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Until yesterday, I thought that Proof School was a fantastic success. I thought it had achieved the vision of its managers and founding team, and that it’s the best school for kids who love math.Yesterday I took half a day off of work to spend time at the school, with the “Proofniks” and their teachers.Now I no longer think anything. I know. Proof School is a miracle, a smashing success that exceeds all expectations. It is far and out the best school imaginable for kids who love math (but have other wide-ranging interests), for teachers who love teaching math, and for teachers who love teaching anything else.(This answer would have been much better with photos I took that day, but they are kids and I didn’t walk around with a release form. Oh well.)The day starts with pickleball[1][1][1][1]. It’s their game. Almost everyone participates, and they switch in and out rapidly. Girls, boys, younger, older, they’re all in.“Do you like being here?” I asked many students I’ve met. “Be honest. You’re safe with me. I really want to know.”They looked at me like I’m weird. “OH YEAH!!” was the uniform response, delivered with a slight air of what kind of question is that.I told a group of seniors that I believe many of them were unhappy previously at school, feeling unfulfilled and bored. Many heads nodded vigorously, but Jade Kandel gave a more nuanced response. She hadn’t been unhappy, she said. School was fine. But Proof is something else, a different level of fulfillment and satisfaction.I think they had fun chatting with me about life advice and data sciences and stuff, but they couldn’t wait to get started with John Delonno’s[2][2][2][2] class on vector products.I watched Austin Shapiro[3][3][3][3] at work. He was teaching in a wide open space since we’ve run out of classrooms (Proof School is moving to its new brilliant location[4][4][4][4] in a couple of months), but he had them captivated, the distractions didn’t matter. I know he is like that: he finds magic to interleave with whatever he teaches.They talked about polynomials which have a root at [math]x=a[/math], and are therefore divisible by [math]x-a[/math]. What if a polynomial also has a root at [math]x=b[/math]? It’s divisible by [math]x-b[/math], sure, but is it also divisible by [math](x-a)(x-b)[/math]? Why is that non-obvious? He was asking questions, not making statements. The realization that there’s a real question here is the important one. 12 is divisible by 4 and by 6, but is it divisible by their product?In another classroom, a group of kids were huddled around Sam Vandervelde[5][5][5][5], math teacher extraordinaire and head of the school. They were analyzing the structure of a group with 85 elements, and both Sam and the kids were completely engrossed. My being in the room didn’t matter, they were busy. Only when I mumbled something about a nifty way to prove that an element of order [math]p[/math] must exist in any group whose order is divisible by [math]p[/math] did they perk up.I didn’t want to interject so I let them keep going, but one of them hounded me afterwards. How is this done? Can you show me? I did, and he got it immediately. He was delighted, not because of anything I did. He was delighted because this is what he loves.Proof School isn’t for everyone. It is exactly what it aims to be: a school for kids who love math. It also requires a certain level of social maturity and independence, because it’s no ordinary school. Over the last three years, a few kids and families found it is not the best option for them. It would have been unreasonable to expect this to never happen.For the 80 or so kids at the school, it is exactly what they need, or as close as can be hoped for.I had a long conversation with Zachary Sifuentes[6][6][6][6], the Dean of Humanities. I told him how deeply impressed I am with the love, care and attention the school gives to poetry, literature, history and all the humanities. He humbly attributed it to Paul’s vision, which is certainly true, but I know it is largely his work and that of the incredible team he had built. Many parents comment on how amazed they are at their child’s fascination with language arts at Proof School.Sam did an unbelievable job with Proof School. I’m at awe of the thing, and can’t wait to see it grow and evolve. In a few months we will have our first two graduates: Joshua and Jade. What they think of the school matters a whole lot more than what I think of it, so we should really ask them!Footnotes[1] Pickleball - Wikipedia[1] Pickleball - Wikipedia[1] Pickleball - Wikipedia[1] Pickleball - Wikipedia[2] Faculty and Staff Profiles[2] Faculty and Staff Profiles[2] Faculty and Staff Profiles[2] Faculty and Staff Profiles[3] Faculty and Staff Profiles[3] Faculty and Staff Profiles[3] Faculty and Staff Profiles[3] Faculty and Staff Profiles[4] Our new home[4] Our new home[4] Our new home[4] Our new home[5] Sam Vandervelde[5] Sam Vandervelde[5] Sam Vandervelde[5] Sam Vandervelde[6] School Leadership[6] School Leadership[6] School Leadership[6] School Leadership

Florida Institute of Technology - working with Cem Kaner - Faculty and Staff ProfilesThat's top, for me. Cem Kaner is an academician who is respected by working professionals for the relevancy of his research and work to what professionals do. Working with Cem you indirectly get a Masters not just in testing but ethics, documentation, and passion for testing. Having worked with Cem Kaner, you get a respect added to your profile.

Both Peter Marquez's answer and Jennifer Miller's answer have done a good job covering a lot of the faux pas's.I would just reiterate that no staffer is ever bigger than the White House or the President. We are all there to serve one mission and that is to execute the vision and the policies of the President in power. This dictates a lot of the behavior of the staff.One big faux pas in the Bush administration was staff interactions with the press. As Peter noted, only the press and communications offices talk to the press (unless granted approval). Under most circumstances employees were not supposed to participate in staff "profile" pieces of any kind. The view being this was not about you and you are no more important the next person. Staffers who participated in these piece were often viewed as self promotional. Even the most Senior Staff would only participate in these profiles on rare occurrences.I remember one of the first lessons I learned in the White House was that we always refer to the President as "The President" or "President Bush" or "sir" or "Mr. President" if addressing him directly. You never referred to him as Bush or by his first name. He was the President of the United States and he deserved the respect given with that title. The only informal titles also used for him would be POTUS (short for President of the United States) or occasionally Trailblazer (his Secret Service codename).