Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Yearbook Blues

What do you do when they simply do NOT do the work?

I mean, seriously. Our rep from the publisher had the idiocy to say that it's not my responsibility to make sure the pages get done. Really? If the buck honest-to-goodness stops with the students, not with me, then why is she wasting her time talking to me about deadlines?

I'm SO disheartened. I'm getting newsletter-fliers that say "here's some tips for selling yearbooks to that last 10% of the students at your school, because we're so sure you've already sold to 90% of the student body. We're at about 30% right now.

THIRTY PERCENT.

Our ad sales aren't much better.

At what point do I just say "F*** it!" and ask for an extra planning period and just do the whole damn thing myself?

3 comments:

HappyChyck said...

When they don't do the work? That instigates a tantrum for me...But there are times when I just have to do it myself. As the adviser of the middle school book, there is a lot I have to do myself--especially since I don't have many returnees each year who know what's going on.

The buck should stop with the students, but in the end, the admin and students will look to you. If the students don't want to pitch in, then the book need not be fancy. Make it functional and call it a day.

And chin up. Yearbook is a hard gig!

Clix said...

I know.

*sigh*

It's just haaaard for me to know where to draw the line. Just how much (or how little? *g*) is acceptable as "functional" and how much is just... unusable?

This is my THIRD YEAR, and I'm still having difficulty making that decision.

Anonymous said...

I've been doing the gig for 14 years. Every group of kids is different and you have to find ways to motivate them or get rid of them. Kicking a few staffers to the curb or giving them an F in an "easy" class like yearbook often motivates the rest.

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