Funny Faculty Follies

I’ve been lucky in my career.  I’ve had the opportunity to work with some incredibly dedicated, welcoming and funny groups of teachers.  And yesterday confirmed that I’ve landed at yet another one, especially the welcoming part.

Last year the art teacher noticed that I happened to wear a plaid button up shirt almost every Friday, and that several of the other teachers had started following suit.  Whether it was intentional or subconscious, I don’t know, but this art teacher said something about wishing she had a plaid shirt to wear too.  So the next week I brought in a plaid shirt that was too small for me and gave it to her.  It became her Friday shirt.

Yesterday one of the other math teachers was on the morning announcements, and when she signed off she said “Have a great National Mr. Rossi Day.”  I just laughed and didn’t even connect that she was wearing a plaid button up shirt.

An hour or so later one of the counselors was walking by my room and said “Happy Rossi Day"”, this time I noticed that she too was wearing a plaid shirt.  She informed me that several teachers had planned this earlier this week and, behind my back, invited the whole faculty to dress up for the day.

The art teacher (far left side of the photo) wore the shirt I gave her, and even made a pair of glasses out of wire to match mine.

The PE teacher even went to Thifty-Town and bought some glasses and a plaid shirt. 

And the CTE teacher even wore a pair of matching pants.

All day the kids were asking me if it was my birthday, and when I told them it wasn’t they would ask why it was National Rossi Day.

My only answer was “Because you’re at a school with some weird teachers.”