I have to believe that an elementary school is a very unique workplace setting. I hate falling back on the cliché of saying “we’re all a family” because I think it’s both lazy and untrue, but I do feel the people who work together in an elementary school are closely intertwined by our greater sense of collective purpose and the personal ownership we bring to what we do.
Two years ago there was a seismic shift in my school district when several schools were closed. The aftershocks of the domino effect that followed as hundreds of district staff were reassigned is still being felt today, and this spring those aftershocks have been all too noticeable in my building. It’s funny in a way: Even though every spring brings a few staffing changes as plans come together for the approaching school year, it seems like people are always surprised when they occur, even if they know changes are inevitable. (I openly admit to being one of these people.) And don’t read this wrong -- I’m not of the opinion that change is a bad thing. Change is just how life happens. Sometimes the changes that come along turn out to be vast improvements over what had been before, but sometimes they aren’t. Different people bring different attributes and principles into the relationships and experiences that form, and it’s not uncommon for dynamics to emerge that nobody could have predicted. Even though that’s simply human nature, it always fascinates me to see it happen.
But when you look at the degree of change that’s happening this year, it’s very different. I honestly cannot think of any other time I’ve seen at my school that has brought the same kind of upheaval as we’re seeing now. There are some major retirements, some jobs being cut for a wide variety of reasons, and some people deciding to move on to other opportunities. The confluence of all of these shifts coming to light over a period of weeks really seems to be leaving people feeling pretty discombobulated. I’ll credit that description to a friend of mine, but ‘discombobulated’ is one of my favorite words so it’s likely I would have used it anyway. It’s certainly an apt description of what’s been going on.
All of this business was highlighted over the weekend at a retirement party several of us ‘veterans’ attended. Seeing the group that collected for the well-wishing was, for me, kind of an event. Here was this reunion of people representing a given moment in time, the characters who populated my daily life so completely and not that long ago, coming back together after being scattered in so many directions. I looked around the room at all who were there and was struck by the realization that after this school year closes, there will only be a handful of people left at my school who have been there longer than I have. Seriously. Out of a staff of about eighty or so people, there will be fewer than ten who have been around longer than me. And out of those that remain, there will probably be a few more moving on to new things sooner than later.
Thinking about what the next few years will be like with this newest iteration of our school’s staff, I find myself looking at it from many different view points at once. For one, I’m a little concerned about what will be different when some of the consistency to which I’ve grown accustomed is removed from the equation. I’m also very appreciative for some of the changes that have already happened and how they’ve brought new energies and perspectives to our staff. But I’m also a little hesitant to think of how high up the seniority ladder I’m climbing and that I might be turning into one of the experienced veterans people are going to look at for leadership in the same way I’ve looked to so many other people for guidance for so, so long. I find myself pretty comfortable with the character definition that Leo McGarry assigned to Josh Lyman back on “The West Wing” when he told Josh, “You don’t want to be ‘The Guy.’ You want to be the guy that ‘The Guy’ relies on.” Yep. That’s me.
But then I think of what our staff is right now. It can’t even be divided as easily as The People Who’ve Been There Longer and The Newer People anymore, because many of us have had two years to figure out where our places are in this new group, and who our people are inside of it. And even if I find the prospect of so much change a little bit daunting, I also see it as an opportunity. Because, if I can echo back to an earlier point, even though a lot of our staff is still in a ‘getting to know each other’ phase, we really are driven by a strong sense of common purpose and an increasing urgency about that purpose. So even if I feel slight personal trepidation about some of the changes taking place and what could possibly happen in their wake, I’m also feeling a lot of optimism. Not because the future is going to be some breezy ride around the lake -- because this is education and that simply doesn’t happen -- but because the people who are moving on have laid the groundwork for the people coming in to take over and move forward to bigger and better things. And regardless of the obstacles we encounter, I believe that’s the direction we’re heading.
Just don’t expect me to dance around with a silly hat on during a team-building activity and smile about it... because we all know THAT ain’t gonna happen....
