The need to think when it's really hot...

It’s hot. I mean really hot…and not just in LA…everywhere in the continental US…even in Anchorage where it has reached historic highs for August. Every Sunday, for the past month, I’ve turned to the weather map in the Pasadena Star-News and all I saw was red (and a little bit of orange) from coast to coast. Here on the West Coast, for example, we had virtually no “June Gloom” to speak of and August temperatures in July and September temperatures in August. Now, relax, climate change enthusiasts (pro and con), this is not about global warming (though it could be about continental warming). This is about the things we take for granted - until some external condition forces us to re-examine our casual assumptions about how the world works.


During the three-year drought that recently ended in the LA Basin, homeowners in Pasadena, for example, recognized this dynamic every time they opened their PWP bill and found they were paying higher and higher rates to irrigate their lawn. We all painfully learned (myself, included) to irrigate our lawns once a week during the Fall and Winter and twice a week in Spring and Summer. Now that the drought is officially over; I am (and other homeowners are) tempted to return to our formerly profligate irrigation habits. I try to stick to the drought-based routines, but I miss my brilliantly green lawn and the Hostas in my back garden are parched and practically begging me to douse them with an extra round of irrigation (especially since termites destroyed the hackberry tree that protected them from the afternoon sun). For the better part of the last ten years I took for granted that, between the Colorado River and the State Water Project, I could happily douse my gardens with as much water as I liked. Then the drought hit and I had to learn new behaviors - which are now being put to the test by the unseasonable heat we have been experiencing for the lion’s share of the summer now ending.

All of which has caused me to reflect about how the arrival of a new school year and a new Principal (external conditions) will cause the members of the La Salle family (myself, included) to re-examine our casual assumptions about the way our School community works. As I write this, the Class of 2016 finished a day of orientation here on campus and their parents have arrived for their orientation this evening. I’ve asked a few parents how the morning session went for their son or daughter and the response has been remarkably consistent: “He/she loved the day and is excited about starting school tomorrow.” As far as I am concerned, that is about as good as it gets for a 13 year-old on the first day of school. For adults, however, the start of school produces hopes and fears (and not just among parents, by the way)…will the year be a good one…will (my) students/ (my)teachers like me? Will the new principal be like (or not) Pat Bonacci, AFSC? Will Dr. Gray ask me for more money? (That’s just to see if you read this far…if you did, let me know!)

In short, the arrival of a new principal and a new school year must result in the re-examination of casual assumptions about how La Salle works. And - quite frankly - that’s a good thing. The Class of 2016 brings its own opportunities and challenges to La Salle and Brother Christopher comes with more questions than answers as he attempts to make sense of the school culture we all take for granted. The one thing about schools that a climate change metaphor can’t explain is this simple proposition: when students, their parents, teachers and their administrators are brought together over a sustained period of time, anything can happen - and most of it will be good - especially if we let go of our casual assumptions about how our world ought to work.



Happy New Year!