From Sir, With Love

Many people will be happy to know that I finally found a teaching job. This fall, I will be the brand new (and only) Art teacher at Fairfax Middle School in Kansas City, Kansas. You may be familiar with the Fairfax name only by reputation, as it's a middle school/high school for kids with criminal records. I know what you're thinking--I got tired of looking and finally settled for this. Well, not entirely. After having worked for the past year in the Shawnee Mission School District, and being told constantly that I would be considered for various Art openings, I finally got fed up and called KCK directly. After having sat down with the Fine Arts coordinator, I felt confident that this district would be my new home come fall.

My timing couldn't have been better, as Fairfax is in the process of starting up a new Art department, after years of never having one. This opportunity seemed my best fit since, as many of you are aware, I worked with this very type of population for two years while I worked toward my teaching certification. I never thought that I would be going back to doing it, but couldn't be more excited about the opportunity. And the idea that I'll be developing the school's art department from scratch has me even more eager to get started.

Lisa has reminded me that, with my "tough love" attitude, I come on the heels of a long line of no nonsense, inner city school faculty members--Richard Dadier from Blackboard Jungle, "Crazy Joe" Clark from Lean On Me, Mark Thackeray from To Sir, With Love, Coach Carter, Gabe Kotter....the list goes on. Would it be pushing it to include Ralph Hinkley from The Greatest American Hero in the mix? I guess he's got the same hair as me.