Friday, February 25, 2005
Excellence Canceled on Account of Snow
A busy couple of days with many tales to tell.
Perhaps the biggest news, or lack of news, was the faux snow day we had today. Despite the hype encouraged by television meteorologists and student-made guarantees with a sincerity rarely seen in my classroom, the snow storm we had from Thursday into Friday was a bust. Sure the snow looked impressive, but it fell too early in the day and had little to no lasting accumulation on the roads. And as my father always said, "if the buses can run, there will be school." (He also said that Rocky and Bullwinkle: The Movie was worth purchasing from Blockbuster, but in this case, he was correct.) Despite the lack of cancellation, 942 students (exactly half) were absent today from Underwood High School this morning, along with approximately 20 teachers. This meant that most of first period was shot as the administration struggled to find coverage for all the homerooms and determine the schedule for the day.
What eventually transpired, filling up most of the morning, was the National Honor Society induction ceremony. This was actually postponed from Thursday afternoon when shortly after the principal had informed every ninth and tenth grader that we were going to stay in the gymnasium and watch this ceremony through to the end, the Powers That Be (or is that the Powers That Were?) called from downtown to inform us that school was closing early due to snow. Our "celebration of excellence" was therefore postponed due to inclement weather until this morning where it went on, albeit in somewhat diminished form. Only a fraction of the Honor Society students were present, and the much vaunted Underwood High School Marching Band was denied its debut performance due to a lack of functioning musicians. But the drumline was in full force, banging out polyrhythmic cadences with a vicious ferocity. One student on the snares was so furious in his drumming he actually dropped a stick and had to continue hammering away through the magic of pantomime. And the principal took advantage of the opportunity to talk in her highly redundant style about new educational partnerships with the city fire department and the "International Bacalarat" program. (The irony of mispronouncing Baccalaureate was likely lost on the majority of the audience.)
The actual induction ceremony, like so much of the Underwood environment, was both inspiring and depressing. The student members deserved the moment in the sun, no question. To excel academically in an environment like Underwood merits special commendation. However, few of their peers appeared to buy into the idea of high academic expectations. And there were so few students who met the criteria of entry: all A's and B's throughout the first two years as well as certain standards of behavior and scholarship. How many students will make it from the current freshman class if 74% of them are failing 2 or more subjects? Not many, I fear. But who knows? After all, I told my students on Thursday we would have no early dismissal...
A busy couple of days with many tales to tell.
Perhaps the biggest news, or lack of news, was the faux snow day we had today. Despite the hype encouraged by television meteorologists and student-made guarantees with a sincerity rarely seen in my classroom, the snow storm we had from Thursday into Friday was a bust. Sure the snow looked impressive, but it fell too early in the day and had little to no lasting accumulation on the roads. And as my father always said, "if the buses can run, there will be school." (He also said that Rocky and Bullwinkle: The Movie was worth purchasing from Blockbuster, but in this case, he was correct.) Despite the lack of cancellation, 942 students (exactly half) were absent today from Underwood High School this morning, along with approximately 20 teachers. This meant that most of first period was shot as the administration struggled to find coverage for all the homerooms and determine the schedule for the day.
What eventually transpired, filling up most of the morning, was the National Honor Society induction ceremony. This was actually postponed from Thursday afternoon when shortly after the principal had informed every ninth and tenth grader that we were going to stay in the gymnasium and watch this ceremony through to the end, the Powers That Be (or is that the Powers That Were?) called from downtown to inform us that school was closing early due to snow. Our "celebration of excellence" was therefore postponed due to inclement weather until this morning where it went on, albeit in somewhat diminished form. Only a fraction of the Honor Society students were present, and the much vaunted Underwood High School Marching Band was denied its debut performance due to a lack of functioning musicians. But the drumline was in full force, banging out polyrhythmic cadences with a vicious ferocity. One student on the snares was so furious in his drumming he actually dropped a stick and had to continue hammering away through the magic of pantomime. And the principal took advantage of the opportunity to talk in her highly redundant style about new educational partnerships with the city fire department and the "International Bacalarat" program. (The irony of mispronouncing Baccalaureate was likely lost on the majority of the audience.)
The actual induction ceremony, like so much of the Underwood environment, was both inspiring and depressing. The student members deserved the moment in the sun, no question. To excel academically in an environment like Underwood merits special commendation. However, few of their peers appeared to buy into the idea of high academic expectations. And there were so few students who met the criteria of entry: all A's and B's throughout the first two years as well as certain standards of behavior and scholarship. How many students will make it from the current freshman class if 74% of them are failing 2 or more subjects? Not many, I fear. But who knows? After all, I told my students on Thursday we would have no early dismissal...
