Years ago, when I was a Junior High art teacher in up-state New York, early in the year, I realized that the principal was putting up a different display each month on the bulletin board in the hallway at the main entrance to the school. I hadn't given much thought to who was decorating that bulletin board until I saw him struggling one day to pin some stuff up. I asked him if he would like me to take over doing the monthly display. I had worked in the library at Ball State for three years to subsidize my college income, and my job for the entire three years was to created bulletin board packages that teachers could check out and use in their classrooms, so putting together one display a month was really not a great challenge. He was delighted to accept my offer. I learned some things along the way. For instance you do not put a white Star of David on a green background. In keeping with the Holiday tree in the entry and the heavy emphasis on both Jewish and Christian traditions in December, (our school population was about 50/50) I had made a bulletin board with a green background, white Star of David, and over that a wreath. I thought it looked great, till my good friend Sam, the science teacher who happened to be Jewish, told me kindly that I needed a blue background. I was able to make the change before many people saw it so all was well. But since we are in March, I was reminded of my March bulletin board, one of my favorites. It said Forward March across the top, Welcome Spring at the bottom, and featured a colorful toy soldier marching across the middle. I thought it was cute. As I was leaving one afternoon, I saw my principal taking a picture of it. I asked him if he like that one particularly and he said yes but he also said he had been taking pictures of them all year, just in case he ever had to do them again. High praise indeed, and a happy March memory.
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