A Special Visit

During my five years in Douglas, I really tried hard to get parents to understand how important it is for them to be involved in education.  I have written many times about the wonderful program "The Family Leadership Institute."  For whatever reasons, there were some people who were threatened by this.

I got to know so many wonderful parents and have continued a relationship with them since I left five years ago. 

This past weekend one of the parents, Melissa (Silva) Barraza  and her two wonderful daughters, spent the night with us.  We had a wonderful dinner and then came back to swim.  I think they all enjoyed it.  Melissa got to meet Dave and he really enjoyed hearing her stories about my time in Douglas.  Both of her girls are amazing.  On Sunday, Melissa picked up her fiance, Rob, and we got to meet him and had a late lunch.

 I so value these friendships and so value my time in Douglas.  Melissa said that some of the things we did continue because people were empowered.  I hope that is true.

Best part, I got some fresh red chili powder, tortillas, and a Mexican mask.  Love you, Melissa, and love our connection and continued relationship. 

 

My Heart is Touched!

 

Today my heart was so touched by the first picture.  I had brought Dave's high school football picture back from Butte to put on the wall in our Irish pub, Shenanigan's.   He had it on the wall in the basement of our Butte home.  

Patrick put it up last night and it looked great.  Unfortunately, the glass was cracked so he said he wanted to take it to get the glass fixed which he did.  I told him to go ahead and get a frame, but Dave had told him that his dad had made the frame so he was trying to preserve it.  The first picture if the two of them working on the frame.  The second picture is the one I love of Dave when he was in high school playing football, which is his first love (well, I could be wrong as there is golf).

Dave told me today that when he was married, his ex wife wouldn't let him put up this picture in their house. I don't want to go into anything about ex crap, but it made me sad.  I just didn't realize how much it meant to him that I want to put this picture in our house.  I love it because it is who Dave is.  

The fact that Patrick gets things like this makes me so happy and I love the relationship that he and Dave have.  IT WARMS MY HEART!

Post 5--COVID19

This will be a short one.  Dave and I have been really good about wearing our masks.  However, Montana's wonderful governor issued an order for masks everywhere.  I was so glad this happened.  We have been both been good, but I usually have to remind/ask Dave where his mask is.  We keep ones in the cars and we have ones that can be thrown away.  

Today for probably the 15th time, I had to ask him as we were leaving, where is your mask.  He has to go back into the house and find it. I had to "lecture" him about leaving ones on the table in the kitchen and in the cars.  And he is 68.  Can you imagine what it would be like to have to deal with this with a kinder kiddo?  I was an elementary principal for too many years to even begin to go there with this.  This says it all!!

Post 4--COVID19

I continue to struggle with the fact that we can't make a decision about the start of school and bringing our kids, teachers and staff back into buildings with the rage of COVID.  I don't understand why we can't make a decision, even if it is the wrong one. Limbo is not the way to be. I know what my decision will be and it will be that we don't do any harm to anyone.  

This is real.  A little bit ago, I read about a very popular Chandler teacher and coach who just passed away from complications.  From everything I have read, he was beloved.  My concern is that we will be reading or hearing about these deaths on a daily basis if we don't make a decision. 

One of the most amazing teachers I worked with during my time at Gilbert El contracted COVID along with her husband.  They live in Gilbert and Washington.  She has been keeping us informed on Bill's progress. He is considered a "miracle" by the medical professionals.  I have daily read or texted her and talked to her a few times.   She has been okay in terms of how awful this disease is.  But hearing her worries and her journey has been heartbreaking to say the least.  

Bill beat the odds and was released yesterday.  However, they don't know the long term prognosis of what he will deal with.  She was so excited to get to pick him up yesterday.  She sent this email to us this morning and I asked her if I could share it.  She said I could.  THIS IS REAL!!!

There is no other way to say it other than yesterday was traumatic.

First of all, Bill called early to say he was being discharged.  I called the discharge social worker and set up a noon meeting to go over Bill's discharge papers, review his medications (there are 13 of them), and to meet with the doctor.

Terri wanted to drive me to Issaquah, which turned out to be a bigger blessing than I imagined.  

