Opinion Column
I’ve run out of kids – and Back-to-School nights
A recent Wednesday evening represented the end of an era for me.
It was my final back-to-school night, ever. My son, Tim, is a senior at Sunset High, having risen through the K-5 ranks at Rock Creek Elementary School and completing grades 6 through 8 at Stoller Middle School in Beaverton.
As he draws closer to commencement on June 10, 2010 – and I have every reason to believe he’ll reach that milestone with flying colors – I’m beginning to grow nostalgic about my children’s collective journey through the burgeoning, 37,500-student school district.
Tim’s two sisters went before him, which means I started attending back-to-school nights at Cooper Mountain Elementary School in 1991, when Lindsey was in kindergarten.
Some were tedious, three-hour-long affairs that, like the last couple Harry Potter movies, could have benefited from some serious editing. Others were informative but uninspired, with sleep-deprived teachers lurching through six or eight consecutive mini-speeches barely heard by stressed-out working parents who’d missed dinner to get there.
A few turned out to be engaging and stimulating enough to motivate me to thank a teacher, hug a coach or compliment an administrator.
I’m proud to say that in 18 years, I can’t remember missing one BTS night. After attending no fewer than 39 of them – at Cooper Mountain and Rock Creek elementaries, Five Oaks and Stoller middle schools, Westview High and now Sunset – I actually found myself looking forward to the final event on that Wednesday evening.
I’ve always appreciated the efforts that went into staging BTS night, from the principal’s welcome to the parade of teachers’ presentations. In grade school I was treated to cookies and punch while learning of opportunities to mentor new readers. By middle school, I heard more about after-school programs and efforts to “bridge” students successfully to ninth grade.
At the high school level, I was handed a map of the campus so complex it had me digging through my purse for Excedrin before the first bell rang. I feared I might get lost somewhere on the east end of the building if I veered off course, and the early custodian would find my cold, dead body face down on the linoleum when he opened up the next morning.
Yet I made it through, and on Sept. 30, when Principal Todd McKee took microphone in hand to proclaim Sunset one of the best high schools in Oregon, I was, as the student leaders said, “bleeding purple.”
“Go, Apollos!” I yelled inside my head as I performed an imaginary stadium wave from my seat in the main auditorium.
After sitting through the PowerPoint-driven intro, I obediently processed through Tim’s classes in Spanish, world literature, physics, 20th century history, theater and choir. Hearing from the teacher/directors in those last two subjects again had me silently cheering.
So here’s to Mr. Farmer and Mr. Rust, and the entire collection of excellent instructors who encouraged, coddled, chided and mentored my children over their years in Oregon’s public school system. Keep doing that thing you do for students.
My parental hat is off to you, and – I can hardly believe I’m saying this – I’m going to miss seeing you at BTS night.
(Nancy Townsley is associate editor of the News-Times in Forest Grove and a former reporter for the Beaverton Valley Times.)