Professor's Meeting 2046

Katherine Alicastell

Katherine Alicastell

Former Headmistress
Messages
1,971
OOC First Name
Jesse
Blood Status
Mixed Blood
Relationship Status
Divorced
Sexual Orientation
Heterosexual
Wand
Straight 9 ½ Inch Rigid Chestnut Wand with Unicorn Tail Hair Core
Age
October 1988 (67)
It seemed as if every year called for a rehiring of one staff position or another, although thankfully there appeared to be no end to the supply of witches and wizards qualified to teach at the school. Katherine had prepared the common room for a start of the year meeting, in order to introduce a few of the new faces among them, and to go over general information and suggestions. The house elves had brought up a plate of tea sandwiches for anyone feeling peckish, to have either before or after the meeting officially began. There wasn't too much that needed to be said, so the Headmistress expected it to be brief, unless any of the others attending had any concerns they wished to raise. Seated in one of the common room's armchairs, Katherine spared a glance at the clock on the wall, expecting her staff to start arriving at any minute so they could get underway. With the start of a new year, the woman had a lot of work left to do that she needed to get back to.
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The holidays had been exactly what Kahurangi needed. She took a step back from everything stressing her at work and spent the time staying with her parents. Mum's garden was as beautiful as ever, and Kahurangi felt like a teenager again, spending hours planting and weeding and tending in the greenhouses, singing and chatting with Mum, and listening as Mum explained the usefulness of all the different plants. Kahurangi had heard it all a thousand times, could probably recite the uses of everything Mum grew from memory, but it was soothing, healing for her soul after the nightmare that had been the Boggart encounter. It had taken a long time reassuring herself that Mum and Dad were just fine to scrub the memory of their dead bodies from her dreams, but Kahurangi felt refreshed and renewed, a spring in her step as she made her way into the Professors meeting. She was a little surprised to find herself the first person there, giving Katherine a pleasant smile as she took her seat. "Nice to see you again, Katherine. Enjoyed the holiday?" Kahurangi had made about as much conversation with her boss as she had with most of her colleagues, which was to say not a great deal at all, but the holiday had filled her with energy and cheer, and she felt more sociable than usual, after weeks of constant conversation with her parents.
 
Professor Layton had enjoyed her holidays with her friends, but she was definitely glad to have returned to Hogwarts for her second year. She was most excited to be able to see her sixth and seventh years, to see how much they'd progressed since she'd last seen them, although she would also be taking the fifth years under her wing from Monty. Walking into the Professors meeting she looked around for the man, although no doubt he had many more important things to be doing this year as Deputy Head. With a smile in Professor Alicastells direction, and went to find herself a seat, glad to get one before the room became crowded with other staff members. Olive had had a reasonably busy holiday herself, settling into her new flat with Leda in New Zealand, but now that they were set up properly it would be much easier to go back there during the holidays.
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Monty entered the professor's common room quietly and found himself a seat, feeling slightly less sociable than usual on account of the fact he knew he was going to have to concentrate. If ever Katherine was unavailable, or simply needed to share her responsibilities, the task of holding the professor's meeting would fall upon him, and he was keen to be prepared for this possibility. Speaking in front of a classroom full of students, whose respect he felt qualified to command, was one thing; speaking to a room full of professors was quite another. A few of them had been working at the school longer than he had, and he was sure he hadn't quite reclaimed everybody's respect since his illness last year. He smiled at the others present, but didn't make much conversation, hoping they wouldn't call him up on his reticence. Sometimes, he just needed to be quiet.
 
Sarah moved into the Professor's Common Room with ease. She was feeling more and more comfortable at the school as each year passed, this should be her second full year at the school and more and more she was feeling accustomed to the schedules and politics of boarding school life. Her eldest daughter was now a second year in Hufflepuff, much to her father's joy. Sarah had been a Ravenclaw on the other side, but did see that having a Hufflepuff for a daughter was a good thing. Though all the houses were unique with each of their traits, she wouldn't mind their second daughter being in any of the houses, but she would be happy if she was placed into Ravenclaw, knowing at least one of their children tended to be more like herself. Her niece was a Hufflepuff and already a sixth year, when she first started teaching here the girl was just a fourth year, time seemed to be flying by faster as each year progressed. She smiled to Monty, he seemed to be a very friend to have at the school. She took a seat and waited for another she knew to enter into the room.
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The last thing Jon wanted was to arrive late to the first professors' meeting he was attending as a head of house and cause everyone to question his reliability, so he made sure to show up promptly, walking in to the room with a bright smile on his face. He was relieved to see that while he was not the last professor to arrive, he was not the first to arrive either which meant his timing was perfect and he did not have to worry at all. Smiling still, Jon moved to sit with Olive when he spotted her, greeting her with a quick "Hey" before turning his attention to Headmistress Alicastell while he waited for the meeting to begin. He wondered if there would be a few new professors that needed introductions as that was the norm for the beginning of most years.​
 