When we arrived in Issaquah, we were met by a team of women who were screening visitors for fever and questioning people about coughs, loss of smell, etc.   Since I was the wife of a patient being discharged, I was allowed up to the floor to see Bill.  Terri could not even enter the hospital.  She had to wait outside in the sun (and it was 85 degrees in Issaquah).   Luckily, she had a book to read.

I went up to the floor and peeked into Bill's room.  He was sitting on the bed with his back to me.  A nurse was combing his hair.   I had to put on a gown, gloves, and I already had a mask on.  I quietly walked into the room and wrapped my arms around Bill.   He started to sob.  He sobbed and sobbed.   I cried.   We just held on to each other.   Later I asked him if he thought I was a nurse.  He told me no, that he recognized my scent (he said smell) and my touch.   After we regained our composure, we visited and waited.   We waited, and we waited.   The doctor had seven patients to discharge and I suspect we were the last because we sat on that bed for exactly 3 hours.   The discharge social worker never came in.  The pharmacist handed me papers through a crack in the door and then called me on my phone to go over the medications.  The doctor never came to see us.  Only Nurse Taylor checked in from time to time.  She said she had told Dr. Vu we had a ferry to catch and a long drive home, but Taylor said after a while the doctor was going to do what she was going to do and nothing she could say would make her hurry up.   

Finally, we were discharged and made our way downstairs and out the door where Terri was patiently waiting.  We decided to take the Edmonds Ferry home as the I-5 was packed with traffic.  We missed the ferry by about 20 minutes and had to wait another hour for the next ferry.   By this time Bill was exhausted and hot.  He wanted to sit in the backseat so he could lie down if he needed to rest.  But he was so uncomfortable and miserable, we all just grit our teeth and persevered until we arrived in our neighborhood.  During our ferry wait, Dr. Vu called to tell me Bill's second COVID test was positive.  So now, Terri and I are once again in a two-week quarantine.   She had moved out most of her things, so while we were heading home, Mike had to move everything back into our house.

We are going to see if we can appeal the test and get Bill retested.  He has no symptoms, no cough, no fever, etc.   If he can't be retested soon, then all of the doctor appointments we have to make will be jeopardized and I don't know if the home health nurse will come to the house.   I will find out about all of this today.  I am going to be assertive because Bill had one negative test and one positive test in two days and it has been about 40 days since he first had symptoms of COVID.

Our Cape George friends and neighbors were waiting for us to drive by.  There were flags, air horns, signs, balloons, and cheers.  However, Bill was so exhausted and we were so exhausted we barely could take it all in.  The trip caused Bill's feet to swell and his skin to look modelly.   He fell into bed.

Walking into the house was not difficult.  Jay had lent us his walker, the kind with four wheels, a seat, and hand brakes.   But we soon realized Bill is too weak to use it.  He couldn't maneuver it well at all, he couldn't squeeze the brakes well, and we, including Bill, were afraid he would fall.  We were told that if he fell, he would have to immediately go to the ER.  So falling is not on our agenda.  Especially since he's COVID positive. If he fell, he would have to go back to the isolated COVID  ER room he had been in before he was admitted to the hospital in PT.  So since having a walker was vital, Mike called some people in Cape George to ask if they knew of anyone with a walker we could use.  He discovered the Cape George office had walkers and such in the basement, so he called the secretary of our Cape George Club at around 9:00.  She promptly met him at the office and handed him a walker.  By 9:20 PM Mike had put the walker on our front porch and Bill had a walker like the one he had used at the hospital.   Eventually, Jay's walker will be great for Bill, because we'll need it for doctors' appointments and such.   

Bill is frail.  He has lost a lot of hair, especially on the back of his head from being on his back for so long.  We had a rough night.  He was up about every 2 hours needing to use the bathroom.   I didn't sleep well because I was listening to his breathing and to give him medication.

On the upside, Bill felt better this morning.  He no longer has swollen feet and his color is better.  He took his morning meds and he has another round of medication to take in a few minutes.  Then I'm going to give him a shower.  He hasn't had a shower for 33 days.  He only had sponge baths.   He is going to shave.  He has eczema on his cheeks we want to clear up before he grows back his beard.   Then he is going to eat breakfast.   At least that's the plan.   

