'Twas the night before the New Year, and throughout FLVS
Not a teacher was stirring, it was the holiday “recess”.
Graded assignments were all posted to Educator with care,
In hopes that wayward students would soon find them there.
My wife was in bed while the kids watched TV,
None of them remembered the last time they’d seen me.
Then my eyes glazed over, my brain was not keen,
From weekends and nights spent staring at the screen.

When down in the basement there arose such a clatter,
I sprung to the stairs to see what was the matter.
Away to my office I flew like a flash,
Tore open the door fearing a nasty computer crash!
The overhead light shown on the monitor below,
Giving the luster of mid-day to the icons in a row.
When, what to my bleary eyes should appear making me laugh,
But a virtual sleigh … pulled by eight FLVS staff.
With a tireless, petite driver, who never comes unstrung,
I knew in a moment it must be Julie Young!
More rapid than emails her staff members came,
And she whistled, and shouted, and called them by name.
“Now, BIRTOLO! now, DEPALMA! now, PERKINS and GREGORY!
On, MARCHMAN! on, SMITH! On, JENSEN and MURPHY!”
Keep things running through the Spring and the Fall,
Now dash away! dash away! dash away y’all!"
Reflecting on our history I began to realize,
That FLVS strategies were really quite wise.
To a hundred thousand students we’re projected to grow,
And maybe a bazillion…in a decade or so.
From the hand-full that originally fit in one elevator car,
FLVS has clearly exceeded all expectations by far.
As enrollments, franchises and Global Services expand,
The staff has grown annually to meet the demand.

The number of National Board teachers stands at over 90 to date,
While the staff creates FLVS babies at an alarmingly fast rate!
Yes change is a constant in our virtual school,
And market forces demand that we often re-tool.

Changing education one student at a time is a lofty pursuit,
And failure to achieve it just does not compute.
Quantum Learning and 21st Century Skills are innovations we employ,
And co-teaching is a model we’ve learned to enjoy.
These thoughts swirled around, but had I merely been dreaming,
Or had my subconscious simply been scheming?
Then I remembered I had more phone calls to return,
In order to be sure my yearly credits to earn.
I reached out my hand to commence nightly calling,
And those nagging red dates in VSA soon began falling.
The Classroom Assigned numbers began also to descend,
But it was well past 8, so further calls had to end.
.
My attention soon turned to course updates to complete,
Instructions to revise and broken links to delete.
So I spoke not a word, but went straight to Dreamweaver,
And worked into the night in an inspirational fever.
As I completed my revisions and replicated my work,
The monitor momentarily flickered then started to jerk.
The modem lights dimmed but maintained a secure link,
And I awoke from what must have been a dream, I think.
With trepidation I logged on to my course’s web site,
Found my revisions intact, what a wonderful delight!
Students began commenting on the changes I’d made,
Hopefully their percentages will improve a whole letter grade!
Podcasts and blogs increased student collaboration,
And those new Flash enhancements caused quite a sensation.
Assessments confirmed that students were doing much better,
Maybe they’ll get back on pace without a No Contact Letter.

Suddenly from my chair I leaped with a bound,
As from the computer came a startling sight and sound.
I heard the staff exclaim, as the sleigh vanished from sight,
”Happy New Year to all, and to all a good-night!”