So, thanks for coming.  And thanks for putting up with my recycled video of my YouTube career.  As an educational leader during this interminable pandemic I think we all find ourselves running out of new material at least once in awhile…but I promise to do better.  Remember, we practice a growth mindset here.  Although I am quite proud of my pluck and perseverance and possible public humiliation I clearly demonstrated when I picked up my daughter’s pink microphone to do my best “Billy D Positivity” routine (Thanks for the phrase Ms. Calves).

At the Donadoni Academy this week we have been dealing with attendance issues.  And while I am constantly amazed at the resilience of the student body, I also yearn for the day when Principal Donadoni can lay his smooth head on the cool pillow without the sights and sounds of clogged bronchial tubes and snot rockets flying through the air.  Sights and sounds.  No…this has been an experience for all the senses.  I mean, do you know how sticky the combination of cough syrups, honey, and cough drops can be?  And while the custodians continue to be on strike I am left to clean up warm, gooey pieces of Kleenex.  Of course, thank goodness for my Assistant Principal who, while teaching, and coughing and cooking and cleaning and laundering and organizing and driving students everywhere was able to get the wounded warriors to the doctors for their negative (phew) Covid swabs.

Again, I am reminded how important it is to be grateful.  Even as I ponder how to push the students to reach their potential, I have to pause and remember that their health is #1.  That and their social emotional learning.  As with all things in life, balance is key.  So, I need to focus on rest and recovery rather than writing and arithmetic.  It pains me to serve ice cream for breakfast, but if that is what the students’ throats crave, then ya gotta go with the flow.  As an emotionally intelligent leader, I recognize the lack of appetite and sleep has to lead to some concessions to normal dietary routines.  Heck, I think one of them has had chicken noodle soup for breakfast and tops it off with Ben and Jerry’s.  Unfortunately, after my annual physical, I cannot partake any longer in such gluttonous activity.  I mean, when the doctor says, “Well the pandemic has put pounds on lots of people so you are not alone…” then you know you’re in trouble.  I will blame my own ballooning on the fact that sweatpants do not hold your belly accountable as much as a pair of suit pants.  So, come to think of it, I will need to pass on the cannoli and eat some lettuce if I want to slip into my suit when the pandemic lifts its heavy hands off of our souls.

Onwards and upwards said the sign on K-Rob’s desk, and so it must be for us here.  I believe that the pandemic pain has been a great opportunity to reflect on the importance of being grateful for the small things.  So I will end with a thank you to the Covid Crisis for the opportunity to realize what things are really important to us.  Ice cream for breakfast, Lysol, and the strength and resilience found in my Academy.  Wait,  I think I got through this whole paragraph without hearing anyone cough or sneeze or groan or moan- so I am thankful for that too!  And there is a fresh snowfall to enjoy in the morning…and the dog has not gotten into the trash…and the Principal’s Amazing Twin’s family Zoom Game Nights are fabulous…and I successfully changed a light bulb…and the sun will come up tomorrow…it always does.  See- we have to have some dark, to enjoy the light.  We have to lose to enjoy winning.  And we have to fail before we succeed.  Ok- one more…we have to appreciate that life will never, ever go in a straight line- ya gotta know that there ain’t no peaks without valleys.

Thanks for Coming!