poaching

Today Corky officially gave notice that she will not be returning to PS 00 next year. And even though I knew, and I'm happy for her new adventures and plan to go visit her in whatever far-away land she ends up in, and even though I had been steeling myself for it, I was taken aback by what a hole the official-ness of it left in my heart.

It's a discussion I've had over and over, with never a satisfying conclusion: Why does the institution of education drive out the innovators, the idea people, the movers and shakers, the ones with drive and ambition?... The average teaching career of a Teaching Fellow is I think three years or so?

What really needs to happen in education will not happen over the course of a couple years, or maybe even decades... what we DON'T need is quick-fixes, band-aids or more flash-in-the-pan snake oil remedies. We need a long term, well thought-out, planned, organized effort to pull education (probably kicking and screaming, in many cases) into the 21st century.. What that entails will entirely be determined by those people who step up to the plate.

And I'm really happy to report that some of those people are at P.S. 00 right now. MoLo is one of them.

MoLo is our nickname for the newest (and by my estimation, most effective) administrator at P.S. 00. This year she decided to paint the blank, barren walls of the fourth floor. She rallied a group of artistically inclined volunteers, organized Saturday painting sessions, and I think paid for all the paint out of pocket. The result is AWESOME -- Frog and Toad, Wild Things, Clifford and other story book characters now adorn the walls of her academy, and I think it is just such and expression of love and empowerment, and an expression of who MoLo really is.

to be continued...