How Long is a Moment?

Last night Board Chair James Shadd gave the public (and the board) fair warning of what is ahead during this school year of 2020-2021. He announced that he had appointed (Trustee-elect) Amelia McKie to handle the assignments of inspirational moments.

I immediately wondered why he would pass off such an important duty. Selection of who gives the inspirational moment can set the tone of the meeting. The Chair should set the tone.

Then, rather than merely introducing the speaker, McKie launched into a three-minute introduction of what was supposed to be an "Inspiration Moment". I expected McKie to end with, "And now I present to you, the next president of the United States".

While last night's speaker had accomplished much, she wasn't receiving an award from Richland 2. She was to give an inspiration moment.

One explanation of "moment" on the internet is:

"The length of a solar hour depended on the length of the day, which in turn varied with the season, so the length of a moment in modern seconds was not fixed, but on average, a moment corresponds to 90 seconds"

I recall writing about a lengthy inspirational moment that occurred on March 26, 2019. When I asked the District office recently (and I had a reason for asking) who had been the speaker, several staff members put their heads together and decided there had not been one - only a moment of silence. I knew that hadn't been the case, because I sat to the right and just behind the speaker. She had a soft voice and could not be heard in the room, and her "inspirational moment" went on and on. And I had written a blogpost about that the next day.

For perhaps the only time in history, the first portion of that meeting, through an error on someone's part, was not recorded.

But, back to "moment". The inspirational moment should be just that - a moment. It should be brief and direct. But perhaps that's too much to expect from educators.

Hopefully, James Shadd will tell Amelia McKie to do two things -

1. Keep her own introduction short; the speaker's C.V. is not needed; and
2. Tell the speaker she has 90 seconds.