Looking Back On The Memories

As one who tries to be introspective regarding my outlook on many aspects of my life, there have been many times I have been accused by those who know me that I over analyze issues.
Having grown up in a very rural part of Hillsborough County, I have had the benefit of knowing many people who have been employed in the local school system over the last 50 years. Some of them were my school mates. Many of the ones who have risen to the highest ranks possible were teachers at the high school I attended. Some of them I knew, some of them I did not. I probably would have never recognized the significant number of how many future administrators were directly tied to that particular school had it not been for particular circumstances in my life that afforded me that information.
I fondly remember my days as a student. I believe I can still name all of my first 8 elementary school teachers and one of my principals. I remember the challenge through the years of trying to get the highest score on the tests. My rivals were a couple of girls. In the third grade, a boy from out of state moved in to our area, at which point I had a male rival.
My high school years were memorable. My attendance record for my 12 years in school was excellent and was close to perfect one year. Despite my relative lower economic status and family dynamics, I was able to participate in several extra curricular activities. I was involved in both academics and sports. I played baseball (12-0 in our conference in my senior year), 1st chair trumpet player and played bass clef sousaphone, was undefeated in 1st chair chess club, drum major and school mascot, 99 percentile in aptitude assessment, a two year member of NHS and was voted “most likely to succeed”.

One of my memorable days was a Saturday in which I played sousaphone in a Concert Contest at Chamberlain in the morning, played a baseball game at Turkey Creek in the mid day (knocked in the winning run either in the last inning or may have been an extra inning), and then went to Sarasota to fulfill my Drum Major duties in a night parade.

I say all of this because one would think that I would be an ambassador for the school system that did so much for me. I held the teaching profession and school administrators in high regard for many years when my kids entered the system. There was a period of about 10 years that I continued to see the professional behavior and mutual respect between parent and school personnel. In 1990, circumstances started to change.
Along with the continued professionalism by many, it took six years of repeated incidents that demonstrated to me that there were a few people who I had to deal with, regardless of which school my son was in that could not be trusted. Along with them, there unfortunately were different key people in three of the 4 sites that repeatedly demonstrated actions and words that were repeatedly shown to be disingenuous.
Despite my many efforts to collaboratively and honestly communicate, these efforts were not reciprocated. On December 16th, 2006, this group of which I was a part of hit rock bottom. The rest, as they say, is history.
As with any profession, I recognize there are levels of experience and capabilities. I had the expectation that if I voiced my concerns and demonstrated repeatedly what was happening that there would be attention paid to what I was complaining about. Instead, the focus was on me being a malcontent, troublemaker and naysayer.