last week I was informed by the district Special Services director that I set a new record during the 2007-08 school year by directing 144 student-related meetings. I may yet beat that record! I already have 12 meetings scheduled for next week and almost as many the week after. Luckily the need for so many meetings eases up by about mid-September. Then I can breathe again. For now, I'm all moved in; I have the world's best teaching assistant, Wyndie; I have a great group of students; and Legolas is watching over me from the wall above my desk. Life is good!