Staff & Professors Meeting 2048

[Monty Pendleton]

Monty suspected he would never feel comfortable speaking in front of the staff. He tried to tell himself it was easy as speaking to a classroom of students, except that it wasn’t, because in the classroom he at least scraped together the appearance of authority by being several decades older and several times more knowledgeable on his subject than anybody else in the room. On the subject of deputy headship, however, he still knew very little, and he was inclined to think there were at least half a dozen professors who could have taken over his position and immediately performed better than he was performing after several years. Thus he wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about Katherine encouraging him to deliver the first half of the meeting. He felt like an imposter. As though he was not qualified for this sort of role, and everybody in the room knew it.

He arrived just a minute or two before the meeting was scheduled to begin on account of the fact his legs had spent the last half hour stubbornly refusing to walk him down to the appointed room. But he was here now, and could not say he was sorry to have missed the precursory chit-chat. “Hello! Could I have your attention for a moment, please? Thank you,” he said, folding his slightly clammy hands together. “Good morning! Welcome back. As I’m sure you’ve all noticed, we’ve a few new faces among us today, so I shall start with the introductions. Eva Selwood here will be teaching Arithmancy to our upper year students; Angel Castillo is taking over upper Herbology; and Elvera Le Fey is returning after many years to her post in Divination. A very warm welcome to all of you - or welcome back, of course, in Elvera’s case. Oh, and Muggle Studies, in case anybody was curious, has been taken over entirely by Professor Warrick. Now, er - just one or two things I’d like to mention. First of all, I’d like to impress upon our professors the importance of rewarding good behaviour. We’d like to encourage, as well as discipline; so if you should see a student working exceptionally hard, helping a classmate - any positive behaviour you like, really - do please take a moment to praise them, and perhaps furnish them with a few house points.

“Of course, we do have to discipline the rule-breakers as well; thus I’d like to remind all members of staff to notify any such incidents either to the student’s head of house, myself, or Professor Alicastell. We may also approach you in future to oversee detentions, so please prepare yourselves for this possibility.”

Monty paused to take a slow, shaky breath and collect his thoughts. “Finally, last year you may remember we allowed our nurses each to employ one student assistant. Well, this year, we’d like to extend this permission to our librarians as well. Er - and just as a reminder, hospital wing assistants should not be administering, nor have access to, medical supplies and potions. They are there for the most part to observe and to learn from you; please make this explicit before you agree to take anybody on.

“I… I think that’s everything I wanted to cover,” he said, feeling as if he’d forgotten something, but unable to think what. To own the truth, he didn’t really care; he just wanted this to be over. “Katherine, would you like to take it from here?”

 

[Katherine Alicastell]

Bringing both professors and the other assorted faculty together for one singular meeting was a new move, but one Katherine hoped would inspire a more comfortable and approachable atmosphere between all members of staff. It was important for each and every one of them to be on the same page, and to tear down any potential notion that the teaching faculty were in any way above the others. They were all fundamental to keeping the school running smoothly, from professors to groundskeepers. In previous years, meetings had been held in the professors common room, or Katherine's own office. Neither had the space for such a large gathering of members in this case, and while an extension charm wasn't totally out of the question, it was unnecessary to utilise in either room when there was so much space available elsewhere.

The room that had once been used for the staff secret santa was now devoid of its yuletide tree and wintery decorations, repurposed for the time being into an area all members of staff could sit in without feeling too cramped. Katherine stood by, waiting for everyone to arrive and find themselves a spot to get comfortable in before the meeting commenced, taking the brief time to make idle small talk with whoever was nearby. The Headmistress wouldn't be leading the charge this year, that torch had been passed to Montgomery, yet the man was nowhere to be seen. That was, until a very close couple of minutes before they were due to begin. Katherine glanced pointedly towards the clock on the wall, refraining from a look of disapproval despite how she felt about the man not showing up any earlier. There were certain standards the woman expected, and her deputy's minimal involvement in certain employee events did not quite meet those expectations.

