It's only two days into the week, and it feels like more. So much more.

Today was spent unpacking the bazillions of boxes that arrived last Friday-- a whole new math curriculum for our school. I had great volunteers--thanks goodness. Tomorrow will be spent checking off what came, and bar coding everything to later be entered into the inventory at school. It's all got to be completed and out of the library by end of day Thursday, because then we start prepping for the book fair on Friday. I feel like I've been run over by a train.

Today after school the teachers met to determine which 2 teachers would be on the interview committee to find a new principal. As usual, it was a long, convoluted "discussion". Thank goodness for RR--the voice of reason in most of these meetings. I volunteered for the committee because my job really has a view of the school as a big picture. I know what all grade levels do and expect, and have been through this process a few times. I didn't get "picked" which in retrospect is a good thing--I'm guessing it will be a time commitment that I don't really have time for right now. I was disappointed in one of the choices-- I don't really trust that this person really has the best interests of the whole school in mind. At all. Fortunately, the other person is a perfect choice, and will be a really good balance.

I'm sure it is probably like this in most organizations, but I don't think our staff feels safe in expressing opinions out loud in meetings. I know I don't. And believe me, I know people on my staff will find that amusing because I get the sense I have a reputation for saying what's on my mind and not putting up with much bs in meetings. But honestly, today I didn't feel comfortable saying what I thought about several issues. And I could tell other people didn't as well. To me, that's a trust issue. And that's the whole problem I had with the "choosing" process for the interview committee. Do I think the people chosen will do a good job? Absolutely. Am I feeling "sour grapes" about the process? No, not at all. Do I think people should feel like they can speak up even if their opinion differs from the majority. Definitely. Will that be happening in the near future? No way.