Getting Ready for 2023-2024!
By: Christine Harper
Life in public education doesn’t stop on May 26th or whenever the last day of school is. There is a great deal that happens during the summer months that many people don’t realize are happening. As soon as the regular school year ends, there are meetings to get ready for Summer School and then Summer School starts. Some of the staff is working Summer School; some of the staff is working a part time job; some of the staff is going back to school for another degree; some of the staff is attending Professional Development; some of the staff is running camps for our athletes; some of the staff is doing all of those things!
Deep cleaning of the buildings begins almost immediately after the last day of school. The custodial crew starts to empty classrooms so that they can deep clean the room and wax the floors. The maintenance crew is working to fix things put on hold until the buildings were empty of students. Sometimes there are bigger projects that can’t be done until the summer, like the renovation of our Cosmetology rooms. The paint crew will go through the district and repaint rooms and hallways to make our schools shine. The bus garage will detail all of the buses to get them ready for the start of school.
Many of our coaches and sponsors are coaching summer teams, hosting camps, participating in summer activities and getting ready for the next season. Many of those coaches and sponsors are working part time jobs and/or taking classes to get another degree. Building principals and secretaries are working on updating Student Handbooks and school supply lists and making sure all open positions have been filled. They are ordering teacher supplies for next year and working on schedules and making sure everything is ready for students the first day of school.
So, does education get the summers off? Not really. There are many moving parts in the world of education. So much happens behind the scenes to get ready for the next day, the next week, the next month, and the next year. The world of an educator, no matter what position they hold in education, doesn’t stop at the end of May. We are working and planning and doing to make the next school year better than the year before for the students that walk through the doors in August.