Not Distracted...Blogging One Week At A Time

Woohoo!!!  Look at this!!  It has only been a week and here I am writing away.  I woke up way too early today and truth be told, about all of my usual Saturday morning  distractions are not around for me this morning… I am having trouble with my email, kindle isn’t charged, need friends to unlock the next episode of Candy Crush…sleep eludes me…I am writing…ahem…happily blogging away.

After missing a few Garden Calls I was happy to be back at the Community Garden.  Four more Black Swallowtail Caterpillars and a brand new baby just out of the egg were found and my task for the morning (as I have now been named “Caterpillar Lady”) was to transplant the dill they were on to be able to bring them over to FECC after the long weekend to join the others there that are now in chrysalis.  Unfortunately, we weren’t able to shelter these well this time and one by one they disappeared before getting them to FECC.  We still have the brand new baby…and two others teeny ones I just found but FECC is not able to receive them.  Problem is that at this point there is no room for these with the others there and what is there can’t be disturbed…so…I guess at some point, the Gates Garden will have some Black Swallowtail Butterflies…

On Tuesday we were invited to watch the presentation of “Choices and Consequences” given to the High School seniors by someone from District Attorney Rice’s office.  There was a lot about driving under the influence and texting while driving…it was extremely powerful and yet not preachy…it made a big impression on me as an adult… it seemed to make an impression on the students in the audience as well!

Wednesday was definitely the busiest day of the week.  In the morning I attended the Central Council PTA meeting.  I think I have told you before that I am one of the Board liaisons.  It is always great to hear what is going on in all of the buildings.  Senator Flanagan had another one of his hearings, this time in Buffalo…obviously there was no way I could shuffle off.   I was going to live stream it after the meeting but I went to work and was busy…I will watch it when they post it on his webpage and report if Buffalo has anything different to say than Syracuse and Long Island.  Somehow, I doubt it will be dramatically different.

Wednesday rolled on and the Special Ed Committee met before the Board Budget Session and our Regular Meeting.  About the Board Budget Session…in the past, the Board would have a whole day long Budget Meeting some time in March.  This year, due to the many fiscal challenges now facing School Districts the Board is meeting monthly to discuss and plan the upcoming budget with a half day session in March.   I know that I have said in the past that if you can only go to one meeting a month then come to a Work Meeting…but…if you can…try to get to a Budget Session as well…as the process gets harder and the decisions become harder it will be so important for the community to be aware of the discussions and all the information there is on the topic of school finance.  It is not as dry as it sounds…you may even find it fascinating!  At the Regular Meeting both students and staff were honored…a lot of good stuff goes on here!  Then we ended the evening with an Executive Session…or rather, we had an Executive Session and then went back into Regular Session before adjourning…who is Robert and why did he get to make the Rules, anyway?

That is all the meetings for the week right there.  What?  Oh.  I hear you saying, “But I know you were at other meetings because I was with you!”  Well, this is about my Board activities.  There are times that I am somewhere as a PTA Rep or just as a Mommy!!!  So you won’t hear about those things here.  Yes, I know…wherever I go I am still a Board Member but sometimes I just need to be a Mommy and/or a PTA lady.  Speaking of which…I have been following the New York State PTA/Dr. King debacle in Poughkeepsie.  Go look it up…that is all I am going to say.

There was no packet this week so I am hoping to start on “Wonder” by R.J. Palacio which is the book for the Community Read…originally the World Café was going to be the beginning of November but it was moved to November 25th in order to include as many people of the community as possible.   Be sure to read it and join the community then!!!

Next week we leave for Rochester to attend the NYSSBA Annual Conference.  You can be sure I will tell you aaaalllllllllll about it.  I have already scoped out the workshops I will be attending and can’t wait to learn learn learn.  OH!  It just occurred to me…we won’t be returning until Saturday night.  I am guessing that you probably won’t hear from me next week and I will post a two week blog the following week.  I am still proud of myself for posting this week!!!