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!!!