Guest blogger – Mike Parent

Justin Medved and Dennis Harter have done fabulous jobs this week as my guest

bloggers

. I appreciate their willingness to contribute to this community! My next guest will be Mike Parent. I asked Mike for a short

blurb about himself. Here’s what he sent me:

I’m married to a wonderfully supportive woman and I am the father of two boys

(our third son is due February 28), all of whom give my life purpose and

meaning.

Professionally, I’m an Assistant Principal and Supervisor for Music, World

Languages, and Special Education in a Bergen County, NJ high school. Primarily I

deal with discipline issues ranging from the mundane to the unbelievable,

however I also engross myself into curriculum issues and technology teaching to

keep my sanity. I truly enjoy my work; the students, my administrative

teammates, and my faculty are very supportive and a pleasure to share time

with.

I suppose anyone who has worked with me will call me a dreamer (sometimes in

the most derogatory sense of the word); I believe a radical and risky overhaul

of “the system” must occur if we want to keep public schooling relevant and

alive. In the most base terms, I dream of (and work toward) an equitable,

technology laden, intellectually rigorous, student-supportive, grade-free,

ranking-free, community-collaborative, team-based, and child-loving school

system. Call me crazy. I call me “Sisyphus.”

Very cool! Mike will be blogging next week (a little close to that due date, Mike?!) and I am lining up some other

guests on the calendar. If you’re interested in being a

guest blogger

, let me know!