Tuesday, December 28, 2004

First day on the new job

Today was the first day. There were no students. It was the paperwork day. I was introduced to the building. It was empty. I met my lab and my classroom. I got keys to the kingdom.

The entire morning was paperwork. After lunch, I inventoried what was available for lab work. This involved finding and counting tools, finding and counting material, and comparing that to the list that the state says I need to teach the class. I made lists and faxed them to several suppliers for price quotes. Joe (principal) has gotten a grant but can't spend the money until he has a list of things to spend it on. I also tapped a source that gave me a glowing recommendation. He says he might be able to swing me a Greenlee 555 electric bender ® that needs minor repair. It costs $8,000 new. Joe says, "Cheap is good, free is better." I told Mike (before mentioned source) that he was to throw nothing away until he checked with me.

I have calls into other sources that may reap us some used but working power tools. The more I can save on those items, the more we have available for teaching resources.

The School had a Industrial Maintenance class before this one. The instructor was there 3 days before he quit. He got an offer from his former employer and decided to go back. This is the first all Electric class there. I will have students on Monday. The classes will most likely be 5 to 7 students. The classes will be about 1½ hours long.

The Lab is a mess. There are working and nonworking tools for a machine shop strewn about it. This week will be a cleaning week, well, a cleaning 3 days. It will take time to make both the lab and the classroom 'mine', but in time, it will come together. I think this will work.

So, to Russ, Mike, Chris, Gary, and Pastor K, who gave me glowing recommendations .. Thanks
I will try not to let y'all down.

I'll keep ya posted, but for now, it is almost karaoke time.

1 comment:

KC said...

Congrats on the new job!