Joyriding on golf carts, the daily FACTS detention confrontation, and making sure everyone is wearing a lanyard are just some of the responsibilities Dean Burns is trusted with in his day to day. You could argue that the Dean of Students here at St. John Neumann never catches a break, but I’ll let you be the one to decide. Waking up at 5:45 to Wave 101.1, Dean Burns is ready for a day of hallway monitoring, lunch duty and US history classes. He eats a small breakfast, showers, gets dressed in the usual khakis and SJN polo and he’s off.

He arrives at school by 7:20. At this point he must prepare for the chaos of the morning traffic, as the students rush to make it to homeroom by 7:45. Here he sits in his golden chariot (the SJN golf cart) and greets the students. Although he’s off traffic duty (for now) he must get ready to greet more students.

After making his rounds he uses the rest of his time preparing for his first class: Period 2 US history. Here he engages with students over a wide curriculum of all things American history. He’s well–prepared, and teaches from bell to bell, every second used for a productive activity or worksheet.

Period 3 he’s on hallway duty, walking the halls and enforcing the rules. Then it’s off to lunch duty, here he keeps everything in order from the lunch line, to student behavior in the lunch room, and the cleanup afterwards. Between the two lunch periods, he eats his own lunch and then does it all over again for the second lunch of the day.

After lunch he has even more on his plate. He must prepare for the end–of-the–day chaos which might include subbing for a teacher who can’t make it for book club, or helping around the school. When that bell finally rings at 2:30, his day isn’t even half-way over. He stands at the exit of the parking lot directing and preventing traffic, for our students’ and neighbors’ safety.

Once all the traffic has dispersed, 3 pm detention may begin. Here those who received a slip earlier that morning must come and serve their time. 30 minutes of long, silent, detention. Once that’s over, Dean Burns makes sure he attends a school sporting event and gets ready to do it all again the next day.

Our school wouldn’t be the place it is today without the Dean Burns’ we all know and love. When asked what his favorite part about his job is, he said “interacting with the students. I like the students, they’re funny.” He goes on to mention that he loves the excitement we as students bring to school every day.

A day in Dean Burns’ shoes would not be easy, so we just thank him for all he does!( he also has the certification to drive the school bus when needed and does Saturday detentions)