18/5/13 – Kinky Boots

This morning we set about the mundane tasks of washing and generally preparing for our next adventure, which starts tomorrow. I had, some weeks ago, been invited by Dr David Payton (a retired NY Schools Superintendent who is now the CEO of the NY Schools ‘Schools to Watch Program’) to attend a training program for ‘Schools to Watch’ assessors. The program is to be held at Longwood Middle School on Long Island This most interesting of innovations uses an essential elements rubric developed by Dr Payton by which middle schools in NY can review their practices and, if successful in meeting the standards as judged by a visiting panel of assessors, can become a listed ‘School to Watch’. This ‘status’ is now a federal project, with federal funding attached, and some three hundred schools across the country have been awarded membership.

But before I do the training to become an assessor, Peter and thought we may as well take a short holiday break in the Hamptons, the famous summer playground of the NY rich and famous. Before we left, however, we thought we’d treat ourselves to ‘Kinky Boots’ – a true story from the UK where a struggling shoe business decided to think out of the box and designed boots for ‘trannies’. Brilliant story, great show and the music by Cyndi Lauper was sensational!