So sorry to miss the Hot Topic Tuesday! As we get closer and closer to the Big Tuesday, it is ever more important to keep up with what is going on in this candidate's race.
I must admit, the last few weeks have been amazing! So many things to learn, so many thoughts to process, so many decisions to be made. As I have taken in more information, I have attempted to be diligent in taking the time to question and search for answers that would aid me in coming to a place where I have an informed opinion about whatever given scenario is laid out before me. There have been many helpful people along the way and others that intrigue me in their appearance of dismissal towards me. Whatever the case may be, I am here to do what I am called to do and that is to be active in the education of my children.
I have to say, in all of this, God is the mainstay in my life. He has always answered my prayer for encouragement when I began to feel defeated or weary. He has provided others to be His hands and feet and they have ministered to me in ways that are beyond description. Sometimes this venture seems bigger than what we ourselves are, and it is, but believing that all things are possible through Him who loves us, we are capable of going out on that limb and being the vessel through which He is able to reach others.
What light can I shine? His light, His desires, His ways. I am thankful for the opportunity to be used by Him, for Him. This is not truly about me or winning. It is about being obedient, being willing and being placed (potentially) somewhere that His light is needed.
May His glory be evident in the future decisions made.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Thoughts on a School District Reconfiguration
Let me just lay out a few thoughts here, nothing that can't be questioned or contested, just some thoughts to get the conversation going.
As many may be aware, one of the issues facing Marion Community Schools today is the issue of a budget that is not large enough and an enrollment number that is not high enough to maintain the current status that we have now. Money issues notwithstanding, I still maintain that we could lower classroom student numbers and hire more teachers and utilize the rooms that are currently empty in each of these schools. As I am now well aware, that is evidently not an option. The push to reconfigure is on. What we have left are options as to how this reconfiguration will proceed.
How familiar with the possibilities is the average parent of the MCS student? We started with 4 options, after about 5 of the 10 meetings set up to discuss these options, the middle two were dropped and the focus was given mainly to the 1st and the 4th option.
The details are numerous enough to warrant one to check out the plans on the MCS website. This is quite obviously still in the early planning stages, no matter the desire that our newspaper has displayed in admonishing us to come to a decision soon, there are too many details to be discussed to simply roll the die and make the decision for whatever "luck" would have in store for us.
This is a pivotal point in the life of Marion Community Schools and the students for which we are responsible! It requires far more discussion. We are on the brink of making decisions that will either inhibit our progress or propel us towards the noteriety our school system could have as a system that is cutting edge and unique in our approach to common problems that face school systems today. Our children and their education is far too important to carelessly choose and be left with problems later that are bigger than the ones we face now.
The children and future generations of Marion are important and vital to town like ours that is poised and ready for an economic upturn!
As many may be aware, one of the issues facing Marion Community Schools today is the issue of a budget that is not large enough and an enrollment number that is not high enough to maintain the current status that we have now. Money issues notwithstanding, I still maintain that we could lower classroom student numbers and hire more teachers and utilize the rooms that are currently empty in each of these schools. As I am now well aware, that is evidently not an option. The push to reconfigure is on. What we have left are options as to how this reconfiguration will proceed.
How familiar with the possibilities is the average parent of the MCS student? We started with 4 options, after about 5 of the 10 meetings set up to discuss these options, the middle two were dropped and the focus was given mainly to the 1st and the 4th option.
The details are numerous enough to warrant one to check out the plans on the MCS website. This is quite obviously still in the early planning stages, no matter the desire that our newspaper has displayed in admonishing us to come to a decision soon, there are too many details to be discussed to simply roll the die and make the decision for whatever "luck" would have in store for us.
This is a pivotal point in the life of Marion Community Schools and the students for which we are responsible! It requires far more discussion. We are on the brink of making decisions that will either inhibit our progress or propel us towards the noteriety our school system could have as a system that is cutting edge and unique in our approach to common problems that face school systems today. Our children and their education is far too important to carelessly choose and be left with problems later that are bigger than the ones we face now.
The children and future generations of Marion are important and vital to town like ours that is poised and ready for an economic upturn!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Monday's Luncheon-Innovative and Progressive!
So I think I am beginning to get the hang of this! Maybe even actually enjoy this...pressing on, I was able to participate in a luncheon on Monday that consisted of members of the Grant County Chamber of Commerce, the Economic Growth Council, a current member of the School Board, the Superintendent and my opponent. As I stated in a post on another website, this meeting was informative and positive!
This luncheon was such an amazing learning experience and encouragement to me. An encouragement in that I realize how desperate this School Board is for a member such as myself!! My perspective is one that is in no way represented at this time with this current school board. For that matter, it isn't represented by any of the others who are running in this election for this position. They can play the experience card, but with all of the years of cumulative experience they have going for them now, our current situation is still messy.
Is it possible to get down and dirty and right to the heart of it? Throughout this luncheon, no one (other than myself) made mention of the teacher to student ratio or how WE can be instrumental in increasing our enrollment figures. These are issues that speak directly to the heart of the matter. No matter what our teachers' preferred method of teaching is, it cannot flourish in a setting in which the population of a teacher's classroom is too high to maintain an instructional connection with a child. Our teachers' must have the freedom to use whatever particular teaching techniques they specialize in that ensures sound education. How impossible when you have over 20 students in a classroom!
There was talk of innovation and progression, let's do something no other school district is doing: let's limit our class size to no more than 15-18 students per qualified teacher! Wouldn't that be innovative and progressive?!
We absolutely have the power to budget wisely. Let's start doing it. Let's make cuts that are necessary, not optional. We can make Marion Community Schools a school system that is envied for its progress and ability to turn around student academic achievement.
I maintain that we would have such a striking upward swing in our scores within a relatively short period of time that it would be almost senseless not to implement a plan that is as simple as this. We don't need studies to show us these facts, it is a commonsense idea that comes from seeing how these children desperately need to interact with those adults that are responsible for teaching them.
Crazy notion? Lofty ideal? Unobtainable aspiration? I call it innovative and progressive!
This luncheon was such an amazing learning experience and encouragement to me. An encouragement in that I realize how desperate this School Board is for a member such as myself!! My perspective is one that is in no way represented at this time with this current school board. For that matter, it isn't represented by any of the others who are running in this election for this position. They can play the experience card, but with all of the years of cumulative experience they have going for them now, our current situation is still messy.
Is it possible to get down and dirty and right to the heart of it? Throughout this luncheon, no one (other than myself) made mention of the teacher to student ratio or how WE can be instrumental in increasing our enrollment figures. These are issues that speak directly to the heart of the matter. No matter what our teachers' preferred method of teaching is, it cannot flourish in a setting in which the population of a teacher's classroom is too high to maintain an instructional connection with a child. Our teachers' must have the freedom to use whatever particular teaching techniques they specialize in that ensures sound education. How impossible when you have over 20 students in a classroom!
There was talk of innovation and progression, let's do something no other school district is doing: let's limit our class size to no more than 15-18 students per qualified teacher! Wouldn't that be innovative and progressive?!
We absolutely have the power to budget wisely. Let's start doing it. Let's make cuts that are necessary, not optional. We can make Marion Community Schools a school system that is envied for its progress and ability to turn around student academic achievement.
I maintain that we would have such a striking upward swing in our scores within a relatively short period of time that it would be almost senseless not to implement a plan that is as simple as this. We don't need studies to show us these facts, it is a commonsense idea that comes from seeing how these children desperately need to interact with those adults that are responsible for teaching them.
Crazy notion? Lofty ideal? Unobtainable aspiration? I call it innovative and progressive!
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