Carolyn's Corner

September 5, 2006

The summer evaporated in an instant and here we are back to a new year in good old PVUSD. The opening of the 2006-07 school year must have been pretty smooth; at least the office phone has been remarkably quiet so far! That usually means that things are going well! At the union, we’ve been pretty busy over the summer which may be why it seemed so short.

PVFT sent a delegation at the AFT convention in Boston in July. The work of AFT took place on the convention floor, and some of the resolutions passed by the body were historic for the national federation which tends to be much more conservative than the California delegates would like it to be.

Boston itself was an amazing experience. Although it is a beautiful and friendly city, what made the biggest impact on all of us was walking on the same streets and sitting in the same taverns as our country’s founders. To sit in the same room in Faneuil Hall where they initiated the Boston Tea Party; to visit a cemetery where Sam Adams, Paul Revere, and Mother Goose are buried; to stand on the exact site of the first public school in the world; to visit a tiny church with eighteen (18!) Tiffany stained glass windows; to walk down the steps to go into Cheers was an experience none of us will soon forget. If you ever get the chance, made sure you visit this grand city which is truly our country’s birthplace!

We didn’t have a second to catch our breath when we returned from the East Coast before we headed to Burlingame for our second annual RSRA Institute. In our great partnership with UFT and AFT, our neophyte district trainers excelled as they presented the four sessions to 140 participants, nearly all from PVUSD. Everyone seemed to be invigorated by the training, and most school teams left with a solid plan to roll RSRA components out at their sites. A huge and grateful thank you goes to our Ann Sisco for all her hard work in organizing the materials and registering everyone. Without her, the event wouldn’t have happened.

No sooner had we cleaned up after the institute than we were busy setting up and co hosting a breakfast for all new certificated employees in the district. Good food, a great Hawaiian décor, lots of goodies and solid information greeted all our new family that attended. Thanks go to our Lisa Massey for organizing the wonderful, welcoming environment that greeted everyone. If any new employees couldn’t attend the breakfast and would like the information and goodies provided to those who did, contact the office and we’ll get the stuff out to your site.

And now we’re all back to work together. This will be a challenging year for all of us. The election in November will be HUGE! Trustees, SCCOE Superintendent and governor’s races could impact us all for years to come. NCLB continues to increase its menacing sanctions while we all need to focus on our students and our sanity. Together we’ll wend our way through the labyrinth believing that the good guys will prevail. Perhaps for once, we’ll be right. Have a great year and keep the faith!

Carolyn Savino