I've included some photos.  One is of me wearing a PPE hack.  I have to be careful tending a patient with C-Diff.   I'll include photos of the parade in another email.

Thanks for the support.

Sue

 

Post 3--COVID19

I know that the economy and money are extremely important to get our country back.  I understand that many people are suffering because of missing work and having a hard time getting unemployment benefits.  I get all of this.   Fortunately, Dave and I aren't having to deal with this because we are retired and have our benefits as a result of working hard for many years.

Funding for our schools if we go back has to be increased to provide for all that is needed to keep everything clean and up to CDC standards.  I believe that will mean that there will be more staff needed to keep classrooms clean and sanitized.  When I was a principal, our custodians were stretched thin.  I can't imagine that it has gotten any better.

But one particular issue that I absolutely believe has to be looked at is the cost for one case of a person going to the hospital with COVID19.  My friend's husband is going home today after 32 days in the hospital and I believe that 21 of those days were on a ventilator.  Many people need PT, OT and speech therapy after recovering. I can't imagine what the cost of just one person will be.

I would never base any decision I make about this horrible virus on the financial piece,  but I think it is important that we look into the medical costs and what it could do to our insurance costs in the future.  I don't have the answers to this question, but that alone is a scary thing.  I imagine that the costs are astronomical for just one patient.  Think about multiplying that by an unknown number of employees who come down with this awful virus and have to be hospitalized.   

I remember many years ago when we wrote a grant and hired the first social worker in our district.  I had a conversation with her about some of her job duties.  The main reason I wanted a social worker was to help meet children's social and emotional needs so that they could succeed academically.  However, I told her that one thing I would like her to work on was attendance.  Not only should a child be at school for academic and social needs, their presence helped with funding.  I wanted to be able to keep this position after the grant ran out and when you can "bring in money" that can help with decision making about keeping a position.  I am proud to say that as of this school year, every school will have a social worker!!  So 30 plus years later, maybe that part helped keep these very important positions!

Post 2--COVID 19

I am going to start out by saying that I hate to wear a mask!!  It is not fun and fogs my glasses. I have had to figure out the right ones that I can keep on.  However,  I will wear one and continue to wear one because it is the right thing to do.  My health is good and I hope to keep it that way.

I just don't get how wearing a mask has become political.  It is beyond anything I can comprehend.  I don't understand why anyone thinks that is taking away freedom.  We have to wear clothes.  I can't imagine going out with no clothes on--that would not be a pretty sight!  Restaurants have signs that say, no shoes, no shirts, no service and have for years.  Why hasn't there been massive protests over this with people with no shoes and no shirts on?????  To my knowledge, that hasn't happened.

The SCIENTISTS are saying that if people will just comply with this, it could really make a difference in controlling this horrible virus.  Isn't it better to be inconvenienced for awhile than to be dead or living with serious conditions because of being sick with COVID?  

If we want our economy to be brought back, this seems like a very simple solution.   

Montana's Governor, Steve Bullock, mandated mask wearing last week throughout the state.  For the most part, I see people complying.  I haven't seen any demonstrations here in Butte, but that doesn't mean there haven't been.

Although Montana's cases have spiked,  it is a numerical spike because of the low numbers because the Governor had the foresight to close things down early on and then stick to a phased reopening.   I have been impressed with the way that the social distancing and cleaning has taken place and that we are able to actual do some things that we couldn't do if we lived in Arizona.

I am just saddened that we have come to this point in our society.  All of the ugliness and hate seems to be spreading as fast as the virus is.  

I want things to get back to normal.   I want our kids and teachers to get back to school.  I want sports to return as I miss watching games on television and in person.   I want to be able to travel.  But if we all don't come together,  I am deathly afraid that this is not going away anytime soon.  

 

 

Post 1--COVID19

Today Kerri and I went to the Butte Farmer's Market.  There was an old white lady standing on the corner with a poster board sign saying "COVID is a lie."  It was the first time in my life I actually hoped that someone standing on a corner with a sign might be right.  However, it was just a hope as we are in the midst of the worst of times with this awful virus.

It is beyond anything I can wrap my brain around that this horrible disease has become political.  I have spent the last two weeks listening to teachers crying because they are afraid.  I have read comments on Facebook about this being a hoax and that face masks infringe on our rights (we do have to wear clothes).  I hate wearing a face mask, but I know that is what needs to be done right now.