Professor Kingsley took a seat, a small smile and a quick greeting for her colleagues. The break had been a rough one, far too many things happening for it to be considered pleasant or relaxing. But she was back at work now, and she knew the students deserved more than a distracted Head of House. Cyndi didn't particularly love the start of year meeting, but she didn't really like any kind of meetings, finding them boring to attend. Hoping this was a short meeting as the past few had been, Professor Kingsley waited for the others to arrive so it could get underway.
 
Sylvia made her way rapidly toward the professor's common room, although she didn't break into a more harried pace that would give someone the impression she was afraid to be late. She preferred to be punctual, if not early, to all gatherings, and she had planned her time to arrive well in advance. There were still only a small number of other professors present when she arrived, and Sylvia was pleased to know her efforts had paid off. She was a more permanent fixture in the school now, and as such it was crucial to give the headmistress a continued good impression of her responsibility and dedication to the position. Sylvia nodded to Katherine in greeting, and then took a seat in one of the more upright chairs. She didn't see any of the professors she was more familiar with yet, although that was just as much of a good thing in some cases as it was annoying in others. With nothing else to do, Sylvia lifted her hand up to examine her fingernails while she waiting for the meeting to begin.
 
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After a rather eventful break, the Herbology Professor was happy to be back at work again. He enjoyed teaching the upper-years and was excited for the sixth years now that he had found a better location for them to visit. Maurice entered the common room and greeted his colleagues happily before sitting down next to Jon. He winked at his friend and then turned his head to the Headmistress, waiting for the other Professors to arrive.
 
Grace really hadn’t been sure about her job application to become a professor at a magical school. After all, she was technically still a teenager herself. But the position was for flying, which wasn’t a subject anyone older than eleven would be taking. Besides, it was something she knew a lot about. The girl had been thrilled to hear she had been accepted, eager to get started and teach about something she was very passionate about. It was a little strange to teach at the school her cousins attended, but it was nice to see them. Only Alice, the youngest of them, would be actually attending her class.

Grace entered the Professor’s common room for the meeting, giving the Headmistress a smile before taking in the rest of the room. She tried to push down her nerves, making sure it didn’t show on her face. She smiled at anyone that caught her eye, then took a seat next to the man she recognized as the deputy head. “Hello.” She greeted, giving him a small nod. Then waited with everyone else for the meeting to begin.
 
Matt didn’t think he’d ever had a more tumultuous school holiday than the previous one. After getting engaged near the end of last school year, he had been sure nothing could go wrong. But when they told April and October about the engagement, October had revealed a deep pain, one that had to do with Kyle and the high expectations he had set on her. Matt really wanted to help his future stepdaughter, but it was hard to know how. He was happy he could see her at school, and glad he would have her in his own classes starting this year. The girl was now a prefect, which he had congratulated her on heartily.

The meeting at the start of the year was always a nice moment to see his colleagues again, and meet any new ones joining the school this year. He smiled at a few other professors before finding a seat and taking it. He didn’t expect any big news today, but perhaps the Headmistress would surprise him.
 
After some on grounds coaching with her Daughter, Kida made her way to the professor meeting, she saw her Aunt as per usual and gave brief acknowledgements to the other professors in the room. she took her seat and poured herself some water, her hair was a bit of a tangeled mess from flying around but she smoothed it out while she waited for her cousin to arrive and the meeting to begin.
 
Sylvia was one of the few people Bella actually liked in the school, so she was glad to see her there when she arrived at the meeting. She didn't say anything to her, just nodded a greeting as she took a seat next to her, before focusing her attention on the Headmistress, though interested to see that Pendleton was still there. She wasn't sure if maybe his health had gotten the better of him over the break, perhaps his collapse had shown him it was time for him to retire, but maybe the break was all he needed to get back on his feet. Bella wasn't entirely sure how she felt about him, even after a year, but being the Deputy, she knew that she had to show some form of respect.
 
