Another New Beginning

In a few more weeks, school will begin again. Two years ago, we began again with a new superintendent/principal named Mrs. Theis. After two years of a certain segment of the teaching staff putting Mrs. Theis -- as well as those of us who supported her -- through total hell, she is gone.   Five of the horrible, evil teachers who caused so much discord, dishonesty, and divisiveness on our campus retired last June, thank heavens!  There are still 3 or so left, but I do not think that they can do as much harm without their other five cohorts.  (At least I hope they cannot.)
So we are starting new AGAIN.  This time, we have a new superintendent and a new principal.  Many of the teachers have changed grade levels and we even have one new teacher as well as one who has come back after not teaching at Meadows last year.  As I think about this year, I am envisioning a caterpillar that has been in a very dark, lonely chrysalis and who is now finally ready to emerge and be a beautiful butterfly and flit and float on the air without a care.  I am PRAYING that this will be the case. 
I have met the new superintendent, Mr. Phillips.  So far, I am feeling good about him.  He seems to have some good ideas on discipline and grading that I am anxious to know more about.  He seems to be fair and willing to listen to teachers and work with them. 
I have also met the new principal, Mrs. Heraz.  I am not feeling as positive about her, although I am obviously going to need to give myself more time to really get to know her before I form an opinion.  She is very young, has never been a principal or even a vice-principal, and reminds me of several other teachers I know who are tall, thin, beautiful, rich, and cannot imagine a life where everyone is not the same way. 
I am staying in 6th grade.  I really had such a good year last year and am hoping that this year will be even better.  I learned a lot after teaching 6th grade for one year and think that I can do even better the second time around.  This year, I will be teaching language arts and history.  Mrs. Griffith, my partner, will be teaching science and math.  We will both teach PE and ELD to our own classes.  I really enjoyed teaching history last year and am grateful to still have that subject.  I have never taught 6th grade language arts, but hopefully, it will go well.
I remember the first official staff meeting with Mrs. Theis two years ago.  I was SO excited by her enthusiasm and her plans for our school.  But the majority of the teachers had made up their mind to hate her before she even stepped foot into her office.  I do NOT want to be like them and have a bad attitude about Mr. Phillips and Mrs. Heraz before they even have a chance to show us what they can do.  But I have to be honest and say that I miss Mrs. Theis.  She was so encouraging and supportive of me.  She was always there to give me ideas, listen to me, and cheer me on.  I hope that I can do it without her.
I am trying to come up with a theme for my classroom this year.  I am considering pirates, but am not totally sure.  But I think it would be good to have a theme to use as a focus for goal-setting and activities.