Wrapping up 2013!

The two week break has started and I had visions of totally shutting down my School Board brain but this is just not happening.  First of all, I haven’t blogged in two weeks…I thought the first week of the two was going to be mellow but as it turns out it wasn’t.  The past two weeks were nuts.  I can’t blame it all on my Board stuff…all three of my kids had end of the year performances (even my two in college) and I also work part time so it has been a little hectic around here!!  But this two week’s worth of blog works out well, in a way.  This will be a hefty edition of my blog...gotta wrap up 2013 but you will have plenty of time to read it until the next one in 2014!

As I had mentioned, the garden was to have its last garden call for the season and it did.  All of the beds are closed for the winter and ready for us to return in the Spring.  I will certainly let you know when that will be as I am looking forward to it already!

On the first Monday you might have seen me in many places but, again, I will say they were not all Board related.  In the evening there was a Communications Committee Meeting.  We continue to explore different ways to reach the community but a concern of the committee is that we may end up desensitizing everyone if it seems that there is too much “noise” out there.  We talked about conducting a poll to find out which tools of communication people prefer.  Did you know that not everyone is on Facebook?  LOL, OMG, and not everyone likes to text?  There really are a lot of choices out there!

From that meeting we went to the Sixth Grade Winter Concert which was the first of many concerts we attended!  The next morning I attended Ogden’s Winter Concert and then afterwards I went into one of the fourth grade classes to read to them.  I did this periodically last year as well and I am so glad to be invited back!  The class was in the middle of “Wonder” so I read a few chapters to them and had some really great conversations…if you still haven’t read it…uhuh…you know what I am going to say…

That night was supposed to be the first High School Concert but it was postponed because of the weather.   The concert was rescheduled for the next night but none of us were able to attend because that was the night of our Work Meeting.  I have said before that we can’t always be everywhere but this was a really tough one!  Before the meeting was the Gallery One Reception celebrating our district artists.  The creativity and talent of our students AND teachers is quite impressive.  I wish I could take the art off of those walls and put them on mine!!!  If anything goes missing…well…

Thursday morning was Hewlett Elementary’s Winter Concert.  It was particularly fun to see the Chorus’s performance after having been in their classroom a few weeks ago.  It was also very interesting to see the differentiation between Ogden’s and Hewlett’s Bands and Orchestras.   What a great job by all!!

The Policy Committee usually meets the first Tuesday of every month but this meeting was rescheduled and we met Friday.  I just don’t even know where to begin to tell you what we covered.  We did a LOT of work!  We debriefed on the Policy Workshop we had gone to and then jumped in to working on many policies that are being reviewed and updated.  We also talked about making policies more searchable on the district website and about additional improvements to the layout.    We will be meeting again right when we return from break…I am sincerely looking forward to it…have I mentioned before how much I love this policy stuff?

The following week began with the 8th Grade Concert on Monday and the second High School Concert on Tuesday.  Wednesday morning was Central Council PTA meeting (mentioning a PTA thing because I am the Board Rep…otherwise I don’t mention my PTA activities!).  Wednesday evening the Special Ed Committee met before the Budget Session which was before an Executive Session which was before the Board Regular Meeting which was before another Executive Session…yes…I am being a little silly here but, seriously, it was only a few hours…it just sounds like a long and late evening…

Thursday evening I went to a BOCES Budget Review Meeting.  Each local school district board may appoint people to be on the Nassau BOCES Budget Review Committee.  I was on the Committee last year and I am happy to be one of the people on it once again.   We are responsible for attending two Budget Review Meetings and conveying the information about the budgets back to our Board.  We also advise the BOCES Board after their presentation of their budget.  Just so you know, their budget development process is much different from ours.  They have no taxing authority and basically base their budget on participating districts’ students’ needs.  Their Administrative Operations Budget is voted on by component school district boards... I believe we vote on it in April.  District input through the Budget Review Committee is legally required for BOCES.  Makes sense.

To wrap up the busy two weeks with a shiny bow I took the Chorale up on the Board invitation to join them on their annual tour.  I didn’t stal…ahem…I mean…follow them the whole tour.  I joined them at Ogden and then followed them to the Middle School and then to the Center for Adult Learning and Enrichment and then finally to WEC to listen to their beautiful voices spread holiday cheer.  I just can’t get enough.  I saved up this comment to put right here…it encompasses all the concerts and performances we saw these past two weeks… the quality was just so incredible and the difficulty level so high that I just can’t even fathom where these groups have to go from here.  I mean…usually the Winter Concerts are great but they have only had a few months together from the beginning of school and it is the first of the year and well…all things grow in the Spring.   As I said, not sure where they have to go!!  WOW! 

So that was the two weeks.  You won’t be hearing from me for about three weeks…unless I get so bored out of my mind that I blog anyway.  I had visions of totally putting all school related things aside and reading a novel…knitting a sweater…playing board games with the kids (not Board…board… like Monopoly or Clue)…maybe even doing a puzzle or taking a nap.  The likelihood is that I will catch up on some educational reports and articles I have put aside…watch a few webinars I have been wanting to get to…organize some of my committee notebooks…apparently we will be getting a packet over the break because when we return we will be hitting the ground running with a Work Meeting on January 8th  so I will definitely need to read that.  I know that “they” are only doing this because “they” are afraid I might go through withdrawal and that could get ugly…nonetheless…I am sure I would survive.   

Two weeks are a long time but I am totally looking forward to whatever that time may bring with all of my chicks back in the nest and the Holiday celebrations all around with family and friends.   I want to personally take this opportunity to wish those of you that celebrate a very Merry Christmas and to the whole community a Happy Happy New Year to you and yours!!  Keep safe and I look forward to continue blogging in 2014…WOOHOO!!!!