The week that went like a blink of an eye

This week was a crazy busy week. Many people think when you are on a school board that all you do is attend one monthly meeting. Well…not quite…there is a LOT more time commitments than that.

A typical week will include one or two committee meetings. But there is more involved than just attending a meeting, there is preparation for the meeting, gathering feedback on agenda items or other items from my board colleagues, engaging in the meeting, then any follow-up including reporting back to my board collogues of the discussions at the meetings.

The school board is also responsible for expulsion of students when necessary. This is by far the HARDEST part of the job. We want all students to succeed and be responsible and productive members of society. This week unfortunately encompassed two expulsion hearings which took three hours one evening.

Another day held attending two committee meetings (one was unplanned due to another board member not being able to attend). If you watch the YouTube video explaining our committee structure (linked below) then you will learn that two board members sit on each of our committees. In between, there was a number of correspondences with our Superintendent and with constituents.

There are some fun and engaging times for us too. Thursday night, our Ignite Institute held their Fright Night, a free event for the community, and it was incredible. The kids did such a good job putting it together. It was fun seeing everyone enjoy the experience. Friday night was spent attending the last home football and senior game at Boone County High School. At both Ignite and BCHS, it was fun seeing the kids do dances to Michael Jacksons’ Thriller. I remember when the video was first released on MTv and waited in anticipation for it and then watched it over and over.

Friday afternoon I spent with our RISE staff and some professional development around trauma informed care. The passion and relationships our RISE staff has built with the kids is clearly evident when they talk about the kids. I appreciated that Melissa Adamchik with the Tri-State Trauma Network talked about the teachers making sure they take time to care for themselves. I will be connecting the principals to a couple of people in my PLN (professional learning network) such as Jim Sporleder of Paper Tigers fame and Dr. Genein Letford who I recently became acquainted with and am fascinated by her studies of how the brain develops. Afterwards, I finally got a tour of the renovations recently completed at RISE and the transformation is incredible.

Sprinkled throughout all of the above where multiple meetings for other boards & committees which I am on, Rotary Club of Florence responsibilities, overseeing two interns from Ignite (if we want our young people prepared for the working world, we ourselves have to commit to provide work based learning opportunities and mentor them), supporting a client and meeting with a number of schools for my real job.

The weather is gorgeous, mother nature always refills my bucket, going to try to spend some time outdoors. Hopefully this weather lasts through Halloween and the kids have a nice night for Trick or Treating.