Stepping off to the side to allow her deputy everyone's full attention, Katherine listened in silence, before inclining her head as the man finished up and passed the meeting over to her. "Thank you, Montgomery." She responded, taking this time to address the room herself. "As most of you are aware, we often host wheelbarrow races for the student's benefit. This year, rather than the students solely challenging each other in these races, they'll be competing against us, the staff. If anyone is interested in competing, now is the time to begin thinking about partnering up, and devising a strategy to ensure we don't suffer a humiliating loss against our students. I'm sure they wouldn't let us live it down." She smiled lightly, because of course it didn't matter who won or lost, but a competitive spirit never hurt anyone.

"On the topic of being involved in events, this year I'd like to put together a Decorating Committee. Every year we have events such as the Yule Ball and Halloween Feast, which all take a lot of time and effort to put together. This year I wanted to reach out to anyone interested in lending a hand in decorating the hall for these occasions, and in brainstorming new ideas. Anyone who feels they're particularly creative, or if you've ever had any thoughts or suggestions about these events, then this is your opportunity to turn it into a reality. There will be a sign-up sheet by the door after the meeting, so simply put your name down and we'll get back to you." More often than not, it was the house elves who did most of the work with the hall, on top of preparing the feasts. Fresh eyes were needed to spice things up and avoid the festivities becoming too similar each and every year.

"If decorating isn't your thing, I also wanted to extend an offer to anyone here who is more musically inclined. If you would like the opportunity to perform for the Yule Ball, whether it be with an instrument or otherwise, let us know. There are a handful of students who could do with the inspiration." Unfortunately, it wasn't a viable option to try and book in a wizarding band each and every year, and their prior use of self-playing instruments weren't quite up to par with real musicians.

"That concludes this years meeting. If there are any questions or concerns about what was mentioned, or what wasn't mentioned, now is the time to voice them."

Spoiler: Decorating Committee Sign-Up

1. Monty Pendleton
2.
3.
4.
5.
Etc.

 

[Hezekiah Mowry]

Hezekiah Mowry quite frankly hated these staff meetings. It was not even because they were boring. He found them quite informative. He just wished Monty was not one of the conductors of the meetings. The two had a falling out over Hezekiah not going to Rama's graduation. He felt that the man was just too invested in his relationship with his daughter, which was something that Hezekiah himself had issues dealing with. She had just been dropped on his doorstep by her mother. Hezekiah did not even get the nine months preparation! It was just thrown on to him, which made him angry.

Hezekiah walked into the meeting a little late, so he stood in the back. There were new professors, which he appreciated. He needed to make friends, and working with his coworkers seemed like his best bet. The Headmistress also spoke, and he was not interested in being on any committee with Monty. He did know how to play piano, but he kept that to himself. He had no interest in playing piano for the students.

 

[Sarah Harrington]

Sarah sat back in a chair in the Professor's lounge glad to be starting another semester. She was sad to know her niece was gone from the school for good now, already missing their nearly daily teatimes together. Hopefully one of her own daughters would join her now instead. Listening to Monty and then Katherine was pretty similar to years before, but this year she was surprised by the decorating committee signups. She couldn't remember them in the past, but this was also the first year she really paid attention to what was happening and wasn't too tired from staying up the night before. She wanted to have a go at the ceiling projection during some events and make it more magical and having done similar things in the classroom she really hoped to experiment with a larger scale room like the great hall. She wondered who else might join in with her.


Sign-Ups for Decorating:

Spoiler

1. Monty Pendleton
2. Sarah Harrington
3.
4.
5.
Etc.

 

[Professor Elvera Le Fey]

