Oh, for some heat...

    I woke up to flurries and 36 degrees this morning here in upstate New York. Scarf and hat back on, and my coffee clutched tightly for the walk from the parking lot to the school door. Funny that it's just about a month until we're all together in Phoenix--I don't think flurries will be a problem there.

Bald head + jaunty cap from London + trusty scarf = passable morning.

    I advise two yearbooks here in the Corning-Painted Post School District, where my wife and I moved in August 2001. Back then, I was a special education teacher (Indiana Univ., '00) and all we had was a cat. Now, my second daughter (and fourth child) is 10 weeks old, I find myself advising two books (they arrive a week from today, and I'm excited already), and I'm Phoenix-bound to kick off what I hope will be the next evolution of my work in scholastic journalism.

   We're 15 months from merging our two 850-student high schools to one renovated and expanded campus. When the doors open in September 2014, I'll advise the yearbook and continue teaching my International Baccalaureate Information Technology in the Global Society course. Our executive principal says that the door is open, however, for new curriculum proposals. We have a low-level online newspaper program now, and its adviser and I get along well. I hope that we can spend time next fall putting together course proposals for a J-1, Photo J, and even a broadcast program for the new school. For me, it all starts in Phoenix.

-Mike Simons
West HS Skjöld / East HS Logos
Corning-Painted Post, NY

What's on: "Big Parade" - The Lumineers