What Do You Do in the Summer?

Many people wonder what we do in the summer when the kids aren’t here. I am asked many times how I am enjoying my time off and when I tell people that I work all summer the immediate question is, “What do you do in the summer?” Most of the time I just say, “paperwork and getting ready for the next year” and leave it at that because honestly it would take too long to explain and they probably wouldn’t believe it anyway.

First of all the custodians all work during the summer and work diligently cleaning floors and doing things that are impossible during the school year. This is a very important time for our buildings and is needed to maintain them and keep them clean. Our maintenance staff and custodial staff do a wonderful job preparing the buildings for the upcoming school year.

In a high school there are always sports activities taking place in the summer. We have teams practicing and teams going to camps most every week during the summer. The coaches order things they will need for the next year and of course the office staff must be here to assist them with what they need. Our book keeper does a wonderful job maintaining our budget and making sure all the money is spent appropriately.

Most people would be surprised how many parents and students will come by during the summer. People trickle in to get report cards and pay for lost items, ask about their schedule, make schedule requests, ask about the teacher they will have, and the list goes on. The summer is also when many people move and we always have students withdrawing and enrolling during the summer months.

Scheduling takes a lot of time for counselors and principals in the summer months. Doing the master schedule and making sure everyone has the classes they need and ensuring classes are offered in such a way to make sure everyone has the opportunity to take the classes they need takes quite some time. Budget cuts and the loss of teacher units makes scheduling an even more daunting task because the same amount of classes and students have to be taught with fewer staff which always makes things interesting and classes larger.

Possibly the most important thing I do in the summer involves personnel. The number one thing I can do to help our school is to make sure when we hire someone we find the best person possible. Interviews and preparing for interviews takes a lot of time and in summers when people move or retire, replacing them is a lengthy task that many times takes the majority of the summer. State law dictates that jobs must be posted 14 days and of course the board must approve all personnel moves so one board meeting officially accepts the resignation, then the job is posted and hopefully by the next board meeting a candidate can be recommended. Due to the tight schedule and laws concerning job postings, many times personnel moves runs right up to the beginning of the school year.

I hope this explains a little bit about what we do in the summer. Certainly the pace in the summer is a little slower, but it is a very important time of the year for planning and preparing for a school year that will be here before we know it. I hope everyone has a fun filled summer and is ready for school to begin in a couple of months.