Why the Best Schools are Party Schools!

I’ll never forget my first experience working at a parent-teacher conference as a young 22-year-old public school teacher in Minnesota.  It wasn’t the conversations with parents or students that I remember but one seemingly simple event in the evening…dinner.  At this school there was a break for 45 minutes for teachers to eat dinner together in the cafeteria.  What a nice idea, right?

At this particular school we had class all day, and then conferences started immediately after school and end at 9:00 pm–for two days in a row.  For the average teacher this was two 14-hour days in a row.  So a little time to break bread with colleagues could be a nice treat.  In fact, the administrators were even serving the teachers, which was a nice touch.

It maybe sad to think, but most schools no longer serve the rectangle variety of pizza from our childhood.

When I arrived at the cafeteria a cue had already begun to wrap around and zig-zag through the folding lunch room tables.  Teachers either stood silently saving their energy for another 3-hours of conferences or were busy debriefing on this-or-that parent.  Tonight’s meal coordinated by the school was take out from a local pizza chain.

It wasn’t until I reached the table where the administrators were serving the pizza that I noticed what was really going on.  Yes, there was pizza, and yes it was being served by administrators, but at a price…$5 for two slices.  Truthfully, it might as well been $100 or $1 for that matter.  It didn’t matter what they charged, the fact that the school was charging teachers for the pizza was what really stung.  After all, the teachers were working extra long hours, away from family in order to be there.

I mention this story because it’s these seemingly small and mundane events that set a particular tone for teachers and school.  I assume the school district believed it couldn’t afford to pay for the pizza, but even if this was true, it would have been mentally much easier to digest a coordinated potluck, or brown bag gala, then to charge the teachers.

Flash forward to today (actually yesterday) and it’s a completely different story.  Yesterday, was the last day of school before Christmas break and as usual at Punahou, the President of the school hosted an after school Pau Hana (Hawaiian for after work party) at his house on campus.  All the faculty and staff are invited to the event (that’s up too 500 people), which always includes an open bar and lots of food.  Yesterday’s menu included roasted prime rib, a deli sandwich bar, fresh poke bowls, lots of dessert, and lechon (a whole roasted pig).

I get that this ain’t everybody’s picture of deliciousness, but for most of the Pacific Rim, this bad boy is king!

This is just one of the three or four similar styled events held each year to honor the faculty and staff for their hard work.  I know for most public school communities this is not the culture, but this is one of the reasons I absolutely love working in a private school.  Although Punahou’s spread is quite impressive it’s not the quality of the food that matters as much as the fact that the school invests in celebrating with its teachers, and picks up the tab too.  At my last school the food wasn’t quite as impressive as we see at Punahou, but it was still pretty great, and the party went a long way to bring us together as a community.

How does your school celebrate the hard work in your community?  Or is this missing?  Why?  How could “pressing the party button” help change your school’s culture?

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Andy Aldrich is father, husband, educator and the founder of Learn[ed]Leadership. In addition to constantly mumbling to himself about the future of education he stays busy as a school administrator at Punahou School in Honolulu, HI.