So here's the short of it, 
It's officially started!

And here's the long.

I wasn't in a school building today, so I really missed the excitement of the teachers returning to school to begin preparation for students to arrive. But I could feel it in the air.  Our department is still trying to fill a few last minute vacant positions.  Once we get that done, we'll all breathe a sigh of relief.

Our work today focused on what we need to do to "close the achievement gap".  Tennessee got one of the first waivers from NCLB and so now we've got to figure out how to do it the Tennessee way. I don't think I've got the answers, but all of us have some ideas.  Wonder if someone could design a computer program to take suggestions from all the educators and feed them through the program and have some kind of programmatic suggestions come out?  Wonder.  

I know some amazing teachers, wonderful administrators, and great support people.  We could figure this out.  I really think we could.

I'm already starting out the year with a couple of large headaches to deal with - but I swear, I'm going to focus on the good.