Even though there has been only 2 players at the AIME, there was no USAMO for either of the two girls to play in; they both narrowly miss the threshold to qualify for it. However, it was a bittersweet victory. By the end of February, with mixed feelings, he turns on the PA system.
"Good morning, today, we bear good and bad news about our team as it relates to our performance on the AIME. The good news is the school's record on the AIME was broken this year; the best two scores in school history on this competition were obtained by our two participants who both scored a ten. The bad news is they are both eliminated and thus cannot write the USAMO" Glen announces to the student body, referring to Éliane and Gen.
Which means the only hopes we have left for mathletics lie on the SRA final. While the SRA's prizes haven't been finalized, and the organizers made the prizes a surprise, this means the mathletes in AP Calculus BC will focus on the SRA in full, Glen reflects on what their elimination at the AIME means for the VAs' mathletic season. Winning the SRA final will only have a local significance, or maybe parish-wide, but no more than that. Hopefully Gen will make it to the USAMO next year.
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Fast forward to a few days before the state's administration of the ACT, in March, Glen prepares his announcement for the principal for a day, now that the paperwork to host it has cleared through the parish.
"Good morning, Venomous Agendas: today is the draw for the principal for a day raffle. All students in good standing are automatically entered and then have the opportunity to decline if they win" Glen announces in the PA system. "Here it means eligible students have no infractions and they pass all their courses. Without further ado, let the draw begin for the principal for a day (or PFAD) to assume office on April fourth!"
It would be all too tempting for a PFAD with either infractions or failing academic records to use it to cook the books, which is why I made it clear what I meant by good standing, Glen muses while he begins the draw.
"And the winner is..." he then rolls the drum, and says the name of the first winner. "Please come to the principal's office!"
Several less than enthusiastic raffle winners later, all of whom declined, the teachers start being a little annoyed by the principal's raffle because they feel like it's cutting into instructional time. Some students, on the other hand, use it as an opportunity to relax.
"After eight unsuccessful draws, let's hope the ninth draw will be the right one!" he starts sweating while the next name comes up during the drum roll. "The winner is... Catalena Coradines! Please come to the principal's office to decide whether to collect your prize!"
Or more accurately, decide whether to take Glen up on an offer made when the SRA results are announced. When Catalena arrives at his office to decide:
"Of course I accept!"
"We're going to need not only your signature on this form, but also your parents' signature" Glen then hands the form to her, before turning to the PA system, knowing that people want this circus to end. "And we finally have a willing winner!"
Catalena enters her personal information on the form while Glen dials the parent listed as the emergency contact. Her mother.
"Hi; this is the principal. I am calling regarding your daughter, she won a school-wide raffle and we need to make sure that you're aware of what the prize is" Glen tells Catalena's mother.
"What's the prize?" a puzzled mother asks him about the so-called prize.
"Your daughter won principal for a day"
"Wait a minute: are you sure it's wise to give that much responsibility to a student for a day?"
There's only so much they can do in a day to affect the school. I am not worried about Catalena. But it's because of the size of the responsibility that the other kids declined, Glen ponders the implications of the remarks from Catalena's mother. Knowing her, she'd probably want to get the theater department some money. Right now, the fall and spring plays bring in about $4 per ticket, and 300 tickets for each.
"I understand your concern but I assure you that it will be an educational experience of leadership that your daughter will cherish for a while, or curse, depending on what she's doing on the designated day" Glen pretends to explain what's in it for her daughter.
"When is the designated day?" Catalena's mom asks him.
"April fourth"
"Fine, I get it, I will let my daughter do it!" a frustrated mom sighs, hoping it won't interfere with the ACT.
While I may need to study for the ACT, the same as everyone else, I need to have an idea of what I want to do on April 4, Catalena muses while she returns to her classroom, with a form to have her parents sign.
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Come April 4, one of the traditions of the school, in which honor students get to disclose their college attendance decisions if so they choose, gets underway before school. The first student to come in what is, for the day, Catalena's office (it's normally Glen's) is Dexter, and Julie shortly after. Also, until classes start, Glen monitors the halls so that he can more effectively discipline the students.
"Even though not that many in this year's graduating class will go on to college, each eligible student has ten seconds to say where they plan on attending or, at least, where they are accepted" Catalena lays out the rules of this exercise.
