AH. The end of the year brunch at the Lafayette Club. Love it, or love to hate it, everyone has an opinion. It seems crazy to spend so much time and effort (not to mention the money) on what is really just a big ol’ party, but there is something about this event that resonates with OEA members.
Personally speaking, I have had years where I just didn’t go, and my closest colleagues didn’t go, either. Eventually I grew out of that phase, and even chaired the brunch for a few years.
Whatever the reasons, there has always been a percentage of teachers who have not attended. Some of these people talk to me about it. I began to think that maybe holding the brunch someplace closer, maybe on campus, would increase teacher attendance. But before I messed with anything, I needed to know what people were really thinking. So, we took a survey. And the results are interesting.
The first thing that struck me is that the number of teachers that don’t attend the brunch (about 50) is about the same number of people who didn’t return a survey—I sure hope it’s not the same 50.
Of those who completed the survey, 103 said, that YES, they usually attend the brunch. 39 said they usually don’t.
Of the yeses, 67% said they would go to the brunch no matter where it was. Their comments underscored the importance of celebrating our retirees, and having closure to the end of the year. The remainder of the yeses said that it is important to have the brunch at the Lafayette. Their written comments indicated that they think the Lafayette is a swanky joint, and is the perfect place for this event (Yes, those are my words, and not a direct quote).
The no’s were a bit more surprising. Surprising because when people complain to me about the brunch, they mention being uncomfortable at the Lafayette, and the whole country club thing. They talk about the hours they could be spending in their classrooms. But survey results say that the number one reason people don’t attend the brunch is because it’s on the last day. There just isn’t enough time on that day. The amount of work waiting for a teacher, and with the general stress of the day, the better choice seems to be to stay in the classroom. The length of the celebration was a secondary issue, mostly the unpredictability it: some years it’s an hour and a half, some years it’s a looong three hour stretch.
There were a few people who couldn’t bring themselves to check yes or no. The number one comment from this group was that they attend the brunch when someone they know is retiring. After considering the results, the work involved in moving it, and the importance of the location to a reasonably vocal group, here are the solutions we are taking this year. At this point, we can’t change the date. For next year, we will consider moving the brunch to the April workshop day. On the up side, it removes the last-day-of-the-year stress, but the down side is that it is rather anti-climatic to say good bye to a retiree, and then work with them for 6 more weeks. On her side of things, Dr. Orcutt will explore returning that last day of students to a half day, so by the time of the brunch the next day, everyone would have had some time just for working in their classrooms.
We are also going to construct a two hour ceremony. No matter the number of honorees, we’re going for a maximum of two hours. The amount of speaking time will be divided by the number of retirees. We will use “musical cues” (ala the Oscars) to remind speakers that their time is up.
We will use the short busses to run a shuttle to the club and back, easing driving and parking.
Everything else about it will stay the same. Although I did have someone ask if the bacon could be crisper. We’ll get right on that.
If you are interested in the actual survey results and comments, click here.