Snow stories and teeth tales

School Administrator, Jan, 2005

At Least It Wasn't Snow

As an elementary principal whose own young children attend school in her building, Amy Andreassen often gets asked interesting questions at home about her role as the school boss.

The night before the school year was to start last fall in North English, Iowa, a massive thunderstorm rolled through the area. At 4:30 a.m., Andreassen was awakened by a little voice whispering in her ear from the side of her bed: "Morn, do you think we'll have indoor recess?"

Insured for Every Peril

Some New England school districts have decided they need to be fully insured for any possibility--including snowfall.

One of several Massachusetts districts holding snow insurance policies with the Commerce and Industry Insurance Co., paid a $2,500 premium for a policy that would pay the school district $375 per inch of snowfall beyond the amount specified in its contract with a cap of $18,000 on insurance payouts. Despite a 50-inch deductible, one school district near Marlboro, Mass., collected on its policy three times in six years because of some rough winters.

But nobody was smiling about the unexpected payouts after the district's most recent claim reached $10,000 following an especially inclement winter. The insurance firm, no longer willing to gamble, hiked the premium to $12,500, and the district dropped its coverage for a year.

A Toothless Grin

When you travel the country visiting elementary schools as a children's book author you meet all sorts of youngsters with secrets to reveal.

Kay Winters, whose best-known titles include My Teacher for President and Did You See What I Saw? was at a school in Springfield Township, Pa., when a kindergarten child beckoned her over. "Are you the author?" the little girl asked.

"Yes, I'm Kay Winters."

"Oh, I just thought you would be younger."

Then, realizing she might have of fended the author, the girl tried to con> fort Winters by confiding in her. "But you know what--our principal has fake teeth."

"No," said a feigning Winters. "What makes you think that?"

"My brother was in the office and the principal read his group a story and they laughed so hard, her teeth fell out."

Grin and Bear It

Robert Holster, superintendent in Passaic, N.J., received a phone call one morning from a school nurse asking to be excused from attending a meeting in order to pick up her teeth.

A Twisted Charge

Word reached Bill Schnuit, an elementary school principal in the Rowan-Salisbury, N.C., district that one of his 2nd graders had been hit by a car while playing at home, sustaining serious enough injuries to be hospitalized. The student was from a family that was known well at the school as the youth was the ninth sibling to have attended.

A few days after the accident, the boy's father came to speak to Schnuit. The principal had to listen carefully because the father did not speak distinctly due to an extreme need for dental care. The principal was surprised to hear that the operator of the vehicle was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol.

"Yeah," the dad said. "Now that he's been charged with IUD he'll think twice about drinking and driving!"

The Pro-Recess Movement

With a growing number of schools abandoning recess in favor of more structured play or extra academic preparation for state tests, a backlash of sorts has arisen.

Parents and others are waging a surprisingly pro-recess movement replete with a quarterly magazine, PlayRights, and workshops and conferences. This, of course, has led to the creation of its own advocacy group: the American Association for the Child's Right to Play.

(Source: The Wall Street Journal)

An Everyday Accident

The phone call all principals most dread having to make is the call to a student's parents to report their child is in the emergency room of a hospital.

An elementary school principal in New York City, who was chaperoning a 6th-grade field trip to an aircraft exhibit, had to make such a call when one rambunctious boy ran head on into a helicopter and knocked himself silly. He wasn't badly hurt, but as a precaution school officials had an ambulance take him to a nearby hospital for an examination.

When reached by phone, the boy's mother naturally asked how her son got hurt.

"Well, actually," the principal said, "he ran into a helicopter."

To which the mother responded: "Oh, he's always doing things like that."

(Source: The New York Times)

Quotable Quote

"The best way to eat crow is fast."

A comment attributed to Wayne Teague, former state commissioner of education in Alabama.

(Source: National School Public Relations Association)

Short humurous anecdotes, quips, quotations and malapropisms for this column relating to school district administration should be addressed to: Editor, The School Administrator, 801 N. Quincy St., Suite 700, Arlington, VA 22203. Fax: 703-528-2146. E-mail: magazine@aasa.org. Upon request, names may be withheld in print.