Kelly
Husted challenged me to this 1,2,3,4,5 blogger challenge. You can read
his blog here. He obviously has a higher opinion of my writing
than my writing deserves. I hope I live up to his (and yours) expectation……
What
has been your ONE biggest struggle during this school year?
My
biggest struggle was not to scream and throw things at our Political leaders
this year. Anyone else almost throw up at the CCOSA legislative
conference this January when the politicians on the panel started talking about
how tough their year was going to be because of the budget! I was
fighting mad. Are you serious…… they created this cluster (fill in the
blank) in the first place with terrible economic policies and reductions to
general fund revenue streams. State agencies just found out about a
revenue failure, and I didn’t sleep for a week wondering which of the families
I was going to devastate by telling them they no longer had a job right when
all the Christmas bills were due - AND they wanted to complain about their job
being difficult! You have got to be kidding me! Then my secretary
did a wonderful job removing all the usual suspects of things I could throw in
my office when I heard the Governor’s State of the State Address. I just
want to ask her what she has against locally elected school board members
because any consolidation bill will do nothing but get rid of the local board
of education, not the people working for the school! Geez. Then
she wants to take more of our already ‘spread too thin’ tax dollars to send to
private schools who don’t have any state accountability! Standards…..
they don’t use Oklahoma standards……. Seat time………. Nope, they don’t have to
meet time criteria to get to those tax dollars…….tests………. kids don’t take
them. Private schools do not have to prove they do anything with the tax
dollars given to them by the state. I almost understand what the now
infamous pharma company thug Martin Shkreli meant when he tweeted “Hard to
accept that these imbeciles represent the people”!
I’m
getting all worked up just typing this. This has become insane.
Share
TWO accomplishments that you are proud of from this school year.
- I’m
proud of the $18.7 million dollar bond project approved by the
stakeholders of the Alex school district. We are currently drawing
up plans to create a new 5 –
12th grade center
to replace our 97 year old high school building. Alex students will
also be gaining a new track around a new football field and a monolithic
dome Gymnasium to act as an Auditorium and to serve as a community storm
shelter. If anyone thinks that public schools are failing, they
should check the record for bond issues in this state. By the way,
our community voted for this 10% tax increase with a whopping 80% approval
rate.
- I’m
also proud that the Board of Education sought to show our teachers some
much needed appreciation this school year by distributing $1,000.00
retention bonuses at the beginning of the school year. On the first
day of inservice, each returning staff member found a $1,000.00 check
attached to the 2015-2016 contract. I’ve got to be honest, I had
tears of joy running down my face as I saw the impact on the staff.
I’m so proud to work for this district; Alex community cares so much about
the wellbeing and the educational accomplishments of their students and
teachers. Our staff is like a family. For the life of me, I
can’t understand why any legislator would want to close this type of
environment; we should be trying to spread it around not kill it due to
some stupid political rhetoric.
What
are THREE things you wish to accomplish before the end of the school year?
- I
want to make it to the end of the school year without having to cut a
person or a program from my district.
- I
want to make coming to work at Alex a more enjoyable endeavor for my staff
and our students.
- I
want to hear the Republican Leadership & Governor admit that their
economic policies and the budget was a complete disaster for Oklahomans
this year.
Give FOUR
reasons why you remain in education in today’s rough culture.
- To
be honest, I have come too far to start over in another state! I’ve
got 18 years in with another 15 to go before I can even dream of
retiring……..
- My
mom is a retired teacher living alone, and I don’t want to be too far
away…….
- I’m
a Republican Educator, and we might become extinct if I leave the state.
- I
just love the fact that I am part of what they call the Oklahoma standard.
Which FIVE
people do you hope will take the challenge of answering these questions?
- Claudia
Swisher – Isn’t she Amazing?
- Rick
Cobb – One of the most influential bloggers out there.
- Joy
Hofmeister – I know she is super busy saving the #oklaed world, but wouldn’t
it be awesome to read things from her perspective!
- Rob
Miller – He writes one every day, just helping him with a new topic……
- Any
one of the legislators who want to go on record with their thoughts on
#oklaed……..
