[jpteach95]

My school housed the summer program. This is usually cause for alarm to begin with. Our rooms are typically trashed with items missing and broken. I have decided to remain sane this summer, I had to let it go and say it is what it is.

Now, I find out that because we have a construction project we cannot get into our classrooms until ALL of the classrooms in that wing have had the construction project completed. Primary teachers will get in earlier because they are doing that side of the building first. This will just impact the upper grades on my side. The custodian told me that I would be lucky to get in by Thurs. Sept. 2nd but more likely not until Fri. Sept. 3rd. WHAT??????? We start school (with kids) on Tues. the 7th!!!!! (And yes, the building is closed on Monday for Labor Day). How do they expect us (oh yes, admins AND parents do expect a perfectly to set up room to welcome kids regardless of what is going on) in ONE day??????

Even if the building is open on Saturday I don't think I could get it done in two days. Everything is boxed and packed and stored away because of the summer program and construction.

Okay---vent over. Need to devise a plan to somehow make this work. Any ideas?

[bookgeek59]

I was in a similar situation a couple years ago. We were set to open Labor Day Tuesday like you, and I ended up with roughly 10 hours to set up for opening day.

Some ideas/tips:
-"hire" a couple high school or college kids from church or the neighborhood. They can do bulletin boards, unpack books into book bins, wipe down everything, hang posters, etc.
- make sure everything YOU need is ready- a place for opening day paperwork/business to be stored, your basic desk stuff, etc.
if you have tables, invest in a couple flat sheets or tablecloths- stow boxes under tables
-since you're working with older kids, they would love to help you set up- I am not sure how many kids you have, but while most are doing desk work of some kind, draw 3 or 4 names to help you- since everyone will want to help, do that the first few days of school until everyone has been able to help you- maybe set a timer for a certain amount of minutes so everyone helps the same and so you don't get carried away with getting a task done

Your kids will love you, and the adults will know you had a small window of time for set up. Don't beat yourself up or let this be a cloud over your opening days.

[DeeBoBo]

I moved into a new building one year that didn't get the CO until the DAY BEFORE school started. My whole team had to go through the entire preplanning week helping other people or twiddling our thumbs while we waited for a pane of glass to be installed in a door so it would finally pass inspection (really). We ended up with about 4 hours on the Saturday before school started to unpack and move into a new room (with no A/C) while the construction workers were still finishing up installing the shelving!

I had an army of helpers. I had to just accept that it wasn't going to look exactly the way I wanted it to, but at least my boxes were unpacked and it looked semi-reasonable...and I'm a total perfectionist. It did take me a while to really get things the way I wanted them to, but it happened little by little.

Take a deep breath. As hard as it is, you may just have to do the basics and then work on it little by little to get it to the way you really want it.

Good luck to you!

[aksuz]

Invited some former students to come in and help put things back in place---they know where things go. Order a pizza make a party out of the day.

[anna]

Let go of the fact that everything has to look ready. Arrange the desks,make a first week plan,get your copies done and call it a day. If it was important enough that the room look "ready" the admin would have made sure you were given the time to get it done.

[saralara]

Why don't you stop by home depot and by some construction tape and make a few "Don't mind our mess..." kind of signs? Place the furniture so no one actually gets hurt and then whittle away at it the first week of school.

Or alternately, ask the principal to open the school on Monday. I know it is a holiday, but it would stress me out a lot not to have stuff in place before parents come. In fact, I tend to do the whole thing before TEACHERS come back since I know that my principal will use my room for PD.

Good luck.

Sara

[jpteach95]

Thank you all for your suggestions.

I do have a plan in place to have former students come in and help. And of course, my 3 nieces want to be there too. I know I have to prioritze and I will. I have done a lot of prep stuff at home so hopefully the arrangement of furniture and putting stuff back up on the walls will go quickly.

Lucikly I put my BB's up and covered them in June. I am not sure what condition they will be in after the summer program was there. It is likely they were destroyed, but maybe with a stroke of luck they are okay.

I just wish that admins would see the craziness here and postpone our side of the building until a longer vacation.

Will keep you all posted.

[ichigo]

My first year teaching, I was hired at 3 PM on a Friday, and school began the following Monday! I called in a team of teenagers (my cousins) and they helped me get everything ready on that Saturday.