Why?

In full disclosure, I was blessed at my last school with having a great Principal, Assistant Principal and department chair who developed a team which had no ego just thought about what is best for kids.  This group worked as a team as nobody really made decisions without consulting each other and at least getting feedback from the team.  While, the teachers on the team, realized that we were not final decision makers we always felt valued and an important part of the decision making process.

That being said, I was terribly spoiled by this great leadership who cared passionately about student success in the classroom.  That leads me to this present situation in which our administration scheduled a 5K race to raise money for cancer and our schools fitness race, the day before our AP exams.  I realize that you need a spring or fall day to do this race but it leaves a lot of Sundays available.  So why would they schedule it that day?  Why would they not ask the AP teachers what they felt about scheduling the race on that day?  Why would they at least when it was pointed out to them say "sorry we will not do that next year"  Why were they so defensive about the entire situation?

While most students will be fine if they run the race, help out during the race etc, is it worth it if it causes one student to possibly fail the exam.  For some students this is an exam that they have worked hard for all year and now they are faced with helping the school or studying for themselves?  Is this fair of our school to do this to the students?  Should we putting more pressure on them or taking the stress off of them?