First week of school

The first week of school is over. I started the first day by meeting with the students and reading them the new rules and setting expectations for them. The teachers said it was a smooth opening and my secretary said it was strange because she was not stressed. We had an increase of about 15 students (that is a grade level). High school schedules are hard to set because there are only two teachers. It would seem that the kids would all progress through the same classes each year but somehow they get all messed up and one needs geometry , three need algebra, and then some want applied math and it is the same with language arts, science and social studies. We do math through two-way video and run multiple classes with a single teacher the same period.


One the fourth day of school I had to go to Bethel for training, I did not want to go since it was optional training, but I found out that my definition of optional and the assistant superintendent’s definition of optional were different when I told her I was not planning on attending. So I packed my bag and off I went. While I was in Bethel some of the kids figured they would take advantage of the cat being away. I think I made a believer out of them when I got back. I had three on police-call after school, two were immediately suspended and a third went home the next day. I hope when I am gone Wednesday they think about the consequence to their behavior.

Why am I going to be out on Wednesday? Wednesday is opening day of moose season and one of the villagers asked me to go hunting. I e-mailed the superintendent and told him I had a great opportunity for some positive community relations, could I take Wednesday off and go moose hunting. He said he thought it was a great opportunity and approved a personal day.

The drift net fishing has not been great for the villagers lately and the weather has been so raining what fish they have caught has not dried well. The maintenance man went out Friday evening and got 23 nice silver salmon. He called when he was on his way back in and asked if I want some fish. I was at open gym so I put an adult in charge and grabbed a couple of plastic bags and headed to the beach. A teachers was coming out of his house as I walked by and he asked if Mark had called me also. I said yes he did, let’s go get some fish. He said okay, I am going to get the four-wheeler and trailer; I will meet you down there. Why would we need the trailer I wondered? Two teachers and I meet him at the beach and he gave us 15 silver salmon. After seeing them in the boat I knew why we needed the trailer, these were some big fish. I cleaned, filleted, and packed five of them, now we are ready for a fish cooking.

The kids here love open gym, there is not a whole lot else to do. Attendance and tardies have been a problem so I decided to bribe them to come to school by offering open gym to any student with perfect attendance for a week – no tardies or absences, excused or unexcused. I opened the gym for 30 to 45 minutes by groups K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and high school. It runs till 7:00 p.m. on Friday but I think it will be worth it.

Students come tomorrow

This job is more than I expected. As the Site Administrator you are responsible for everything. If UPS or Fed Ex comes after hours (yes we get UPS and Fed Ex) whose door do they come to, right mine. When visitors from the DO come, who is the taxi driver, you guessed it, me. I just load them on the four wheeler and away we go. Last night when I made a run to the airstrip it was raining, thankfully I have a good rain suit. On Monday I received my first shipment of fresh vegetables, they came in after hours so I delivered all the boxes to the teachers that had ordered them; I did not get a single tip. I am landlord for nine housing units; at least I do not have to collect rent since it is all payroll deduction. I have my own water plant and sewage plant. We lost all water Monday morning, what was the cause you ask. The holding tank in the sewage plant was full, so instead of overflowing it shuts down all the water. It is a good system and literally prevented one crappy mess. All my student schedules are finally set, bell schedules are ready, and aide’s assignments are done. I still have to schedule morning duties for teachers, inventory dry and frozen foods, submit budget expenditures, type up the ASB meeting minutes and reconcile my purchase card. I am sure I am forgetting something. This is great training if you have any aspiration to be a superintendent. While I was going through my out buildings I found two recliners, a TV stand and a book case still in the boxes, they are now in my living room. This replaces the Bureau of Indian Affairs furniture I had.

Monday night I had fresh arugula, Italian parsley, and sweet peppers, all wilted in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and garlic, over pasta. How is that for eating high on the hog?

I had my first Advisory School Board meeting tonight. It went okay. A lot of it was conducted in Yup’ik so it was hard to take notes. We came down to the last item, setting the date for the next meeting, and we hit a snag. Meetings are usually held on the 2nd Thursday of each month but we cannot meet on September 9th because it is moose season. Oh well, put it off for a week, we need the meat.

It did not rain today. At 10:50 it is still light out. Here come the kids read or not.

Pre-planning has started

Went back to Tunt for three days and then flew back to Bethel Monday for a District Wide In-Service. I chartered two planes to fly ten staff members from Tunt to Bethel. Four hundred plus teachers, associate teachers, and district office personnel attended the in-service. The DO staff planned the whole thing; hotel rooms, transportation, classes, and food. Where else but Alaska can you get together 400 people and feed the fresh salmon? A group in Bethel went fishing the weekend prior to the in-service and caught enough silvers to feed the entire group with plenty left over. They feed every meal, except for dinner on Wednesday, at the high school. Dinner on Wednesday was pizzas to go, so we could eat at the airport while we waited on our charters. I had a private plane on the return trip to Tunt. We chartered two planes again, but this time instead of two six passengers Cessna we got one six passengers Cessna and a ten passenger Navaho. They put nine staff members in the Navaho and me and the luggage in the Cessna. We took off ten minutes ahead of the Navaho, but we only landed a minute ahead of it. On the flight back I counted twenty-four nesting swans. It is funny how solitary they are, you never see more than two on a pond. People around here use plans like cars. We needed some water hoses to replace a sink. The maintenance guy called Bethel and they were on the next plane coming this way. When they got here they were the wrong size, another call to Bethel and the correct hoses were on the next plan out. Four hoses in four hours.