Elvera has been to these meeting many times in the past. She had even run a few of them. They were a good way to ease into the start of semester. Especially this year when she was a little out of sync. With what was going on. She had heard about a lot of the professors from her daughters and professor pendilon was one that they had both liked. The potions professor with a rather unorthodox way of teaching. There had been some differences. To the peering of the past. The most noticeable change was the location. Instead of the professors common room it was now being held on the second floor near the headpeoples office. And secondly the people there were different. Not just due to the staff who had left and started during her absence but also the presence of the school nurses and librarians. Elvera smiled glad for the change. She listened as they were introduced to the new professors and the the reminder about rewarding good behaviour and punishing rule breaking. That was all rather familiar. The information that the headmistress gave was interesting. The wheelbarrow race was not something she would participate in. She would leave that for the younger and fitter professors. Unless anyone wanted to go with her. The information about student assistants was interesting. She knew one of her daughters had taken quite a liking to the library and one of the librarians.
The next point was the decoration for the event. This was something g that interested her. She added her name to the list. As for music. She could play the piano. She didn’t volunteer to play. She hadn’t played in years. And she mainly played classical which would not be what the students wanted at a party.

1. Monty Pendleton
2. Sarah Harrington
3.
4.
5.
Etc.

 

[Professor Misha Haden]

Misha headed into the staff meeting, the charm professor always enjoyed the meetings, it was good to find out who was new at the school and see some old familiar faces. The man headed into the room and found himself a spot to sit in. His gaze moved to the head mistress and the deputy headmaster. Misha listened as the introduced them to the new professors who’d joined them or taken on new roles. He was happy to see the new faces joining them. It was difficult for him to even remember himself when he’d just joined as a professor a fresh faced young man, ready to shape young minds. So much had changed, he still shaped young minds, but he did it tiredly now. He was tired most of the time. But he still very much loved teaching and definitely wouldn’t exchange it for anything. He nodded as Monty went into a little detail about how they should remember to discipline students. He nodded as he also spoke about staff member being able to get a student helper and frowned, maybe he could see about getting a student helper to grade some of the first year. His attention then moved to the headmistress as she began talking about the wheelbarrow race and other efforts that professor could do about the school. He wasn’t sure about a decorating committee, he had a lot of other things that he needed to do day to day, he taught a lot of classes. Maybe he could see how many others signed up and then sign up himself. With that the meeting was ended and he lingered about the room.​

 

[Stefan Archer]

Stefan had been surprised when a staff meeting had actually included members of the hogwarts staff, they tended to be exclusively for the professors and didn’t include the library or other staff. But knowing that it was important for him to do so, he was attending. The man found himself a spot in the room and allowed his attention to be drawn to the head mistress and the deputy. The deputy, Professor Pendleton, spoke first going over who had recently joined the school in teaching positions and he couldn’t help the little smile at the mention of Elvera, he was happy to have her back at school. If only to have someone else to have tea with on occasion. The librarian listened as the professor went over a few things that didn’t entirely pertain to him. He didn’t really have to any discipline when it came to students. He tended to just bring them to head of houses to deal with. Though there was a little bit in the last of what he said that pertained to Stefan. He had known that the hospital staff did as much, but he wasn’t sure what kid might be interested in spending time helping in the library. HIs cousin had on occasion done so when she’d been at school but Stefan knew it was mostly just to spend time with him. He nodded in understand and to show he was listening. The headmistress picked off from where the man had finished. He didn’t spend a whole lot of time at the school out-with his hours. He had three young children at home and couldn’t just spend time at school leaving his wife to mind them. With that done, the librarian nodded, he take on what the man was saying.​

 

[Josephine Arora]

Josephine had grown used to the meetings at Hogwarts, though this was the first time staff and teachers were grouped together for one. Perhaps that would be good, it would certainly show the professors that they weren't the only ones working at the school. She was still a little frustrated with the Secret Santa last year, when she had been called a professor. As if a nurse wasn't just as important. She waited in the room until the meeting began, and was a bit surprised that the deputy head started speaking instead of the Headmistress. He started by introducing new professors, as well as telling them the Muggle Studies professor now took on all the years. Josephine listened, though most of the things he said seemed aimed at professors. At least until he started to talk about student assistants. It was an interesting concept, but not something any student had currently asked for. Josephine turned to the Headmistress when she began to speak, her nose wrinkling a bit at the mention of wheelbarrow races. She did not intend to sign up for that. But the Decorating Committee was definitely something she was interested in. Josephine's previous career was one as a stylist, so she knew she had more taste than most of the people in this room. Once the Headmistress stopped talking, she signed her name.Then Josephine decided to voice a question. "On the subject of student assistants, I assume its the responsibility of students to reach out to us if there is an interest? There are none right now, and I'm unsure how aware students are of this opportunity. But since a genuine interest is definitely preferred, I don't mind if only the students who think to ask are permitted." She then paused. "And is there a limit for their age? I don't think a first year has a lot to learn in the hospital wing as they are still learning the basics of magic in general. Though if your opinion is different I would like to hear your take." She addressed the question to both the Deputy Head and the Headmistress.

