North of Montgomery

I’ll take just a few minutes of your time to share a highlight from our last quarter.  One of my goals for this school year was to “simplify.”  That one word is still written at the top of my whiteboard as a daily reminder.  We are inundated with so much information and have so many — read more

I may have set a personal record this week on conversations with parents.  It was A LOT, and being the big talker that I am, you know how much I love to just chat and chat about everything under the sun.  Seriously, I could probably go back and research how many conversations it actually was, — read more

Friday September 10th was our monthly PTO meeting.  Each month, I get the opportunity to share a quick update with the group about how things are going at school, express any needs or wants we might have, and address any questions or concerns they have for our school.  This month, I kept it very simple.  — read more

On a few occasions this week, I was reminded of one of my favorite quotes:  “How you do anything is how you do everything.”  While I could fill this space for the rest of the semester with anecdotes, here are a few examples that have resonated most with me: Aspiring sushi chefs may apprentice for — read more

As a young platoon leader in the Army, we were quite often tasked by higher with “additional duties.”  While we’d all graduated from our basic training, advanced individual training on our military occupational specialty (MOS), and held a myriad number of individual degrees, qualifications, and certifications, we quite often found ourselves doing anything but those — read more

Over the past year, you may have heard that living through a global pandemic was like living through a movie.  I don’t know about living through one, but when I was middle school age, watching movies was just a LOT different.  We either went to the theater, went to a video store to rent a — read more

To our distinguished guests on the floor:  Thank you for joining us.  Thank you for sharing of your time and experiences serving our great nation.  Students, I hope you were listening closely as our veterans were recognized.  I hope you heard all the different branches of service that were recognized and when and where they — read more

I’ve never quit anything in my life.  I have completed and fulfilled my commitments and obligations to teams, schools, churches, employers, and my country, but I have never quit.  Coach Dwight “Buddy” Gray is to thank for that. I didn’t play JV football at Holtville.  I went out for varsity in the spring of my — read more

I’m proud of my little bookshelf. Since late October (by my count), 15 books have moved on to parts unknown (including undisclosed locations in Afghanistan) with no expectation of them being returned.  Inspired by the work of @jarredamato and @projectLITcomm, I decided to start reading more diverse juvenile fiction and giving those books away at — read more

I’ve not been much for New Years’ resolutions over the last several years.  Perhaps my hesitation comes from my tendency to overdo things, to set too lofty a goal, and to go to extremes, thus always setting myself up for failure and disappointment.  While I appreciate the sentiment and love the idea of the tabula — read more