I have had asthma for the better part of my 71 years on this earth.  I have spent time in the hospital through the years because my breathing was becoming a problem.  There was a period of time that I had a "thing" where I had to measure my lung capacity and if it wasn't at a certain level, I had to do something about it.  I have had a breathing machine that I needed to use to be able to breathe.  When I was a kid in Douglas, I remember when the smelter smoke would settle on the town and I could hardly breathe.  And at that time, we didn't have inhalers. I have LIVED not being able to breathe.

When I found Dr. Agren (and now Dr. Farrel) in about 2008, I got a new lease on life with the treatment from the Scandinvian countries that has basically "cured" my asthma and I have been able to lose weight, exercise, and lead a full life.

This has been a very difficult few weeks for me.  I have had to listen to teachers crying because we haven't made a decision about opening schools.  I have had words with people I care about which is so absolutely disturbing to me.  I have contemplated resigning from the board because I can't be a part of making a life or death decision. I am so distraught that this has become political and we have to find a way to make this decision in a strategic way. I understand this at a certain level, but how is preventing death a strategic decision?

I dealt with too many deaths as an educator.  I will always remember having to go to a classroom and tell children that their teacher had cancer or had died or that a student was killed over the weekend. It happened too many times. 

I have to figure out how to not be so passionate and how to not take this personally.  That is my problem and that is why writing is important to me.  

This is just post #1.  I know that I don't have many people who read what I write, but that is okay.  I can still write and maybe someday someone will go back and read what I wrote about.   

I have always believed that hope is the single most important part of life, but right now that seems to be a hard concept because there is way too much division on something that we should be looking at science and not emotions.

Celebrating our Second Wedding Anniversary (a few months late)!

Dave and I were not able to really celebrate our second wedding anniversary in May.  We had a nice dinner at home, but couldn't go out or do anything special because of the issues going on with COVID19.   That was okay.  However, even though we are "old," it is still very important for us to celebrate finding each other and the wonderful relationship that we have developed.  

Last week, Dave made a reservation at a cabin in Ennis that we stayed in last summer when we went to Yellowstone.  It has a restaurant and casino right on the property.  Ennis isn't far from Butte and is on the Madison River.  It isn't far from Butte and a beautiful drive (as are most drives here).

Dave went golfing on Thursday.  I drove the golf cart for the first 9 holes. It was so windy that I decided to go in and read until he finished.  The golf course was amazing and according to Dave, a difficult one, especially with the wind.  Golf makes him happy, so that makes me happy!!

We gambled a bit and then had a wonderful dinner on Thursday night.  Wednesday we met some friends from Gilbert at an amazing steak house.   

All and all, it was a very good three days and a much needed break for both of us.  What a good man I was fortunate to find at such a late time in my life!  We are enjoying the time that we have together and I will always be thankful for that!!

 

COVID19 and being a Governing Board Member

These were my words tonight spoken from my heart:

I will be entering my 50^th year of education in August and in May I made a statement that a decision to vote about graduation was the hardest decision I ever had to make.   I never realized then that I might have to make a decision that could possibly be a matter of life or death. 

I spent 38 years of my life in a school setting—17 years as a teacher and 21 years as an elementary principal.  I love working with children, educators, and parents.  I loved getting hugs and interacting with people.  To this day, I. am still in contact with many former students, parents, and educators and I value that connection so very much. It means more to me than words can express.   Nothing can replace the community that is built in individual classrooms and in schools.   I will always believe that is the best education that a child can get.   They need to learn much more than just our curriculum.  They need to be able to find out how to solve problems with others, how to play, how to face failure and how much our educators care about them.  They (and I) need hugs.  And I know that not being at school can hurt our children’s mental health.  I totally understand that.  But I would rather deal with those issues down the road than deal with death. 

When I ran for the Board, I knew that there would be times that I would have to make a decision that I may not totally believe in but that I knew that it was most important to this community that I love. I have chosen to live and work in Gilbert and sometimes a decision is made because that is what the people want. This is very different because this could be a life or death decision. I am saddened that this has become political.  There is absolutely nothing political in what I am saying right now. It is about the value of the lives of our children, families, parents and community that I care deeply about.

