chez

pt1

Pt1

We had interviewed about five different people to be the assistant principal, but none of them seemed like the right fit or a good partner for me.A lady by the name of Mrs.Oaks was the second to last interviewee and although she was nice she was to bouncy and would probably be far to hyper in contrast to my calm and collected disciplinary style.A man with a large stature came in and unlike Mrs.Oaks He was very strict, Mr.Comins was his name.He was the no fun,no play,no talking in the hallways type of guy who looked into your soul and could hang on with a chilling grasp.The last person I saw was him,He was a little shorter than me by about an inch or two,White hair,grey eyes,a five o'clock shadow and in a tight fitting grey suit.He came in with a confident stride. “So,you are…Lee Norbury,correct?” As I read over the paper my headache from the many hours of long interviews began to worsen.I must have come off a bit harsher then I had intended to because before Norbury responded he cleared his throat then looked down at his papers on my desk. “Yes sir” Norbury answered, then looked back up causing me to chuckle. “You can call me Freddy,Frederick,Porter and Mr.Porter but please call me  anything other than sir, not even the kids call me that” I paused before continuing on “it makes me feel old.”Norbury peeked up again as I grabbed a pen to look over his resume then with a  toothless smiled retorted back to what I had said earlier “Sorry,Porter.¨. I grinned to myself then continued to look over the pretty exceptional document in front of me. Columbia University,Ivy league student,2 years of baseball coaching and a small bit of experience in subbing  he was pretty good so far."So,why do you think you’d be a good vice principal?"This was the question that the last few people had messed up on by being too authoritarian and pushy, only wanting power because they were sick of working in classrooms. “Well,” Norbury started off “I’ve always wanted to be somebody kids look up to.Watching how some teachers just wanted power when I would do subbing made me want to make sure I keep the teachers in check without taking over their classrooms,We could work together by giving gentle boundaries and making sure that the kids want to learn instead of just reminding them this is something that is legally required, that will make everybody want to come here not just those getting a salary.”Norbury stopped as he finished answering the question. He had been looking into my eyes while talking and I could see the passion in his face the entire time.Unlike the rest of the people I interviewed today, he actually seemed  like he wanted the job but not for personal gain.Once again, I gave a polite smile then although just from his resume and tiny speech alone I was sure he was the one for the job. I continued on with the rest of the process. 

“Alrighty,So onto the next few questions.” I fixed the papers by shuffling them then asked the remaining inquiries I was required to.

     The interview had been over for about half an hour now and yet we were still talking.Lee had been one of the most interesting new faces I had met in a while.Excluding the students of course.

    Right then and there, I decided to hire him. 

“Thank you so much for coming here.” I chimed. “You are perfect for the job! I really look forward to working with you in the near future. You will start in a few weeks, so feel free to let me know if you have any questions…”

 As I watched him walk out of the door and into his car, I wished that we could've talked more that afternoon.