Landon had quite an eventful holidays which was very good to say the least. He enjoyed seeing Georgiana every holidays and even had a chance to meet up with his nieces and nephews which he also enjoyed. But now he was back at work and he was quite happy about that too. He couldn't be more happy with his job as a professor and was excited to meet the new first years that he would be teaching. The man entered the professor's common room for the first meeting of the year and he smiled around at some new faces. He knew how daunting it was when he first joined and wanted to make sure that they were feeling comfortable on their first days. He smiled around at the familiar faces too before looking at the front of the room at the headmistress to wait for the meeting to begin.
 
Even as an auror, meetings had never truly appealed to Jack, but he'd figured that alienating his new colleagues would not be the way to go and so he'd sucked it up and headed up to the castle for the meeting, making sure the creatures had all been properly secured to avoid any accidents. Reaching the professors common room, Jack nodded to everyone else as he stood to the corner of the room. He hadn't gotten around to meeting all the others yet, but he would seek them out soon. He'd never really been great with introducing himself to people, Danika had always taken that in hand, but this was how it was now and this was how it had been for a long time.
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The back end of the previous semester had certainly been eventful so Ryder was hoping for something quieter as he made his way into the professors common room for the start of semester meeting. He helped himself to a drink before finding himself a seat. He nodded at Olive and Jon as a greeting to the only two professors he had any meaningful conversations with before turning his attention to the Headmistress.
 
Katherine nodded her greeting as the first of the professors arrived, and returned Kahurangi's smile with a small one of her own. "I did, thank you. And yourself?" She inquired, before more of the staff members started filing in. The Headmistress greeted them each briefly, keeping her eye out for one in particular. Alas, her son made no appearance. With an inward sigh, the woman waved her wand toward the door and let it slowly close shut to keep out prying student ears. Pocketing it back into her robe, she turned her attention back to those gathered around. "Thank you all for coming. I hope you all enjoyed the holidays. With this new school year brings us some new faces, so to start us off I'd like to introduce the latest additions to our staff. Jack Kaster will be taking on the role of Care of Magical Creatures professor for the lower years. Some of you may recognise him from the Wollongong Warriors Quidditch team. We also have Grace Holland, formerly of the Quibberon Quafflepunchers team in France. She will be taking the role of Flying instructor for the first years. Please give them a warm welcome if you haven't already." Katherine gestured to each professor as she introduced them, and allowed a moment for them to exchange greetings or speak, before moving on with the rest of the meeting.

"There were a few issues last year that I'd like to address. I'm sure many of you heard, or saw first hand Miss Eldridge's gathering to discuss ideas about breaking the statute of secrecy. While it is important that students feel comfortable enough to have these debates, some of the views expressed were concerning. The youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow, and they cannot be misinformed. Ensure that when you are educating, that you explain certain topics, especially the law, in detail, before they get themselves in serious trouble come adulthood. It is not enough to tell these children that things are the way they are, and that's that. They don't want to be told what they can or can't do without a proper explanation. They want to know why, and it is crucial for this "why" to be communicated to them. Our students need to thoroughly understand these topics, and that knowledge should come from the classroom, because it is certainly not coming from arguments in the courtyard or anywhere else on the grounds. If there are students out there who honestly think that introducing the magical and muggle worlds will come without its consequences, then we are failing at our jobs."

"That brings me to another issue raised last year. Bullying is a problem amongst students, and it always will be. Children are children, and when there are hundreds within in castle, undoubtedly they aren't all going to get along. We can't control them, but we can help them improve themselves, and learn to become better people. That is a difficult job on its own. What these students don't need is any additional bullying from their professors. I've had complaints from students about their professors making negative comments or off-hand remarks about muggles, or other minority groups. This is not acceptable. Be aware of what you say, and who you say it in the presence of. Plenty of our students have dominant muggle ancestry, or even ancestry from other beings in the magical community. If you don't like it, keep it to yourself. They don't need to hear it. Otherwise, you may find yourself looking for work elsewhere. I won't tolerate prejudice."

"Keeping on the subject of how students are treated - I'm well aware some of you have relatives here. Sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, or younger cousins. Having a positive relationship with student relatives is fine. Favouritism is not. They are not exempt from any rules just because they're related to any of you, and I advise you to ensure they know that is the case. If there is a public incident, and you need to remove all students from a specific area - your relatives are no exception. Just as if you catch a group of students breaking the rules, and a relative of yours is among them, they should suffer the same consequences as the rest involved." It shouldn't have been needed to be said, but after Montogmery's unfortunate situation the previous year, a few students had been furious to lose points and be pushed away when another had not.

