It would have to be that one, of course...

This past Friday, the Head-Royce School Annual Fair went off without a hitch. This being the second year I have been the coordinator, there were fewer kinks and from the outside, appeared to go on seamlessly. But of course, I have some story to relay. This one just happens to involve another faculty member. It has become apparent that most of the run-ins I've had in my tenure at HRS (or even Lawrenceville for that matter) have been with other adults. It is partially a matter of two adults having to deal with each other and compromise which both find difficult because both are used to being the ultimate authority in the classroom and their word most frequently being the final word.

So, as usual, some background is needed. The crux of the fair is the activities and games that different clubs/classes/groups sponsor for the little kids. For many of these groups, it is their main fundraiser of the year or they donate their earnings to a worthy cause. Early in September, I posted a blank copy of a School Fair application on my website and blank copies on the board in the main hallway. I had a couple annoucements made at our twice weekly morning meeting over the past six weeks. The deadline (which is SO not enforced at HRS) was Friday October 13th which was the Friday before the Fair. Most groups followed the instructions and were assigned a space at the Fair. There were a couple stragglers, but by the Tuesday before the event, things were in place.

Then at 12:15PM Friday afternoon, just over five hours from the start of the Fair, a student comes in and asks me where their booth was located because she didn't see it posted on the map I created. I told her that I never received a form from her group and because there were no spots available that she was out of luck. After a bit of hemming and hawing, she went to locate the club member who was supposed to turn the form in. Twenty minutes later, the faculty advisor to this club asks if there is any special consideration I could give to this club. He says he signed the form and that would I be willing to let them into the Fair. I gave my standard, no form and no space reply. At that point, the tone of voice changed and the faculty member stated that we should probably speak in private and at that point I was told that this group (which didn't exist in the past or if they did it was under a different group name) had always been a participant at the Fair and that should be enough. I, like most human beings, when told that they should do something in that tone of voice will NEVER allow the other person to win and could not be persuaded to find that group a spot.

About a half hour later, a member of the group who is one of my favorite students, asked if there was anything I could do. I found them a spot, which was located behind another building that wouldn't have my foot traffic, but I accomodated them.

Fast forward to Monday afternoon and I am tallying up the earnings of each of the booths. Most of the groups counted their tickets and so it was a matter of jotting down the amounts. There were a couple groups for which I had to count tickets. I posted the earnings of each group and submitted the values to the Business Office so the groups could be credited that amount.

An hour after I posted the earnings list. Guess who comes by to ask what happened to that groups earnings. F*** Why of all the groups could I not anywhere find an amount for that group? Did I not transfer it from my written notes onto the word processing document. Of course that sheet with my written notes was gone. And I had recycled all the bags of tickets earlier in the day. Of all the groups that I could have forgotten, it had to be this one.

So, tomorrow, I have to face the music and confess to the faculty advisor of that group that I don't have a record of how much that group earned. Damn.....