Have you ever stopped to wonder what occurs in a school over summer break? If you ever thought that the building goes to sleep during the months of June and July, it’s actually quite the opposite. Extensive maintenance is conducted on the school building, numerous new hires are welcomed to the team, trainings are attended, schedules are coordinated, plans are developed, and so much more.
Tiffany Cook, Principal at Simmons Elementary, says, “June is dedicated for a lot of reflection and debriefing of the year that just concluded. We talk about what went well and what didn’t go well, and we develop our vision for the next year.” Conversations and reflections such as these are crucial in continued improvement for schools. The leaders of a school need time to strategize how they want to keep moving forward, and summer is the best time to do this.
While preparing the vision for the coming school year, it’s also necessary to ensure the school is fully staffed. Jennifer Forgy, Assistant Principal at Woodford County High School, explains that the bulk of hiring faculty and staff occurs during the months of May, June, and July. “We have to get all of our teachers during this time because we have several trainings they need to attend.”
However, trainings aren’t just for new teachers; all of our faculty are constantly seeking ways to better themselves through various professional development opportunities. It is certainly a point of pride for our district to consider all of the teachers who are pursuing additional training sessions. Furthermore, faculty and staff must receive instruction on various safety and medical protocols before school resumes.
Alongside of training, revision and maintenance are also buzzwords for what occurs over the summer. Revisions have to be made to the student and faculty handbooks, and policies need to be reviewed. The calendar also has to be established, which is quite a lengthy process. Consider everything that goes on during the school year: field trips, testing, fire drills, athletic events, choir concerts, pep rallies, club days, faculty meetings, art shows, science fairs, wellness nights, and so much more. Everything has to be on the calendar prior to the start of school for optimal organization and planning. The calendar itself can take days and weeks of preparation.
Maintenance of the building is a huge aspect of the summer agenda. Ms. Forgy explains all of the upkeep that occurs during the summer. “We have to take everything out of each room in order to strip the floors. They’re waxed, and then we wax them again, buff them. And then we put everything back in each room, each hallway. It takes all summer to just do the floors. Then you have painting, mowing, etc. We’re putting in a new air conditioning tower here. We have a lot of big stuff to get done. We hire extra maintenance staff in the summers.”
Ms. Cook mentions new Social Studies standards put forth by the state as another area of focus over these summer months. “We’ve probably worked four solid days creating a framework for Social Studies,” she says. Teachers will also reflect on their previous year and refresh their long term plans for the upcoming year. They will work with their teams to establish curriculum maps and other educational expectations.
If this explanation sounds like a lot of big projects and important strategizing, it is, and it’s still not everything that occurs over the summer. There are still committees to be filled, agendas to be created, bulletin boards to be decorated, online subscriptions to be renewed, and so much more. Ms. Forgy says, “We’re doing all of this work for the kids. It’s quiet and busy, but the work we most like to do is when the kids are in the building. We miss them...we’re always excited to get them back in the building.”
Ms. Cook looks forward to the start of the school year each August. “This will be my 20th year in education, and it’s still exciting every year. You don’t sleep the night before school starts, and everyone has back-to-school dreams.”
All in all, summer is jam-packed with very important, very necessary tasks to ensure a safe, productive, rewarding school year. It certainly takes a lot to keep a school up and running! Be sure to appreciate the faculty and staff who still pour so much of themselves into doing what is best for the students of Woodford County, even in the summertime. June and July are wonderful, but we certainly are looking forward to August 8th!
Happy summer, Woodford!
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