"My name is Dexter and I got into Tulane in early decision" Dexter speaks into the PA system before the others get a chance to speak.
Then come other kids, most of whom mostly stick to in-state colleges. Like Julie at LSU. But there comes another one, apparently a mathlete at the SRA final. After he told his name:
"I can't seem to decide between Baylor and Florida; however, I already ruled out Wisconsin" a mathlete at the Square Root of the Answer final then takes his turn before the bell rings.
Speaking of the bell, Catalena spent the time the students had to disclose their college decisions, if any, to change the bell tones. The 5-minute signal she installed sounds like a scream, almost as aggressive-sounding as an air raid siren. And also making it clear that students have 5 minutes to come to class.
Once the first period starts, Catalena wastes no time combing through the school's financial records in search of areas of savings that could help the school free up money for things such as the theater department.
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Excessive spending on professional development was the main culprit her then-geometry teacher identified last year, but any savings that could be realized would likely affect the VAs only for the next year. Another area that seems worthy of questioning is, somehow, the cost of substitute teachers. She then starts by questioning the secretary about the cost of substitute teachers:
"For some reason, it seems like we paid a lot in substitute teachers this year. Any reason why? I don't claim to know the main reasons, but still" Catalena asks the secretary.
"If you look at when that money was spent, the bulk of the money spent on substitutes was spent in the first half of the year. To this, I'd say that some of what you feel is abnormal spending is due to the pandemic, albeit we were at the tail end of it by then. There will always be a luck factor for the use of substitutes" the secretary answers her.
"Forgive me since I'm normally a student, and everything I knew of high school was affected by the pandemic, but suppose that next year's use of substitute teachers returns to pre-pandemic levels. How much would we save?" she asks the secretary.
The secretary would then explain budget forecasting to Catalena, since her question only covered what the secretary deemed to be one of the main two assumptions. The other main assumption is the increase in the hourly rate. And, of course, how budget forecasting can be done using at most Algebra II material, and maybe even just Algebra I.
"The cost of substitutes is mostly incurred in the form of salaries, so you're right that, in a first approximation, and keep in mind it's just an approximation, it's simply number of hours worked times hourly rate. You might want to learn what goes into the hourly rate beyond the take-home pay on one's paycheck, so if the cost of substitutes go down to pre-pandemic levels, on average five percent of the teacher hours are used on substitutes" the secretary then goes on to explain to her.
If only 5% of the teacher hours require substitutes, under pre-pandemic conditions, but the hourly rate of substitutes go up by 5%, what does that leave Catalena with for an estimated cost of substitutes? As she works out the estimate, she can then have a better understanding of how much money there is to budget for substitutes. Once that estimate is done, she then proceeds to email the estimate to Glen so that he can keep a copy of the estimate for future use.
We may then use the savings to replace old light bulbs by LED bulbs whenever feasible, as well as fund extracurriculars better, like the theater department or band, she muses while she finishes writing her memo to the actual principal. I know I mustn't use the kids as proverbial cards in a poker hand. In fact since I only have today in office, I may as well use lunchtime to hold a meeting with the Algebra instructors: I have an idea for them in future years. If pre-calculus already includes some elements of financial literacy, as far as I heard from people in it...
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Meanwhile, Glen wonders if Catalena plans on doing radical changes in how things are going to be at school, while he patrols the halls. And catches a kid being absent from class but still on campus. Probably one of those kids who snuck out of a substitute-taught class.
"What's going on here?" Glen asks the truant student wandering the halls, sensing something is wrong.
"The substitute is making me stress out!" the truant student answers him, bursting in tears.
"Your hall pass please..."
When the truant student fails to provide the hall pass, the principal goes straight to the class that substitute is teaching. Upon arrival in the classroom, he sees paper planes flying all over the place but with the class split in two, launching the paper aircraft at each other.
"What is the meaning of this?" Glen asks the substitute teacher.
"This is Midway; one side of the class is playing as the Imperial Japanese Navy and the other as the US Navy, throwing paper planes at each other" the substitute teacher explains to the titular principal.
Glen then turns to the stressed-out truant student. "On which side were you?"
"Japanese" the truant student answers the principal.
