The right stuff but the wrong results

John Yore lost his job as principal at Cape in the summer of 2010 and in 2011 lost his principal’s job at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Olney, Maryland.

John Yore was my good friend while he was at Cape and he will never shake loose from me. His wife Susan and children Gabrielle and John Robert they are all such nice people.

And so what do friends do when bad things happen to nice people who are their friends? Mostly what we do is nothing other than say dumb things like “sorry you are the last family that deserves to be unceremoniously tossed from a small boat in the middle of a vast ocean."

I always told my students, “just because you are right doesn’t guarantee that you will win. Sometimes the deck is stacked with the wrong face cards just ask Jesus he’ll tell you all about it.”

I know in my teaching career of 35 straight years in the classroom that certain administrators came gunning for me, one even saying, ’I know you have a lot of kids liking you and it’s obvious you think you’re cool but personally I don’t like your style.”

I responded by quoting Elton John, “Don’t go breaking my heart.” My strength in the business of education and people was “better than no one, good as anyone, no need to be liked by everyone, and not afraid to take the big loss.” And so I survived while apparently a truly nice man like John Yore of the highest Christian values, a man who visits staff and students if they end up in the hospital, a man who greets students at the door on their way into school, a man who comes out to all school activities, succumbs to the “too nice a guy to be in charge” rap?

Schools are encumbered and required to do all kinds of stupid stuff no one knows or cares about like spending countless hours evaluating one another but the truth is that the people business and education is all about face to face talents, that’s what matters most.

I am struggling with what has happened to the Yore family and I haven’t seen or talked to them in months. I wish I could help. I know locally the “friends of John Yore” Cape crowd would like to help as well. But we will shrug and do nothing, ironically schools are all about support systems for students but if you get tossed to the side of the road as an adult, mostly you are on your own.