Dean of Students?

I remember when Emma was in elementary school a few years ago  I attended a program where all members of the faculty and administration were introduced. I remember thinking to myself that it sure seems like a lot of administrative positions, for an elementary school.  Then I heard introduced the Dean of Students. Dean of Students, really? What could this guy possibly do all day long?

Admittedly, aside from being a student, I have never been in the education profession. Maybe a Dean of Students is a very good thing. Maybe a Dean of Students increases the chances of kids getting into a good college. Who knows? I grew up without a Dean of Students and I turned out ok. Uh oh, that sounds like cranky old man talk. Sorry.

I get that things are now way more complicated and that  maybe it isn’t fair to compare. But it got me to think about my elementary school, Lincoln Elementary, in Slatington, PA. It was a two story brick building. Before it was our elementary school it had been the junior high and before that Slatington High School. We had a principal, Mrs. Rex, who also taught third grade.  Yes, the principal had a full-time job as a teacher. There were one or two classes per grade, Kindergarten through sixth.

We had a gym teacher, a music teacher, and an art teacher. They rotated among the four district elementary schools. Outside was the metal playground equipment on black top surfaces. Ok, we know why a school nurse was necessary. Some years we had a school kitchen where we picked up our trays and brought them back to our rooms. By sixth grade we walked, in all kinds of weather, a short distance to the junior high to get our food.

It was a good time to be that age. It was a much simpler time. It was a time when a Dean of Students was nowhere to be found.