Let me guess, she was playing as the captain of one of the four Japanese aircraft carriers sunk at Midway, Glen secretly guesses about what made the truant student leave the class. What is for sure, however, is that it's not like a traditional short-term substitute experience.
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When lunchtime runs around, however, Catalena has all the Algebra I and II instructors gathered in the faculty room to address an instructional topic that she feels is very important to her.
"I'm Catalena; you might know me as the lead actress of the upcoming spring play. But there's a reason why I am holding this meeting today, as principal for the day: I want to address a longstanding complaint against the instruction made by the alums" Catalena prefaces the start of the meeting.
"What longstanding complaint?" an Algebra I teacher asks her.
"So many in the local community feel like they can't do their taxes or make their budgets and blame their math teachers for this. What I propose is that teaching budgeting should be used as a review activity for Algebra I, and taxation for Algebra II. For the latter, I want all Algebra II sections to have an introduction to tax returns at a level appropriate for students with summer jobs by April fifteenth" Catalena then makes her proposal as outlined in the memo sent to the teachers of these courses.
"Good idea; however, please be advised that people do their taxes on software these days" an Algebra II teacher points out.
"That software runs on forms so students must be given the forms. Plus students must be taught both the federal and state taxation, as there are stuff that differs beyond rates and brackets. It's a bit much to cover until April fifteenth" the other Algebra II teacher adds.
"The real principal started integrating financial literacy into math courses, but pre-calculus was the first step. I have a few sections of both Algebra I and pre-calculus, there was so much going on with the curriculum redesign last year that something had to slip through the cracks and these two items were part of that" an Algebra I teacher comments on the absence of budgeting and taxation in the curriculum. "However I think budgeting is fairly minor so it should be implemented in Algebra I without too much trouble"
The question is: would introducing this real-world use of the material helpful to get the students motivated about the material? I might be a little naive, then again I am not sure, I am not an expert, Catalena muses while the teachers are figuring out the logistics of incorporating budgeting and taxation into the Algebra courses.
"So can we all agree that it doesn't require new textbooks? We already spent a lot of money on textbooks this year, we don't want new textbooks next year because it would be a waste of money" the other Algebra I teacher comments on the budgetary implications.
"Taxation is not standard Algebra II material so, at a minimum, the IRS guides on W-2 and Form 1040 should be given out to students in electronic format, and their state equivalents" Catalena's Algebra II teacher retorts.
Yet the choice my student made of a deadline is very on-point. She gave us the same deadline as for people to file tax returns. However, April 15 is on a Saturday, in which case the real deadline is actually April 17. After all, it is spring break here, Catalena's Algebra II teacher reflects on this proposal.
"Everyone, April fifteenth is on a Saturday. So the deadline is on the following Monday, and not everyone in either course is going to have it on Monday" that teacher continues, when Glen opens the door of the faculty room, in the middle of the meeting.
"What's going on here?" an oblivious Glen asks the 4 math teachers in a meeting with Catalena.
"I asked the Algebra I and II teachers to prepare a lesson on budgeting and taxation respectively by April fifteenth" the PFAD answers the titular principal's question.
"You may as well add in comparison shopping and bill payment for the budgeting part" Glen makes another suggestion.
Catalena took this role way more seriously than I would have expected out of a student PFAD. Students thrust in a PFAD role would usually limit themselves to discipline and organizing special events, such as a uniform-free day, Glen reflects on how Catalena seems to treat her role for the day.
"I guess, these requests would be more likely to engage the parents than the kids themselves. Yes, parents do have a role to play in their kids' education, yes, parents would rather have us teach things that are relevant to the kids' future lives, especially since I have a teenage mom in one of my Algebra II sections" Catalena's math teacher then sighs. "Better this than not showing real-world uses of material!"
I think I know who the teenage mom is, but I never interacted much with her. And not simply because she wasn't in any of my courses. Motherhood left her very little time to ask for help, Catalena gets parasitic thoughts upon her teacher mentioning the teenage mom.
"And add filing status, too!" the other Algebra II teacher shouts after the teenage mom was brought up.
"That's as far as I am willing to go for teaching taxation without unduly interfering with the rest of the material" Catalena then draws the proverbial line.
"You seem to get into your role as a principal a little too much..." an Algebra I teacher scolds the PFAD as the lunch bell rings.