At our opening of school meeting last week, I talked about the importance of retuning ourselves. After a summer away, every school has to find its rhythm again. Returning students settle back into familiar routines. New students begin to learn not only where to go and what to do, but also the tone and tune of a school community.
For me, there is one sound that tells me Crossroads Academy is back.
It’s the quiet, steady hum of the rock tumbler in the First Grade classroom.
Every year, without fail, it begins again. Before long, that gentle rumble drifts through the Klee Building. It isn’t loud. In fact, you can almost forget it’s there—until you notice how comforting it is. Like the ticking of an old clock or that sound of pellets dropping into a wood stove, it reminds you that everything is working just as it should.
There is something wonderfully symbolic about it.
Inside that tumbler, rough stones are slowly becoming smooth through patience, consistency, and time. There are no shortcuts. Day after day, the process continues, almost unnoticed, until the transformation is complete.
Schools work much the same way.
The daily practice of Core Knowledge fills our students’ minds with the shared knowledge they will carry for a lifetime. The daily practice of Core Virtues shapes their character through thousands of small moments of kindness, perseverance, respect, responsibility, and self-control. The changes aren’t dramatic from one day to the next. But over months and years, they are profound.
As I walked through the building this week, I heard that familiar hum once again. It reminded me that Crossroads is back in tune. The rhythms have returned. The work has begun.
And somehow, that simple sound makes me smile every year.
