Busy times

Since Spring Break I've been both super busy and bored. School has kept me busier than ever, but I'm starting to get bored of most everything on this island. I guess I'm finally getting island fever.

Graduation is coming up so we've been having meetings with the parents about it. They have very high expectations for this event. On Saturday there will be a consecration service. They have to provide food for it and the kids want matching outfits. This is ontop of the graduation gowns they will be using in the ceremony. We asked the kids to choose what they wanted their dresses and shirts to look like. They went shopping and looked at stuff, but the day before the meeting we had nothing substantial. I told them I would go down to the store with them and we would figure everything out. I told them I would help them out with a taxi fair, but they said one of the girls was getting her car. I thought her mom or dad would be along to drive it but she showed up driving it. She told me I could drive. I was happy about that because I don't get to drive much here. I've only driven twice the whole time I've been here. We all piled in and went down to the store. They looked at fabric and dress styles forever. Finally they chose what they wanted and we got prices.

The parents were slow to show up to the meeting. Finally, we got started and they began planning the ceremony and banquet afterwards. The place they want to rent is $350 and then they wanted everyone to bring four large trays of food. I let them make the decisions. There were a couple small dissenting voices, but for the most part they were ignored. The next day I got a letter from some of the parents and then two others talked to me. The amount of food was outrageous and the financial burden is huge on them. I'm going to call another meeting on Monday and attempt to scale back their desire for an over-the-top graduation. They are being impractical and some of the families can't afford it. Some families aren't paying their school bills and so can't be expected to go all out. I think if it is outrageous they will just not go to the banquet and it will be a bust.

This week I am going to try to raise some money from businesses. It is going to be a ton of work, but I hope it works. I want that money to pay for the food at the banquet so that it's not such a burden on the parents. This is already turning into the pain in the butt I thought it would be. The parents want one thing, the kids want another, the principal wants something else, and somehow I have to reconcile it all. I've discovered that I like to make people happy, but I will have to disappoint some people. I don't have a problem doing that as long as everything comes out nice. One of my students told me, "You shouldn't ask the parents, you should tell them what they need to do." I told her, "I've never been to a graduation on this island, I've never planned a graduation anywhere. I don't know what to tell them to do." I want to give the kids a worthy graduation, even if it isn't as costly as they would like.