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The Board's in Session

I mentioned in my last blog that during the last session of Day 3 training the media storm arrived.  So maybe it wasn't like a huge "storm" as you would associate with paparazzi or TMZ, but it felt pretty significant.

My principal (Rich Thomae), the Executive Director of Instructional Technology and Personalized Achievement Curriculum and Environment (Jake Henry),  and a reporter from the Northwest Observer (Mike Shaw) all showed up to gather information from the Northwest Middle teachers attending the training; that was where I came in.

First the interview for the Northwest Observer....questions first, pictures second..... that will all appear here a few weeks from now; stay tuned.

Then, Dr. Henry asked if I would speak to the Board of Education the following week.  He was to give an update to the board on the PACE initiative and had asked a PLEF, a principal, and a teacher(myself) to be part of the presentation. The anxiety inside me screamed “NO”, but out came a very confident and spontaneous “YES”.  I genuinely wanted to share the Good News.

I had about a week to mull it over, and mull it over I did.  It was important to me to make my “speech” informative, real, authentic, honest, and positive.  So I drafted, and drafted, and drafted some more. Practiced, practiced, and practiced some more.......And then…… it was time.

The whole day of the Board Meeting, honestly, I had much nervous anticipation.  I arrived at the county office at 6:00pm and the meeting began.

And the wait began........

At about 10:30pm it was GO TIME!!

IT WAS GREAT!!!   (See Video)

After the presentation to the board, it felt like a huge celebration began.  Everyone filtered out of the boardroom and into the lobby; everyone was shaking hands and patting each other on the back.

My principal, as well as our Regional Superintendent, stayed at the board meeting the whole night being their awesome supportive selves. All 12 PLEFS were there from the county; what a great group of exciting, positive, accomplished people...you can just feel the energy in that group. My principal introduced me to many County Office Personnel and there were many hugs and hand shakes to go around.
“I belong to him.”, pointing to my principal, came out of my mouth a few times as people attempted recruitment; that was amusing.  It was a scene of accomplishment, smiles, laughter, and positive energy.
How blessed I am to have been part of it!

But here is what I will always remember.......

Even though the meeting was still in session, and we were out in the lobby, Maurice "Mo" Green, our County Superintendent came out into the lobby to greet us and offer a "job well done".  What a wonderful, unexpected surprise!  He was very kind, warm, and appreciative.

That left me in the Cloud!!  (pun intended)

Check out the newspaper article link below for more information about the PACE Presentation to the Board:

to get tablet lessons - News-Record.com: Local News

...and GCS Teacher Amplify Training Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io97MISsT3I

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