Georgia on My Mind

For those of you who don't know what I do for a living; let me take a brief aside to explain my current career. I am employed by the nation's largest provider of special need and alternative education. My company works with children who suffer from disorders along the Autism Spectrum, struggle with more traditional learning disabilities, and have just run out of options available through their district. I work for the division that contracts with local school districts to help them with their "at-risk" population. An at-risk student can meet on of an endless list of criteria to be considered so. The majority of the students that we work with are credit deficient due to low skill levels. Our main goal is to get these kids up to speed and help them earn their diploma. I worked for 4 and a half years in a couple of our centers; both as a teacher and as a center director. It is by in far one of the most rewarding endeavors I have ever taken on.

I currently work for the Center Development department of said division. I have a snazzy job title that sounds very educational based, but the long and short of it is that I am a project manager. I am in charge of a center from the time the district signs a contract with us through roughly the first month of school. I am responsible for all aspects of opening a center. Other people have responsibilities to the center as well, but it is my job to make sure that their work is done or pick up the slack. Officially I am responsible for the entirety of the East Coast; but what that really means is Georgia.

As of right now we are opening 15 new centers in 9 new markets for the 2008-2009 school year. While others are glad-handing and dislocating shoulders patting themselves on the back; I am in full on freak out mode. I know that freaking out is counterproductive but it appears to be the right thing to do. I know that I am going to have help; probably both varieties, actual help and the help that seems to not help at all. However, at the end of the day I am responsible for it all.

A co-worker of mine informed me that this was a marathon, not a sprint...well meaning words but totally wrong. This isn't a marathon; this is an ultra-marathon, one of those races with no end in sight.