My Presence Has Been Requested

I have been summoned to the principal's office. It would have been today, but he forgot that the counselor changed my plan period from sixth to second hour. So now it's tomorrow. I'm not sweatin' it. The purpose of the rendezvous is to go over results from the End Of Course test that my juniors took last year. And the results improved 30-something points from the year before.

I would love to nod wisely and take credit, enumerating the high points of my grand plan to boost the scores. But we all know that you can't compare apples to oranges. Same methods, different kids, you have to play the hand you're dealt. And we held a flush last year. I'd be singing a different tune out the other side of my mouth if we draw a pair of twos this year. So I will take it for what it is worth, which is a feel-goody feeling for the rest of this school year.

Until next May, I can shine my fingernails on my lapel and lord it over the teachers of subjects that did not show such an improvement. Not really. We're not like that at Newmentia. We are all for one and one for all, an upper-echelon team that commands respect from the surrounding districts, even though they may dwarf us in size. We are a school of distinction. That's a real deal here in Missouri.