1. Monty Pendleton
2. Sarah Harrington
3. Elvera Le Fey
4. Josephine Arora
5.

 

[Madlyn Ateara]

Madlyn arrived at the meeting a few minutes earlier than Professor Pendleton had done so with a half-kneazles trailing behind her. It seems like she had made a new friend this morning while she was out preparing for the lesson for this week. An overgrown furball with ginger fur that may need a little grooming otherwise look to seem perfectly fine and healthy to Madlyn, came out of nowhere while she was completing the task at hand. She fed the creature then came here for the staff meeting. It had followed the tall witch from behind. Madlyn couldn't shake it off her trail, so she let it be. It may come across that she was the owner of the half-kneazles. She didn't mind it. Madlyn stood behind the others, waiting for the staff meeting to begin. She thought it was odd to see the other staff members at Hogwarts joining the meeting today. It was odd, however, she welcomes the change. Why they weren't including in the previous year should be the question. The meeting has gone underway as Professor Pendleton arrived and went in speaking mode. Madlyn scanned the room as she had an obvious view of all their heads and noted the new faces in the crowd. They had a full house, that was nice to see. Hogwarts has always been a revolving door, from students to staff members, even headmasters of this school have changed. And, that's what made Hogwarts so great. They give chances to anyone who wanted to learn or willing to teach, or help, whatever that may be. Hogwarts was a place of opportunities and potentials. Madlyn grateful for that. The half-kneazles padded over to the woman and sat right in front of her. Madlyn's long limbs reach down and grabbed the furry creature and held it as it went resting on her arms. "Oh, wheelbarrow race," Madlyn spoke out, "That can be fun," she commented as the Headmistress Alicastell ended the meeting. "I competed once with my sister in our younger years, and we won. I probably am too tall to play, but I'll definitely have a watch."

 

[Professor Kahurangi Josephs]

Somehow, even the most routine of tasks felt new to Kahurangi this year. She didn't know if it was entirely in her own head, but her new position at Hogwarts had made her more conscious of her own behaviour. She knew there were young students looking up to her for guidance now, and extra responsibility to be dilligent with all her usual duties. So, despite having been to many of these meetings over the years, Kahurangi made more of a point than usual of being early to the staff meeting, greeting Katherine with a smile as she took her seat. She smiled at Monty too when he arrived, listening to the speeches. Most of it was the standard things she was used to being discussed at these meetings, though Kahurangi perked up slightly at something Katherine mentioned. A wheelbarrow race sounded like a lot of fun, and she glanced at Matt, wiggling her eyebrows slightly with a small grin. The mention of playing at the Yule Ball was interesting too, but the thought of the small coffee shop open mics she had played at while at uni, and performing for students at a school dance were two very different things, and Kahurangi decided to keep her mouth closed on that particular subject. It had been years now since she had been in a band, and she was quite sure those skills were beyond rusty.

