We’ve Been Busy!!
Wow! The eve of our enrollment lottery is upon us! And with that milestone it seems an appropriate time to reflect on how far we’ve come! It’s been a while since I blogged, which can only mean we’ve been busy. The Board of Directors and Nikki Myers (now our Academy Director- congratulations, Nikki!) have been working tirelessly on all of the “business aspects” of getting us ready for a successful year. The hiring committee (on which I sit) has interviewed dozens of candidates! The grants committee has done an outstanding job of making sure we’d have the resources we need- and we’ve been awarded extra grant money! Soon, our new home at Pike Elementary will begin to take shape as “AACL”. Parents are getting excited, and teachers from far and wide have come to apply for a chance to teach at this remarkable new school. We are on our way!
As my family entered into this journey, I wondered how many other families and educators “got it”. Were we alone in our need? Were there actually teachers out there who understood what we were trying to do? And would they apply to work here? Others asked the same question, including, understandably, D-11, who so courageously took a chance on our idea. After talking to parents, meeting kids, watching our enrollment grow by leaps and bounds, and interviewing countless candidates I can now say with joy, with pure astonishment, YES! They get it!!! Oh, do they get it! There really are families out there who have similar stories, and there really are teachers out there who have felt our pain, worried over kids like ours, and struggled with the frustration of not being able to teach the way they wanted to be teaching!
I’ve spent the last month or so working on the hiring committee. What began as a blank slate, an idea for a school, and an idea of what our staff should be like, has taken shape into a real location and is now taking shape as a remarkable group of real people. It has been an honor to work with such hardworking, dedicated, and intelligent people on the committee. But most importantly it has been a delight to help interview such passionate, creative, outside-the-box-thinking teachers! I wish I could put in to this small space of words how much these candidates have impressed me! Their knowledge of their craft, their excitement for the ideas behind this school, the vast array of talents and ideas they bring to the table is inspiring. It has been a thrill to watch Nikki skillfully and thoughtfully begin to pull these teachers together in to what I believe will be quite simply an outstanding staff!
And so this “idea” is now taking shape. Tomorrow night our rosters will begin to fill out and soon our staff will be hired. We will move in to our new home and begin to become AACL. The culture of our school will crystallize as each child, each family, each teacher adds their uniqueness to the school. I have a feeling this is going to be a vibrant, exciting, warm, collaborative place to work, to learn and to volunteer. Thanks to all who have contributed to this journey…let the fun continue!