Mo with the Red Hair

I'm kind of an anomaly amongst fathers. I go to all of my kids' special events, including class parties. I figure I only have one pass at these kinds of events and given the choice between a quicker path to success at work or building the strongest family relationship I can, I'm going to choose family every day of the week and twice on Sunday. The way I figure, the employer I have today is not going to be there to take care of me when I'm decrepit and old. They will not give me grandchildren in the future. I don't get hugs from my work. It's pretty clear (or I think it is) which is more valuable.

So, yesterday McKenna's class had their Valentine's Day Party, and I was there. But I wasn't just there. I make an event of it. I dress up, I act goofy, I am one of the kids when I am there. So for the party yesterday I dyed my hair bright red. I've been growing it out for almost two months so I could, and now I want to share the awesomeness with you.

There you have it. I thought it was a good look for me, but yesterday afternoon my wife made me shave it all off. I'm back to being bald.

But maybe I'll dye the beard green for St. Patrick's Day...

Met My School's New Superintendent

Heather and I went to the PTO meeting at McKenna's elementary and met with the new superintendent of the district.  His name's Dr. Bill Harner, and aside from a penchant for speaking about himself in the third-person, he seems grounded and ready to tackle the challenges at the school.  Now, those who know Cumberland Valley School District wouldn't think that there'd be many challenges, given it's higher ranking in the Commonwealth and in the nation in general, but I don't think that that's true.

Modern education's always a moving target.  The skills our children need to have, and the education they need to possess need to grow with the times, but schools also can't ignore fundamentals or just keep chasing the latest fads or else the kids, and all of us together, suffer.

So we sat for two hours in the cafeteria at the school and listened to him talk.  Dr. Harner's a former army commander and teacher from West Point with a list of degrees the length of his arm, so I expected a crisp forceful speech delivered with a booming voice and commanding authority.  That's not what he delivered.  He was genial, he rambled, he was personable.  He spoke at length about accelerating children, for example, moving Algebra I down to 8th grade so more kids advance into AP Calculus II by their senior year, and moving foreign languages into middle school so kids can get six or seven years of language before moving into college.

His overall goal is to move CV from around 1600th in the nation to within the top 250.

I hope he can do it.

My Little Man Is Growing Up

Today is my son's first day of preschool all on his own.  Last year when he went his sister was also in the preschool, albeit in a different class, so he felt like he wasn't totally alone.  This year, McKenna's in kindergarten and he's the big man on campus (as much as a hallway in a church can be considered a "campus") and he's not freaked out.  I am impressed.  I'm also a little overwhelmed.

He's my little man, my youngest kid, and this is his last year of preschool.  Coming out of his classroom today he just looked and talked like an older boy.  He was his own man today and it really showed.

I picked him up and we walked to the van as he told me all about his first day of school.

"I played with two boys today, but I don't know their names yet.  We won't learn any names until tomorrow.  We didn't even have any time to go on the playground, I only got to go down the slide one time and then we had to leave."

"Yeah"

"And nobody got into trouble today."
"That's good!"

"I drew a lot of pictures today.  I colored myself in.  I did a really good job, my teacher said."

"Wow!"

I put him in the van.  "Sit down little man and buckle up"

"Okay daddy.  And one boy only colored himself all yellow and the teachers had to tell him to use different colors but she said I did a really good job."

"Well I'm proud of you bubba."

And I am proud of him.  I shut the sliding door and started to climb into the van.  A tear ran down my face.  My little man is growing up.