First few weeks

I've been abandoning the blog the past couple of weeks, not because there is nothing to report, but rather because there is so much and I wouldn't know where to start.

The first week open was probably what you would expect for the first week of a first-time manager and staff with minimal training and preparation pressured in to opening before they were completely prepared. Programming was minimal, the daily schedule was nothing but a draft, and we were still in the midst of installing gates to keep the children from getting in to the kitchen and running out the building.

I quickly realized that staffing was a major issue, which I won't get in to, just that it's difficult to work under a Board that doesn't really have any understanding about how group size influences the quality of the environment and that ratios are legislated for a reason. I've also had almost an entire staff turn-over, replacing 2 of my full-time staff within the last two weeks.

I've been busy this week writing proposals to the Board identifying how I believe our donations and fundraising should be put to use, as well as writing a proposal to the association that pays our wages to amend our contract to add more full-time positions.

Things are getting better, slowly, as we get used to the routines and the children are more familiar with the environment and each other. Before taking these last two days as sick days, I managed to get some programming done just for this week, but it was something.

For now I'm going to spend all my energy getting rid of this illness and hopefully be back to 100% to try again next week. Also to watch all of season 9 of Grey's to prepare for the two-hour Season 10 premier next Thursday!

Make it better

Despite all of the hard work over the past 3 weeks to get the renovations going, it doesn't look like we're going to meet our target to open by the end of the month. We've only had a few volunteers here and there, and with all of the repairs needed on the building, progress is way too slow.

I haven't been doing much aside from work, and life has been fairly uneventful since Mom & Dad left just over a week ago.

The teachers did get to town last week, so hopefully I'll get to know a few of them and maybe make some friends.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about how I can bring the best of who I am to my new position. One professor told me before I left that since she's known me, she noticed that I was always able to take something and make it better. I hang on to that now as I feel the struggle with the slow progress and I have to force myself to think about how it will be better, even if the process is taking longer than we expected. It's important that I keep in mind that change is an extremely slow process, and that not all change is going to happen when or in the way I would like it to.

There are some changes that are happening quickly. It's starting to get darker earlier (around 9:30), and the sky even gets completely dark for a few hours during the night. The sun still starts rising around 5 am, but the day and night light is becoming much more like what we're used to in the south.

I'm anxious to get the programming done for at least the first month so that I feel at least somewhat ready for when we finally get to re-open. I'm also anxious for staff training. It is so far out of my range of experience to do week-long training on every aspect of working in an early learning setting. I definitely have a lot that I need to learn before I can train the new staff. The training is such a crucial part of implementing a new program and making change, so I'm definitely open to any tips or advice from those of you who have experience in this area!