I have many memories of growing up in Douglas.  Most of them are extremely positive. But there are two that have always stood out to me, now more than ever.  I remember when polio was rampant and we couldn’t go to the public pool in the summer. I remember a very prominent doctor whose daughter had polio and was in an iron lung. They would bring her to Sunday Mass and I can still hear the iron lung breathing for her. She later died. I remember when a vaccine came out and how happy everyone was. I also remember when I was in third grade. My grandmother died in November.  Shortly after, my teacher, Sister Beatrice Ann died suddenly. She had been my first grade teacher and then was my third grade teacher. It was devastating as a child to lose my teacher.   I don’t want to ever put a child through this. 

With that being said, I know that I can’t and won’t make a decision that could cause even one person to die. I truly understand that going back to our schools is what is needed but that was before this horrible virus exploded in our world.    Throughout my career and life, I have felt the loss of students, parents, and co-workers. I have done more than my share of eulogies for people who I have cared deeply about.    It was devastating to say the least.  But a decision I made did not cause any death.  I have been told that children can de in a bus accident or on a field trip that we have approved.  I understand that, but that is an accident.  This, to me, is completely different.  We are in uncharted waters dealing with a health risk that we have never seen in our lifetime.

I know that tonight’s vote is only to approve the possibility of three ways in which we can go back in August.  As we all know,  there are many variables that can happen between now and August 5^th through the 17^th with the Governor’s Executive Order. I also feel strongly that things have changed drastically since we did the first surveys.   I absolutely believe that we need to follow science and metrics.  I can only hope and pray that the trend we are seeing now, doesn’t continue.  And I respect the varying opinions of the different scientists and professional organizations.  And that is just it, there are so many varying opinions on what is safe and not safe.   

Please know that these words come from my heart and my heart has always been with our children, our families, and our educators. It has been my life and that is why I continue to do what I do when I could just be retired!  I love GPS and I love being a GPS Board Member. I have been so blessed in my life to be able to serve this wonderful community at so many different levels.

Reflecting on My Time in Douglas

In the midst of having so much time to myself because of all that is going on in the world, I have had a chance to reflect on many things in my life.   Yesterday I was looking for something in a folder on my desktop.  In it I found a couple of documents that made me both angry and sad for many reasons.

When I went to Douglas from 2010-2015, I went there for the best of reasons.  The first and foremost was that I wanted to give my Aunt Teresa more time in Douglas.  I always said that was my first motive and it was.  She was 87 when I got there in 2010 and she wouldn't have been able to be alone much longer.  

I was also excited to be able to give back to the wonderful community that I grew up in as the superintendent.  I had never had any aspirations to be a superintendent and will always say that being an elementary principal was the best job in the world.  I did that for 21 years and this gave me a new and different opportunity.  I couldn't have picked a worse time (other than maybe right now) to be a superintendent.  It was during the worse cuts in education in my memory because of the great recession.

The first two years went very well and I really loved my job.  There was one community member who made my life hell but not right away.  I recently found some documents that I thought I destroyed.  The documents I found were from 2017--two years after I left Douglas.  I had to hire an attorney to write him a cease and desist letter.  He had sent letters to my fellow Governing Board members in Gilbert about me.  When I ran for the Board, he notified the teachers' association about what a horrible person I was.  I showed him--I won by a landslide.  

If I wrote all of the ridiculous and awful things he did, this post would be longer than probably allowed on Blogspot!

During those three years, I was constantly harassed by him.  I would get emails from him on holidays such as Christmas, Mother's Day, etc.  I think I counted one time and I had over 1100 emails that he sent calling me incompetent (that was one of the nicer things) and saying awful things about me.  I was a reader at St. Luke's at Saturday Night Mass.  At least twice a month I would get an email from him on Saturday evening using some of the gospel that I wrote and say how could I be so hypocritical.  Every Board meeting, he would do a call to the public at least once to trash me.  It was so stressful and so unwarranted.   I truly have never hated anyone in my life like I hated him.