The subjects changed to somewhat more lighter ones as the Headmistress progressed - the usual talk about the point system and the importance of rewarding good behaviour just as much. "That should almost cover everything. I've been contemplating the idea of a staff dueling match for the students to spectate, so if anyone is interested, please let me know. If there are any other questions or concerns, now is the time to voice them. Otherwise, that concludes our meeting."​
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It was a shame they couldn't apparate within the castle because Kennedy had been stuck at the top of the Owlery sending off an order for extra tarot cards for her fourth years, and therefore ran late to arrive to the annual Professor's meeting. This year she had more students than ever sign up for Divination, and each year there seemed to be more and more signing up, which had to mean she was doing something right. But with more students to teach, she knew they'd all have different backgrounds and situations to accommodate for, so she made sure to place in some extra orders for tarot cards and textbooks just in case some students couldn't afford it.

Kennedy slipped into the room just as the Headmistress began and quickly sat in the nearest available seat. She knew it wasn't good for her position as Head of House to have arrived late, but nonetheless she was here and paid apt attention to the woman speaking. She smiled at the newest professors, noting that the Flying professor seemed fresh out of school, much like Archie Renner previously, which concerned her, but then again it was only Flying, so she was sure they could handle it. They just seemed so young. Kennedy nodded along in agreement to the Headmistress's lecture, she couldn't believe Katherine had to remind professors of such things, but she was glad the Headmistress was firm on what wouldn't be tolerated by those who were supposed to be role models to these students. As much as Kennedy wanted to linger around after the meeting to catch up with some of her colleagues, she had a lot of work to attend to, so Kennedy didn't stay long once they were dismissed.
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Matt watched as other professor's joined the meeting, and was glad when Professor Alicastell started to speak. She began by introducing the new professor's, and Matt smiled at each of them in turn. Then he listened as she listed a few issues that had come up in the previous year. He had heard about the revolution, and while he thought it was important that students could express their opinions, he agreed with the headmistress on this issue. He had debated saying something to the girl, but until this year she hadn't been a student of his. Maybe, if she took his class, he could bring it up. He had been married to a muggle woman, so he had a bit of experience with the meshing of the two worlds as his daughter was raised in both worlds.

He was surprised to hear that apparently at least one of his colleagues had expressed negative opinions about muggles or other minority groups. It made him uncomfortable, and he fought not to glance around to see if anyone looked a little guilty. He himself made his views very clear, and he would definitely keep an eye out for this sort of behavior. The next point, however, nearly made him sink down into his chair. He knew Alicastell was talking about him. When Monty had collapsed, his stepdaughter had come to him. He had told her to 'stay there', by which he had meant for her to stay where they had been talking and keep out of the way. What he hadn't meant, was for her to stick around while other students were asked to leave back to their dormitories. Of course, he couldn't blame October for staying. He had told her to, after all. The panic and uncertainty of the moment had made it hard for him to think straight. Maybe, subconsciously, he had wanted to keep her in his sight during the unrest. But that was something he definitely had to think about more in the future. Students shouldn't feel like he was giving others special treatment. Especially his daughter or stepdaughter. He was glad Professor Alicastell didn't mention him by name, but he still was fairly sure he was the subject of this particular problem. The dueling match she suggested then did little to soothe the hollow feeling in his stomach, but he still thought it would be a fun idea. He got to his feet once the meeting was over. He didn't really feel like lingering around.
 
As more and more professors arrived, Grace felt smaller and smaller. She was easily the youngest in the room. She had known this, but she still felt a little like some of the professors were giving her looks. Focusing her expression to be neutral, she turned to look at the headmistress as she began to speak. She gave a small smile and wave as she was introduced, not feeling the need to add anything else. It was interesting that the other new professor had also played professional Quidditch before this, though he doubtlessly had done it much longer than her. She listened intently as the headmistress talked about some girl's ideas about the statute of secrecy. Somehow, the name 'Elridge' sounded familiar to her, though she had no idea where she could have heard it. Dismissing it, she simply listened to the rest of the headmistress' speech. The talk about bullying was a little alarming. Were there really professors here that held such horrible beliefs? If that were the case, her aunt's campaign for Minister was more necessary than ever. Grace wondered what the general concensus was in this room about who the best candidate was. She knew she was biased, but how could she not be? When the headmistress began speaking about having relatives at school, Grace felt herself tense slightly. She had several cousins running around, and she was sure most other professors knew at least one of them. She hoped it would never appear as if she was favoring any of them. She definitely had to tell Alice again that she had to behave like any other student in her class. Her youngest cousin couldn't go around giving her hugs or anything during lessons. When the headmistress finished the meeting, Grace lingered around a little. She was eager to meet some of her colleagues, and this was as good a time as any.
 
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