What I’m listening to right now: The Zombies: I’ll Call You Mine. While certainly not one of the most commercially or critically successful bands of the 1960s, the Zombies were definitely one of the most influential.

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There are several downsides to blogging, one of which is that once you start, you might (gasp!) actually gain an audience, which expects, nay, demands, high-quality, frequent, and insightful comments about any and every event. In an effort to appease said audience, I offer up the following:

Florida. Iowa. Rock ‘n’ Roll Thai. Sean and Sara Watkins. Sunset Junction.

Moving on…

Yesterday, the word of the day was “sustainability”, yet not within the usual context of global warming and environmental consciousness, but rather in the context of schools. One of the greatest problems that is faced by Cochran Middle School (and likely many others within LAUSD) is a lack of sustainability. What exactly do I mean?

This is what I mean. Cochran middle school has managed, despite many flaws, to attract a number of very high quality teachers. These teachers, my colleagues, inspire kids, organize field trips, help improve their scores, invite special guests for assemblies, and even push some toward admission in some of the top schools in Los Angeles. “What’s wrong with this?”, you might ask. Nothing, except for what inevitably follows. These teachers leave, and when they do, many (though not all) of the programs they’ve started leave with them. The successes that our school has is so dependant upon the personalities and the above and beyond giving of some of our teachers that there is no sense of momentum. No sustainability. In essence, what we’ve managed to do is to re-re-re-re-invent the wheel.

I wonder as I begin my 5th year, how in the world Cochran can begin to create a culture of success that is actually sustainable past the tenure of any particular teacher. How in the world do we do this? Honestly, I have no idea, but at least the question has now been asked.