The sad part is that he had been a teacher for many years in Douglas.  His file contained so many letters about inappropriate relationships with students.  I absolutely believe that he was a child predator and I always reminded myself that what he did to me I could handle because I was an adult.  I know for a fact that he was after students because he went after my sister, Judy, when she was in high school.  If he did what he did today, I believe he would have  been fired, lost his teaching certificate and probably been in jail. But times were different.  I also believe that when people get away with things for years, they become emboldened.

Seeing those documents kind of sent me into a tailspin for a few hours.  But I have to remember that I did what was right.  I am so glad that my career didn't end with that experience--it is still going on.

This awful man died two days after my aunt did in July, 2017.  He had a heart attack.  In all of my life, I have never, EVER been glad to have someone leave this earth.  However, I am so glad that he is no longer able to do the damage to so many people that he did through the years.  I survived and came out stronger.  Many of the young girls he abused probably can't say the same thing....  I pray for them and for the people who allowed him to get away with so much so many years.  Some of them are still in positions that in my opinion they shouldn't be.  They have to live with that and I don't!!

Jean Woods--An Incredible Educator

Yesterday I posted a bit about losing Jean to cancer.  I didn't use her name because I was writing about something else.  However, I want to share this letter that I wrote for her to receive this award, which she did.  I am going to repost the picture.  She will be missed.  I had so much respect for her.  Jean was amazing and GPS will miss her dearly.   She was one of the best.  The best part is that I was able to attend the ceremony when she received this award.  But this award, was just a small part of the incredible person she was.

September 20, 2017

To Whom It May Concern:

It is not only a pleasure but a privilege for me to write this letter of support for Jean Woods for the Arizona Administrator of the Year to be awarded by the Arizona Association of School Psychologists.  

I am writing this letter as the President of the Gilbert Governing Board.   However, I would like to give you a little background about myself before I explain to you why I feel that Jean is so deserving of this award.

My career has been as an educator for 46 years.  I started out as a special education teacher in 1971.    I  taught special education, then regular ed where I had  many students on IEP’s.   I then spent 21 years as the principal of Gilbert Elementary School.   After that I was the Superintendent of Douglas Unified School District from 2010-2015 when I  retired.    I moved back to Gilbert and ran for the Board last November and won.  I was elected GPS Board President In January.  I am telling you this because I have had a very long career in education.

During my tenure as principal of Gilbert Elementary School for 21 years, I was privileged to have many of the District special education programs on my campus.    I absolutely loved working with the children and parents during that time.   In 2005, I was awarded the Arizona School Psychologist Administrator of the Year award.   I have received a number of awards during my time as an educator.   I will always believe it was because of the incredible teachers, staff, children and parents I had the privilege to work with  during those years.    However, this award was the absolute highlight of my career and has meant more to me than any other award I was ever given.  And that is because I believe that working with special education students  is a blessing in so many ways.  

During my many years in GPS, I have known Jean as a teacher and we were colleagues as principals.   I always had the utmost respect for the work that she did at so many levels.   When I became a board member, I saw the incredible work that Jean has been doing at her school.  I would have never known that if I had not had this role.  

I have had the opportunity to visit with Jean on several occasions and discuss with her the importance of her role with all students.   I absolutely love her passion for working with students who aren’t always successful in school and her willingness to understand why.   She truly cares about all children and does everything in her power to make sure that all children have access to all services and everything a junior high has to offer.  

I know from our many conversations how much Jean cares about the success of all students and how much she does to insure that each and every student has the opportunity to be successful.

Jean values the input of her school psychologists and supports them totally.   I know this to be a fact because we have had conversations about it.   She understands that all students need social, physical, and mental health support and she is always there to make sure that this happens.  

Her school community, because of her leadership, is extremely inclusive of all children and her students and parents support the diversity of needs.  

She is continually striving to make sure that all of her students not only get their academic needs met, but also their social/ emotional needs met.   She understands that a child cannot learn unless their basic human needs are taken care of.  

Jean is a role model to other principals.  In my interactions with district principals, I have found that Jean is so well respected.    What I admire the most about her, is that she never draws attention to herself.   She just goes to school every day and does the very best she can do for all of  her students.

