Saturday, August 7, 2010

Maybe Dunwoody High School Needs a Staging Agent

In my last post, I lamented the hold of decorating shows and magazines that have homogenized interior styles. You can be as individual as you like while you're living in your home, but the moment it goes on the market, out comes the sage green, black, white, granite, and warm wood furnishings.

Dunwoody High School is undergoing a massive, and quite welcome, renovation ... while school goes on for students and teachers. Anyone who has lived through a home renovation knows the process is messy, deadlines are a moving target, and lots of things change midstream as hidden problems see the light of day. That's most definitely the case at DHS. The contractor has worked furiously all summer, but those gremlins have caused some delays in getting full access to the building's interior. Hence lots of trailers, a ridiculous parking plan that funnels students, faculty, and parents into a single entrance right at the intersection of Womack and Vermack, the football team roughing it in a single trailer (yuck), no access to the building until yesterday, and round-the-clock moving in this weekend. (My son and I are heading there shortly to pitch in with the move-in.)

We're trying to get things as settled as possible for tomorrow's Freshman Bridge, which will be the first time many 9th graders and their parents will step foot inside a high school. As well as for Monday, when everyone else heads to school.

Maybe what we need is a staging specialist. Someone who arrives with a 100+ crew to "makeover" the school by artfully arranging the cafeteria and classrooms and talks a kazillion companies to "brand" our school with new furniture, appliances, and high-tech storage solutions for all the gear and textooks that have been stuck in storage limbo all summer.

Wouldn't that be cool?

Well, we don't have a fancy staging agent, so parents and student volunteers will surge all over the school today and tomorrow to get things ready. I expect to be tired and sore this evening ... and really, really glad to see school start on Monday.

If we can only get to the school on Monday. Now that's a whole 'nother story.

4 comments:

  1. Despite the cancellation of Freshman bridge yesterday, my children had a great first day of school at DHS with just minor complaints, but happy to reacquaint with friends not seen since May. The traffic was horrendous this morning, but were we warned, so it was expected. I think most people just took a deep breath and said "ok, I'll deal with it".

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  2. My son said "it was a really rough day, but everyone had a rough day." Trouble with the sack lunches, mysterious schedules featuring Engineering (no teacher hired) and Ancient Chinese (what the heck?), teachers without rosters, and textbooks MIA. While it may take a week to get everything in order, we're optimistic that everything will settle down SOON. Esis does NOT like the block schedule.

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  3. My daughter was also assigned the Engineering class - my guess is because the Spanish VI class she signed up for did not materialize. Yes, she did mention there was no teacher for the class.

    Ah, Esis, yes, what a debacle.

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  4. Aha! She's the multi-oneth we've learned is in the Engineering holding pattern. I told our son to take a book to read because there will be no instruction in THAT class in the foreseeable future.

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