So long, and thanks for all the fish.

I’ve been working with the same Vice-Principal for the last 3½ years at 2 different schools.  A week ago we got informed the district had decided to move him to another school.  That put the faculty in a panic, because he’s been fantastic and the previous Vice they had (I never worked with him) was, well, uh, … not nearly as good.  He didn’t ask to leave, really doesn’t want to, but when the district “asks”, you simply say “thanks & how high?”, especially if you ever want to make it to full-fledged Principal.

The good news is that we’re getting a rookie, an intern that is being promoted to his first full position.  A rookie is good because, of the five rookies I’ve seen my current Principal train, 2 have become a couple of the best Principals in the district, one is in charge of Technology and Adult Education for the entire district and the fourth, the one we just lost, is being transferred to a school in need of a strong V.P.  I have no idea what happened to the fifth, but an 80% success rate makes me comfortable that the new guy is going to be good.

Anyway, I decided we couldn’t just let him fade out into oblivion, so I orchestrated a fun farewell, live during Thursday’s morning announcements.  The Student Body Officers got him up to the studio on the premise of presenting him with a farewell card.  He made a little “I’m gonna miss you all” speech and then was presented with these:

Before things got too emotional, but mostly before he could escape, my Tech Crew and I presented him with one final farewell gift.

After he finally extricated himself from all the silly string, he told me “Now I know what it’s like to be an insect, getting sprayed with bug spray.”