Well, here we are, back to work for about a week. I started back on August 2. This was after 3 weeks of vacation which consisted of one week in Chicago with kids and grandkids, followed by 2 weeks in Florida with kids and grandkids and family.
August 2nd, I worked 8 hours. Wow!! A “normal” day which consisted mostly of calendar items and planning for the year. We did start our summer school today. We have 8 students working on credit recovery. This will last for 2 weeks from 9:00 AM until Noon. I hope that students take advantage of this time and make up these credits. If not, they will have to retake these classes for 85 minutes a day for 9 weeks.
August 3rd, my wife and I left for Des Moines at 5:30 AM for the School Administrators of Iowa annual convention. This is a very good convention! 1 day of golf and networking. 1 ½ days of very good speakers. 8 hours of travel time to Des Moines and back. What a price we pay to live in the most beautiful part of Iowa.
August 5th , we detoured to Iowa City on the way back and stayed with relatives. Friday, the 6th, we stopped at Grant Wood AEA in Cedar Rapids. We had several students and 2 teachers involved in a virtual reality workshop. This workshop was covered in the Cedar Rapids Gazette and by the CR TV stations. VR is being pushed by Rockwell Collins, John Deere, the Mayo Clinic, the Iowa Workforce Development and many others. We feel very fortunate to be involved in this at the ground level. It will be one of my jobs to make sure that we continue to have students involved in this and to offer and build this opportunity for students
After being gone most of the week, it was necessary to work at school for 2 hours on Sunday, August 8. I mostly worked at catching up on e-mail and planning for the upcoming week.
About 52 hours logged this week. Not counting time thinking about the job, checking e-mails, and texting with fellow administrators to keep in touch.
Friday, August 13, 2010
2010-11 Year #1
Hi! My name is Ed Berry. I have been the high school Principal at MFL MarMac for the last 12 years. This is my 13th year. Retirement is in the (sometime) near future. My purpose of this Blog is to record the 2011-12 school year from an administrator’s point of view.
MFL Mar Mac is quiet school district of about 850 students in Northeast Iowa. The name comes from the 5 towns that make up our district; Monona, Farmersburg, Luana, Marquette and McGregor. I find it very interesting that the western end of the district, MFL is very quiet and mostly agricultural in nature, but the eastern part of the district, MarMac is on the Mississippi river and has a large amount of tourism, with a casino, several Bed & Breakfasts and several antique and other specialty shops. Each of the five towns, at one point, was their own school district. They are now combined into one district and enrollment is still declining.
MFL MarMac is a relatively quiet school district but, like all districts, has no day that is predictable and exactly like the day before. I plan to Blog the events of this school year for all interested parties. I will, of course, need to be extremely careful and maintain individual rights and privacy.
I hope to be able to give some insight into the complexity, intensity, frustration and satisfaction that goes along with this job. As you follow this Blog, feel free to comment, add to what I say, ask questions and make any other comments (within reason and privacy) that you wish.
This is my personal commentary, but I hope that it becomes an interactive forum for those interested in education from an administrator’s viewpoint.
MFL Mar Mac is quiet school district of about 850 students in Northeast Iowa. The name comes from the 5 towns that make up our district; Monona, Farmersburg, Luana, Marquette and McGregor. I find it very interesting that the western end of the district, MFL is very quiet and mostly agricultural in nature, but the eastern part of the district, MarMac is on the Mississippi river and has a large amount of tourism, with a casino, several Bed & Breakfasts and several antique and other specialty shops. Each of the five towns, at one point, was their own school district. They are now combined into one district and enrollment is still declining.
MFL MarMac is a relatively quiet school district but, like all districts, has no day that is predictable and exactly like the day before. I plan to Blog the events of this school year for all interested parties. I will, of course, need to be extremely careful and maintain individual rights and privacy.
I hope to be able to give some insight into the complexity, intensity, frustration and satisfaction that goes along with this job. As you follow this Blog, feel free to comment, add to what I say, ask questions and make any other comments (within reason and privacy) that you wish.
This is my personal commentary, but I hope that it becomes an interactive forum for those interested in education from an administrator’s viewpoint.
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