 

[Maria Madison]

Maria had had a busy and emotional holiday, and it felt a bit strange to be returning to the day to day of work, her usually crowded home near-empty with only Finn not returning to Hogwarts. It was hard to shift her mind from thoughts of parenting her now four children day to day, to focusing on work, and letting Odette, Charlie, and Emily live their own lives at school. The meeting was a good way to start that mental shift though, and Maria joined her colleagues as she sat down, listening to the speeches. Though she could still see some signs of nervousness, it warmed Maria's heart to see Monty speaking publicly with so much more self assurance than when she had first seen him. She paid attention to what he was saying, although it didn't really apply to her, it helped Maria understand her clients when she kept up with what was going on around the castle. She felt the same about the headmistress's speech, though one mention caught her eye. Maria had never taken her youthful passion for design into her professional life, but she still enjoyed it very much, and the thought of helping decorate for school dances sounded like a lot of fun.

1. Monty Pendleton
2. Sarah Harrington
3. Elvera Le Fey
4. Josephine Arora
5. Maria Madison

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

Professor Kalif Styx loathed meetings, only because he didn’t care for a crowd. Kids were different, since he had control over them, to an extent. As he lingered against a wall, well away from anyone except Professor Burke, Kalif listened to the deputy headmaster and the headmistress. The events involving staff let him know to stay well away on those days. There was nothing worth noting for him to really gain his interest, but he was there none the less. The school events, he would prefer if they were gone, but that was just him. He waited around to see if anyone had anything to offer.

 

[Cyndi Kingsley]

As Cyndi entered the room, she realized she should have made more of an effort to arrive early. All of the decent seats were taken and not wanting to have to squeeze by several colleagues, the woman began to walk towards a small piece of wall to take up position beside her fellow Head of House, Kalif. Then, she spotted an open seat and moved for it. Settling in just as Monty began, the woman listened as he spoke about the new staff and reminders. She smiled encouragingly at her friend when he looked in her direction but otherwise kept her face neutral though she nodded a few times.

Katherine's piece was a bit more interesting. Talk of a wheelbarrow race brought fond memories of her own school times flooding back as she listened. The woman wasn't quite sure she was up to participating this year, but it was something to think about. The decorating piqued her interest even more. She'd long assisted with the events in other ways, and decorating sounded like a lot of fun. As the parchment came her way, the woman signed her name before handing it off.

Decoration Committee said:

1. Monty Pendleton
2. Sarah Harrington
3. Elvera Le Fey
4. Josephine Arora
5. Maria Madison
6. Cyndi Kingsley

 

[Professor Matt Alcott-Ward]

Matt was happy to return to Hogwarts. The school had become a familiar and safe place for him, and he really enjoyed being around his coworkers. He was sad Jon had left, but was proud of his friend and coworker Kahurangi for getting the Head of House position. He had applied for the job himself, but had to admit his coworker was a better fit. He gave his other friend Monty an encouraging smile as he started to talk. The man was deputy head, but it was still a bit of a surprise that he was starting off this meeting. Matt listened carefully to what he had to say, glancing at the new professors with a welcoming smile before looking back at Professor Pendleton. It was nice to have a meeting with both professors and staff. Matt had had no idea that nurses could take on a student assistant, and that librarians could do that now as well. He didn't think his own daughter would be very interested in that, but it was still good to know. Professor Alicastell went on to talk a bit more, and Matt turned his attention to her. The wheelbarrow race was certainly interesting, and he caught Kahurangi's look at him. He gave her a slight nod and a bit of a grimace, as if to say 'if we have to'. He wasn't unhappy about it, but already knew his back would kill him. Ah well, he knew his kids would enjoy seeing him in the race. The decoration committee was a good idea as well, though not really his thing. Matt didn't think he was all that good at decorating anything.

 

[Professor Grace Holland]

Grace slipped into the room after the upper years History professor and found a space to lean against one of the walls. She crossed her arms and gave anyone who looked her way a smile, but didn't really seek out to talk to anyone. This would be her third year teaching here, but Grace still felt a bit of a gap between her and the other professors. The only teacher near her age that she knew of was the Care of Magical Creatures professor, but she didn't spot her yet. When the deputy head started talking, Grace listened quietly. It wasn't a ton of surprising information, though she wanted to keep it in mind that they should encourage positive behavior. She felt like with the first years, she was often telling them off for doing things they shouldn't in flying class. It would be good to be a bit more positive, and outside of class too. She listened as the headmistress spoke as well, but didn't know if she was interested in the wheelbarrow race. She also decided not to sign up for the decoration committee, though she considered it for a moment.

