From the Desk of the “Duck” Class Mom

They are changing the name to either “Class Parent,” or “Class Coordinator,” but whatever they choose to call it, I be it. In a stunning electoral moment, I was, following a short, yet moving speech, elected “Class Mom” at the twins Pre-school orientation.

The position will essentially serve as a liaison between the parents and the school, and I’ll work on field trip organization and paperwork, and so forth, manage the “class helper” schedule, and participation points, as it is a cooperative pre-school, so during the year, each family is responsible for a certain number of activities. It’s a nice school and the parents in our group are very nice as well.

So, while I didn’t expect there to be a speech, I knew going into the orientation meeting that I was going to pursue the job, as it would be a nice way to stay connected to what the twins are doing in school, plus there’s a slight tuition reduction for taking on the job, and with two tuitions to pay, it’s worth the extra time and energy.

So, I signed up that night, and a short while later, myself and the other candidate were asked to give a statement of who were are and what we’d bring to the job. The other mom got up and gave her statement, and then it was my turn.

Now, I had little prepared, except for the speeches that I’ve been rehearsing in my head since I was a kid-the one where I win my first Grammy, my interview with Oprah about my new novel, and of course, my interview from the sidelines of the Superbowl after the Eagles win. I’m the owner in that one. But, rarely at a loss for words, I got up and said my bit.

I introduced myself, the wife, and talked about our kids, told them where we live, and what brought us here. Then, I went into my background:

“I’m a retired school administrator from New Jersey. I left that career when we moved here for my wife’s job. My last position was as a high school Vice Principal and Director of Athletics…”

At this point, the assembled parents all collectively said, “Ooooo….” which made me pause a moment. “Well, I’ve never gotten that reaction before…might have kept me in that job if I had…” which got a nice laugh.

And I continued: “Well, my passion in my career was education. My passion in my life is my kids, so I see this position as a chance to combine them both. Thank you for your time.”

And I sat down. I don’t know what the vote tally was, as I had to leave the room to attend to the girl who was playing next door and had, well, she needed my attention briefly.

When I returned to the room, the wife informed me that I’d won. And so...dramatic pause...has begun my new position as “Class Mom.” Thus far it’s been mostly organizing information and sharing it with the other parents. Each day has a “Parent Helper” so I maintain that schedule, and thus far that’s been the primary responsibility. I’m also working to coordinate help for those parents who had a younger child that needs watching while that parent is “helping” in class. Overall, it’ll be about communicating and organizing, but I don’t think I’ll get dragged in front of the board because they don’t like the color of the football uniforms I ordered…ok, that’s a throwback to the old days.

So, while I won’t go so far as to say I’m out of retirement, as this new position is nothing quite that grandiose, I’ll say it’s kind of cool to find myself in a position to help my kids and their classmates school experience run well.

That, and it’s a chance to put my time where my heart is.

Updates on a few other items and responses to recent questions:

For those of you who’ve been asking for an update on the “potty training,” I’ll say this: it continues. There are good days, and then there are the other ones. It’s frustrating for me, and I’m sure it is for them. Here’s hoping the experience of being at school helps. They start on Tuesday. Actually, all schools here are starting this week and next. That’s taken some getting used to. Still feels like there’s another month of summer, but not so here. I’ve mostly gotten out of the “school-based rhythm” I wrote about a few blogs back.

Those of you who’ve wondered about the novel, it progresses slowly. I’ve not had much time to write of late, but the pieces are floating around in my head and falling into place. I spend a decent amount of my time driving everyone around writing in my head. (It worked during grad school…) Usually when I sit down, I’m able to hammer out either some highly productive notes, or some actual text. I imagine I’ll spend some of my flight to the mainland in August, by myself, doing some real work on it. Thanks for the encouragement.

I was really humbled by the responses I got regarding the “Perilous Patterns” post of a few weeks ago. It’s encouraging to hear that other people have faced that. Thanks for the words.

I’ve been flying solo since Monday, as the wife’s been away. She’s back in a few days, but nothing quite like 24 hour kid duty to help calm the nerves…

I’ll be taking Saturday night off. From all my jobs. Stay tuned on that. Suggestions on how to spend my time are of course welcome, as are all comments.