It’s been almost a year since my last post. Where have I been all this time? Well, last year was a difficult one, both personally and professionally. In addition to dealing with some serious family issues, I was also dealing with some rather debilitating school issues, and I just didn’t have the heart either to dwell on them or ignore them in blog posts.

This year will be different. Very different. In Sumter County, where I work, we’ve always had two school districts. This year, those two districts merged into one. We’ve had three years to prepare, but we’re all learning that you really can’t ever be fully prepared for such a sweeping change in policies, personnel, and procedures.

We have a new superintendent this year, since the former superintendents of each district have retired. In addition to all the new department heads at the district office, our school also has a new principal. (Our former principal also retired.) We have a new assistant principal, too. (Our former assistant principal was assigned to another school.) And we have a new curriculum resource teacher. (Our former CRT became our new assistant principal.)

So the name of the game this year is “Change.” Now, I’m not opposed to change; change can be not only good, but necessary in the raipdly evolving world of education. But too much change at once, particularly when the stakeholders (i.e., the teachers) have had little or no voice in the decision-making process, can be overwhelming. It can be frustating. It can be discouraging to the point that you just want to sit down and cry.

So why do I want to start blogging again now of all times, you ask?

I’ve stated before that for me, one of the most beneficial aspects of this blog has been the time spent reflecting on what I’m doing. In an earlier post titled Fighting Burnout I said,

 “Through writing this blog I’ve come to appreciate the importance of taking time to reflect on what I’m doing in my professional life and why…. I can see the benefit of including more posts here about what is working in my library, and what impact I’m having on the students I see each week. I need to remember why I became a school librarian in the first place, and resolve to keep that at the forefront of my mind…”

This year, I want this blog to be a celebration of everything good in my library, in my school, in my district, in my state, and in education in general.  I want to focus on the positive, rejoice in the successes, and share what’s working for me in my little corner of the world. 

After all, “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”  (Epictetus) 

By the way, the logo you see here is actually not exactly what our new district logo looks like.  This is the original design, but it was changed at some point (I’m not sure when), and in spite of searching the district website, several of our school websites, and Google Images, I cannot find a save-able image of the new logo.  The words “UNIFIED FOR SUCCESS” have been replaced with the words “EDUCATE*EMPOWER*ENRICH” at the bottom of the circle.  Not that it really matters to any of you readers out there, but it does give you a small taste of the way things are going for us so far this year!