Summer turns to fall...

Hard to believe we are just a few short weeks away from the beginning of the school year!  Where does the time go?  Every summer I go through a similar pattern:

• May - Religious School ends, I frantically finish everything from the previous school year so that the summer months can be spent visioning and preparing for the following year. 
• June - "I have so much time on my hands!"  Haha, right.  I always think that the summer is long and I'll be able to get to all the things that I put off during the school year - clean my office, read the books that have piled up on my desk, spend a lot of one-on-one time with congregants, etc.  However, I start to work on the tachlis (logistical details) of the year to come, as well as visioning & curriculum development, and before I know it, it's...
• July - This month is the meat of my summer.  Other than taking a short vacation, I usually spend July working on teacher contracts, curriculum development, and adult education.  This is also the time I attend workshops, conferences, and generally have conversations that help me to plan out the 'big picture' of Religious School for the upcoming year.
• August - "WHERE DID THE SUMMER GO?"  This is usually my refrain for the month of August, as I become swamped with the details of getting our program up and running by September - finalizing enrollment #s and teacher assignments, ordering books/supplies, assigning classroom spaces, creating and mailing class placement letters, planning and leading a faculty retreat, recruiting and training teen TA's, preparing details for the year-long calendar, developing and working with teams of lay leaders, and of course, working with teachers to plan their programs.  It's a very busy month, and it always flies by.  We also have Camp Kefli in August at Temple Isaiah (which I try to attend here and there), and in some years, the High Holy Days creep up as well.  Then all of a sudden it's...
• September - Back to school!

Hopefully this little overview gives you a sense of what I usually do all summer.  I'm guessing that some people wonder what rabbis and educators do all summer long when families go on vacation and kids go to camp, when Religious School is out of session and our regular cycle of programming is quieter than usual.  For me, summer is a wonderful time to get things done in the office, continue to build relationships with teachers, colleagues, and parents, and do the visioning that can sometimes get muddled during the year. 

Now here comes the school year....!!