 

[Professor Angel Castillo]

Angel had been curious about the staff meeting, interested to get his first real look at his peers outside of the busy meal times. The deputy, Montgomery? looked a touch on the nervous side, but seemed to be putting on a brave face. He came off chipper enough and Angel gave a little wave when he mentioned his name, trying on his most charming smile for his new colleagues. He listened curiously to the notes on house points and rule breaking, wondering how much trouble the upper years might be. He knew he'd been a pain as a kid, but at least he'd know how to handle his type of rebellion.

The headmistress seemed a bit more poised, stepping up to speak once the deputy was done, much to his relief Angel bet. Decorating didn't sound quite Angel's speed, though he did wonder what the kiwi idea of Halloween looked around here. Wheelbarrow racing however sounded like it could be a good time, though judging by some of the other staffs' faces, they might need a little coercion to join. Angel figured he could probably secure a partner leveraging his newbie status at the very least. And what better way to bond with a coworker than humiliating some teenagers together.

 

[Aspen Faye]

Aspen was running late. One of the thestrals got a little bit over enthusiastic as she held the food in her hand, and chomped down on her whole hand instead of just taking the meat. Not being very good at healing spells, Aspen had to source a bandage to wrap her hand in before realizing she was supposed to be at the meeting. Running as fast as she could, she arrived at the meeting, hearing that it had already begun. The Professor took a deep breath in, and tried to sneak in, without being noticed.
She seemed to have missed the Deputy's speech, as he then handed it over to the Headmistress, and Aspen knew she'd have to go apologize. However, now was not the time, and she listened, getting excited about the wheelbarrow race. She knew she was going to have to wait until they were properly dismissed to find a partner, but her first port of call was definitely going to be Monty or Katherine.

 

[Lillian Sword]

Lillian always felt a little awkward at staff meetings; despite having been here for two years now, she hadn't gotten to know many of her colleagues very well. Of her friends here, she knew Kahurangi and Matt had both applied for head of Ravenclaw, and she'd worried a little over any hard feelings between them, but it seemed immediately clear that this wasn't the case. She made eye contact and smiled at both of them, resolving to congratulate Kahurangi later. Lillian was curious about the new professors, particularly Elvera, who she'd had a brief conversation with last year; it surprised her somewhat that the fact she'd been a professor before hadn't come up back then. And this new Herbology professor, Angel . . . there was something about him that she found intriguing. Lillian nodded along with the discussion on student behaviour; she hadn't had much cause for discipline thus far, but the procedures around it were certainly useful to keep in mind. Lillian liked the idea of employing student librarians; she'd encountered it before among some of the muggle school groups she'd taught at the museum, and thought at the time it was an opportunity she'd have liked to have during her own time as a student. She hoped, however, that she wouldn't have to partake in the wheelbarrow race, which sounded like an embarrassing and chaotic experience. The decorating committee sounded more interesting, but lacking any artistic talents in that direction, Lillian refrained from signing up.

 

[Wulfy Prius]

* * *​

Wulfy didn't like the idea of meetings. In his opinion it usually meant that he would just sit and listen to information that he could anyways hear in the next few days from professors in the school and they never really talked about anything important in particular. He had taken part in meetings like this in Hogwarts Scotland for more than forty years and now he'll have to take part in this once in a while too. Wulfy took an empty spot and waited for the meeting to start. It started with introduction of new professors. Wulfy listened very carefully when professor Pendleton mentioned rule-breaking and he hoped that professor would mention something more about rule-breaking other than just reporting such incidents to higher staff because that seemed obvious for Wulfy. As deputy headmaster and then the headmistress was speaking, he was listening very carefully, also looking at all the professor and staff members to see, what kind of people were working here. Wulfy knew that he wouldn't sign up for decorating committee, knowing that he probably would anyways take part of all the decorating and he didn't find a need to sign up for that.

* * *​