Vicky is the Specialist (As a ditty to be sung to the tune of “America”)

About this poem

Office environments are interesting places where life as living theater, is always taking place and where, to paraphrase William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, staff workers as actors and actresses come and go, where they have their exits and their entrances, and where, during the span of their office lifetime, they play many roles. As a bilingual educator at the Office of Bilingual Education, I once worked in such an environment, employed as a Program Specialist in a unit comprised of coworkers having such native languages as English, Spanish, Greek, Italian, Chinese, French, Haitian Creole, and Native American languages. As a unit, our task was to oversee the implementation of court regulations mandating bilingual education instruction to New York City public schools English language learners in their native language and in English as a second language. This task involved a lot of field work, visiting schools throughout New York City and its five boroughs, and returning to headquarters to write reports and submit them to office directors. The office had several secretaries, and in the Program Planning Implementation Unit (PPIU), one secretary, “Miss Vicky,” was assigned as head secretary to process all reports that were submitted. Because of the importance of this role, that secretary was dubbed by the Program Specialists as “Specialist of the Specialists.” Vicky was indeed the “Secretary-of-State” in charge of the state of affairs in the Program Planning Implementation Unit, a role she performed with much charisma, literally and dramatically, with a stuffed feathered rooster perched on her desk as a symbol of her crowing (Vicky’s and the rooster’s). And no one one in the office dared to touch that pompous rooster; or Vicky would peck at you. As one who was asked on many occasions to compose a poem, I in a spirit of merriment and joviality, wrote a poem, “Vicky is the Specialist,” to recognize and “poke fun” at our secretary, “Miss Vicky.” The various names of people mentioned in the poem are not pseudonyms, but the actual names of some of the bilingual educators who staffed the Program Planning and Implementation Unit, including the first name of the director (JA) overseeing the unit. Like movie director Alfred Hitchcock appearing in his movies, I am mentioned in the eighth stanza of the poem. The ten-stanza poem was composed June 13, 1986, at the height of implementation of bilingual education programs in the New York City Public Schools. more »