Caribou's Hind Quarter

Last weekend I was given a King Salmon; I cleaned it up and packed up 10 nice filets. I ate one, it sure was good. Thursday, I got a caribou’s hind quarter; it had been frozen for a while so I lost some meat due to freezer burn. I cooked some up Thursday night with spaghetti, it was good. I got my dish TV box in and hooked it up, after I repair the cable the kids torn down, today. It work very well except for Fox News, seem I keep losing the signal on that channel. I think it is a liberal plot.

On Friday Fox news was working, all is good in Tunt. Friday was the most beautiful sunrise I have seen since I have been in Tunt, not to mention it is the only sunrise I have seen since I have been here. Friday was a mostly clear day. It was nice to finally have sunshine even if I was inside most of the day.

Teachers started working in the school on Thursday. We had a good meeting, there was some venting but I think it was frustration from the way school ended last year. I told them we were going to look forward and leave the past in the past. Class schedules are coming together, student schedules are getting loaded, rooms are getting cleaned up and ready for students. There was no teacher turn-over in Tunt this year. About half the staff is only in their second year of teaching and then I have a variety of experience in the rest. These teachers have chosen to work in the bush, and they seem excited to be here. I know we are going to have a good year.

Ayut

Sour Dock

On Friday, I meet with my Yup’ik

teaching staff to talk about their schedules. I think they are concern that I may not understand that all the instruction in K – 2 is done in Yup’ik and may be on Tundra Time. I assured them I can understand them working at a slower pace since they are going from an English curriculum to instruction in Yup’ik , but, yes I had to throw in a but, with prior planning they should be able to stay close to the pacing guides without sacrificing quality instruction. During this meeting I noticed three of the ladies had a baggy of green leafy stuff lying on the table in front of them. I pick one up and asked what it was, thinking to myself this must be what they smoke while sitting in the steam house. One of the ladies responded; that is the reason we are always happy, the rest of them laughed. I asked the happy bunch what do you do with it, smoke, chew it, grind it up and snort it, what? They said no, you make tea out of it. It is called Ayut or Lebanon Tea. They told me it grows on the tundra and that you pick the entire stem leaving the roots. Drop it in with your tea bags or just make tea out of it. I went out at lunch and found some. I also found red berries and lots of kids that wanted to know why the principal was out walking around the tundra. I took my bounty and went back to the school and checked with my secretary to make sure I had indeed found the right stuff. She told my yes, and that the red berries are wild cranberries. I am now a gatherer. I still could not survive on the tundra, I feel like I am sinking when I walk, but at least I could have tea and cranberries. As I walked home one of the Yup’ik teachers was pick a green leafy plant. I asked her what it was, Sour Dock she replied. It is a plant you make dessert out of. You boil it until it is the consistency of spinach, mix in dried fruit and sugar and you have dessert. She told me it is like rhubarb, I think it is time for a rhubarb pie, if I can figure out how to make a crust.

On Saturday the faculty and staff are having a get-together, burgers at one teacher’s house and then games at another’s house. They asked that each teacher bring a side dish. My 15 bean soup smells good. Got to see if I have cornbread mix that does not require eggs, I have no eggs. I did make biscuits today (Bisquick) for breakfast. They were good but needed country ham. Oh well, back to reality, cans and boxes of food. I did join a group called Full Circle Farms; they ship fresh organic vegetables to Washington and Alaska. I get a shipment delivered to the airstrip every other week. This week I am getting; salad mix (cut greens), spinach, baby carrots, red kale, Yukon gold potatoes, Italian parsley, cucumbers, arugula, supreme pluots, donut peaches, apricots, and assorted peppers. I will have to Google some of this to see how to cook it. Being from the peach state, I am very interested to see what a donut peach is.

So much for the sun, it is raining again.

Site Administrators meeting in Bethel

I left Tunt today on my way to Bethel for a Site Administrators meeting. Today was the first sunny day since I arrived. It has not rained one drop today. Flew out on a six-seater Cessna, if you have an aversion to small planes this is not the place for you. As we approached Bethel we picked up some cloud cover, at 800 feet, which we flew right under. It caused a little bumping and rocking as we tooled along. As we made the approach there was no nice smooth level turn, we went nose down and pitched to the right. We dropped like a rock, flared just above the runway, stall warning alarm, and touchdown. Another good landing, as my sister reminded me, any landing you walk away from is a good landing.


I am staying in the Long House Hotel, as you enter the hotel there are warnings everywhere that alcohol is not allowed and anyone caught with alcohol will be fined $100.00 and if they have to call the Alaska State Troopers you will be charged $500.00. I made a comment about it to the assistant superintendent and he told me the district would not pay the $500.00 charge, so I needed to be good. After I checked into the hotel I walked down to the local grocery store. I wanted a diet coke. They sold food, clothing, outboard motors, four wheelers, tools; just about anything you need or want. I picked up a bottled diet coke, a bottled diet Dr. Pepper, and a box of Cracked Pepper and Olive Oil Triscuit. My bill came to $10.03 for the three items. I really enjoyed the coke. I will have the rest later.

I went along with the other new Site Administrators, two assistant superintendents, and two principal mentors to Shogun Restaurant tonight. Yes, most people recognize the name Shogun, same name but not the same chain. We did not sit around a big open grill and watch the chef cook; no we sat at tables and ordered from a menu boasting Authentic Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, and American Cuisine. This hole in the wall restaurant offered a full line of food. At our table, people order Mexican, Greek, American, and Chinese. They severed us chips and salsa, fresh not bottled, to start with and then the salads and main courses were brought out. As it came out it all looked great, I mean really great. I ordered the Kung Pao Halibut. It came with egg drop soup and fried rice. My dinner was excellent. Nobody complained about their food, in fact everybody ate and ate. There was only one cook and he prepared each meal. I would give this place four stars.