During my campaign for GPS Board, I got to know a number of Desert Ridge parents.   Most of them have students who do well academically.   What impressed me the most was that these parents love that Jean includes all students.  These parents appreciate that she is an advocate for all children.   I heard over and over again that she includes each and every child.   That doesn’t always happen with parents of children who are high achievers.  Sometimes these parents can be critical of special needs programs and children.  But the fact that Jean has instilled in her community acceptance and inclusiveness of all students speaks volumes in my opinion.

I absolutely believe that Jean is more than worthy of this incredible honor.  I hope that your association will bestow this award to her.  I will say it again, to me, this is the greatest award I ever received and I can’t think of anyone more deserving than Jean Woods.  

I give her my highest recommendation.  Please feel free to call me at 520 368 2700 should you need any more information.   Jean truly cares about all children and she gives 110% for each and every student at Desert Ridge.. I can’t think of a better administrator anywhere who deserves this honor more than Jean.

Thank you for your time in reading this.  I know that Jean will make your association proud at so many levels.

Respectfully,

Sheila Rogers

GPS Governing Board President

46 Years as an Educator

Being a School Board Member During This Time of COVID19

When I became an educator 49 years ago, no one every prepared me for the number of deaths I would have to deal with through the years.  

I remember the first time I had to deal with this was either my second or third year of teaching special ed.  I had a child who had some emotional issues.  I loved him, but his behaviors would sometimes get in his way.  His mom was incredible and we had scheduled a time to meet after school one day.  I waited for her to come to the meeting and she never showed up. I found that hard to believe because she was so supportive.  Later that evening, I found out that she was killed in a car accident on her way to meet with me.  That broke my heart.

Through my years of teaching, I had parents die and had to deal with the child in the aftermath of this.  We didn't have the emotional support for our kids in those times, so I just did the best I could do.

After I became a principal, I dealt with so many deaths--from children, to staff, and teachers.  One week, we had a child die of cancer and lost a staff member's child in an auto accident all in the same week.   I remember raising money for a funeral of a child one time.  I always said that as an administrator, I had to be the strong one while everyone else fell apart.  And even though I think I did a good job of it, I was hit hard.   And then being asked to do eulogies was an honor and at the same time so difficult.

Death is a part of life and I have no control of any of it.  When I taught for NAU, I always had my sister, Judy, come and do a presentation for teachers on how to deal with a death in their classroom or school.  Judy had worked at Hospice and her presentation was incredible.  Even though it was extremely emotional, I got so many positive comments about this in my evaluations.   I always told the students that I felt this is the one  area that we don't prepare educators for and it will happen.

Fast forward to 2020 and the pandemic.  Our schools have been closed since March.  The virus has killed almost 100,000 Americans since March. States are starting to reopen, some more slowly than others.

Tonight we are going to discuss a slow reopening of summer programs and sports.  We are also going to discuss different options for the start of the school year at the end of July.

I am so torn by this.  I totally understand that we need to get back to our lives, but there are so many conflicting opinions out there as to how and when this will happen.  Many scientists believe that there will be another waive in the fall. I personally think it will happen sooner than that based on the behaviors I have seen over this past weekend.  I truly hope that I am wrong.

I am agonizing over this.  Never did I ever think that I might have to make a decision that could lead to the death of anyone.  I know that we have guidelines to follow, but I feel that the state and federal governments have let us down on many of these guidelines.  Districts are being left to make decisions that could lead to more deaths or not.  I am not sure I could live with myself if I made a decision that would lead to even one death.   However, I see both sides of this issue.  

My only thought on this as that I don't know if I can be a part of making such a decision.  I hope that in the next few weeks, our leaders at levels much higher than me can help us with this.  I am hoping that our scientists can come up with a vaccination or that there will be some kind of miracle that happens.  

I can only say I will do my best and pray that my best doesn't cause anyone to lose a life.   

And as I am writing this blog post, I just got a text from our wonderful superintendent about the death of one of our principals.  I have known her for many years and she was so supportive of me running for the Board. She had cancer so it wasn't unexpected.   She was loved by her community and will be missed.  She was a wonderful human and a wonderful principal. 

The Beauty of the Rockies

I love sitting in our living room in Butte looking out at the Rockies.  I also love sitting on the deck when it is warm enough and looking at the beauty.  The view from the back of the house is also incredible. 

