Leave

 Taking a sabbatical. That sounds nice, doesn't it? While mired in a life full of family, career and life expectations that are sometimes difficult to meet, take a break. For a month or two. Maybe a year. Whatever it takes to get your hash settled so that you can come back to your job feeling refreshed and ready to take on those challenges that made the wish for what comes next. 

Tom Brady, once and future quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers just did that for a couple weeks. Far from being the busiest time of the year, Tommy Touchdown left training camp in the second week of August, missing the first two of three preseason games. His coach insisted, “Tom has been excused today. He’ll be taking—he’ll be back somewhere around after Tennessee. He’s going to deal with some personal things.” He'll play in what is a formality of the last of the tune-ups before the games start to count. Will any of his teammates who had to suffer through all the practices, preparation and collisions that occurred during those trying weeks in their leader's absence? Time will tell. And speaking of time, it is important to keep in mind that at the ripe old age of forty-five, after twenty seasons of professional football he might just have this quarterback thing down. He decided to come out of a self-imposed retirement to play "one more" year. Everyone should be grateful, right?

If he wins another Super Bowl. Then this might become standard practice, or lack thereof. 

Meanwhile, back here in the Oakland Unified School District, the financially strapped and always challenging organization for which I work, our Superintendent is taking a three month sabbatical. A three month sabbatical that happens to coincide with the beginning of this school year. As OUSD continues to find its financial footing, with the plan to close schools, and a global pandemic that has not "just gone away," the School Board has sent Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell off on some good old fashioned paid time off. The board states that this break is necessary to keep her from being burned out by the pressures that inherent with the job. They want to make sure that she will come back invigorated and enthused to meet the rest of her contract. The one the board just extended through June of 2025. The hope, according to the Board, is to increase "leadership stability." And you may wonder if this wish for stability extends beyond the Superintendent. 

Meanwhile, the board plans to close down our school. The substitute Superintendent, who is receiving a bump in pay to take on the extra responsibilities, probably won't have much to say on that matter. As long as we end up winning another Super Bowl.