The other night I saw this across from us.   The sun was hitting the mountain in a way I have never seen before.  I truly wish I could capture the beauty in photography like some people do.  I was able to "edit" this a little bit and it did come out fairly good.

It is just so relaxing to me to be here and enjoy the beauty and this home with Dave.  I still sometimes have to pinch myself that my life has changed in this incredible way.  We (along with most people in the country right now) are spending just about 24/7 together.  It amazes me that it still is going so well and that I am sharing this life with a wonderful man who truly loves me and puts up with me!!!  That in itself is a miracle!! And he still opens the car door and other doors for me.  I have never had a gentleman like Dave in my life!!!


However, he does need to go fishing or golfing soon!!!

Graduation and End of Year 2020

Another long post from me (and it is written with a few tears in my eyes).  First of all, I would like to thank all of our wonderful educators, administrators, and support staff for making these past few months the best that they could under very difficult circumstances. And kids and parents, there are no words. 

When I was an elementary principal, one of my favorite end of the year activities was kindergarten graduation. Then we started doing the sixth grade walk and I will admit at both of these events, I shed a few tears. I always "hated" the end of the year and saying good-bye to kids for the summer, especially our sixth graders. I have seen so many posts from teachers about how sad that they are that closure looked so different--no hugs and no end of the year fun activities. 

This week was supposed to be our high school graduations and baccalaureate ceremonies. Over the years I have been on the GPS Board, I have been able to attend several of these activities. And I loved it!! To our 2020 seniors, thank you for all that you have done and your positive spirit. I know all of us wish things could have been different. I do believe that GPS did probably the most outstanding graduation anywhere. Tonight this ceremony will be available. 

Thank you to our wonderful District administration and high school principals and staff for making this happen. 

Students, you will go down in history for this year and what has happened. You are the future of our country and our world and I know you will make a difference. I am sorry that it ended this way for you but I tend to look at the positives. So many wonderful things have happened to celebrate each of you in a different way. On a personal level, I have so loved handing out diplomas at graduations over the last few years. I am missing that. I particularly miss being at the Mesquite High graduation where I always was able to say that I gave many of these wonderful kiddos their kindergarten diplomas. So congratulations to all of our students at every level. You have so much to be proud of and I am sure that we are going to be better because of what you will do in the future!!!! I can not express how much being an educator at so many levels for 49 years means--this year more than ever.

Upgrades to our Butte home

When we bought the house attached to our house last summer, we spent a lot to get it fixed up.  It is the house where Dave grew up and we are living on the other side.  Both sides are about 3000 square feet.   We have about 2 1/2 acres and six garages and a shed.   It is absolutely beautiful.  We are very fortunate to have found a wonderful renter who has made her house look great.

We hadn't put a lot into our house as it is a second home.   We have had to do quite a bit to the home in Gilbert so we haven't really done a lot here.  Plus we didn't have to do much.  We fixed up the bathroom in the basement last summer.  Our first summer here, we bought a new bed and put our bed downstairs.   Dave has his aunt's old 50's furniture downstairs.  It is really cool and reminds me of what we had when I was growing up in Douglas.  He has an old, but really nice stereo system down there.  However, the television was from 1999 and was sitting on an old Quasar that didn't work.  But the really great part is that the downstairs is a totally private place where we can have guests.   There is a separate entrance.   Sometimes when I want to watch something else on television, I go down there.  It is comfortable.

We did make some upgrades to the bathroom upstairs as there had not been any in many years.  Taking a shower was a bit of an issue and it is great now.

One of the outbuildings that we got when we bought the house is a hot tub room.  I had "dreams" of having a she shed.  However, because of the weather and how much would have to be done, we decided to do a few things here.  We had no fireplace which amazes me here in Butte.  So we bought a new television stand with an electric fireplace and a new bigger television. We got rid of the ones downstairs and moved the stand and tv from upstairs to the downstairs.  So now the basement is fully functional for anyone who comes to stay or for either of us to get away from each other--not such a bad idea in these current times.   I love a fireplace and this one is great.  It changes colors and even puts out heat or you can just have the ambience.

I love being here.  Now I just have to work on him for the side by side!!!