Monday, February 25, 2008

Busy Weeks and Weekends!

Wow, I have quite the crazy life right now. My weeks really are full until Friday, which I always have free. Sadly, that is usually spent doing homework for my online Masters class. Booo! Mondays I have bible study, Tuesdays class, Wednesdays are dinner with Julie/Allen, Thursdays are church. It is all filled with good stuff...but it is crazy. I feel like I don't see anyone anymore. :( I have a feeling it will get worse starting March 31, when I start going to class in Monterey Mondays and Wednesdays from 6-10 pm! Usually the weekends have a lot of resting time, but these past 2 Saturdays have been busy, but fun. Last weekend, our young adults group headed up to Dave and Busters. It was awesome! This Saturday, I headed up there again, for a birthday party. My dear friend from college, Mike, turned the big 24. Yesterday, I went to church and spent the rest of the day working, doing homework, watching the Jane Austen Book Club and the Oscars.

I have a feeling this is going to be a really random post. I also watched Becoming Jane this weekend. I am already a HUGE Jane Austen fan...and this movie was awesome! I thought Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy did an awesome job. Even though it was a modern movie, they still preserved a lot of the characteristics of the time. The Jane Austen Book Club was cute, too...just a lot of drama, basically. It got me motivated to ready the rest of her novels, since Ive only read Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. I ordered the anthology on Amazon, so I can get reading over Spring Break. Does anybody else have any movie recommendations that I can put on my Netflix list?

I also greatly enjoyed the movie Once. It won an Oscar last night for best song. I was super excited they won, because it was such a great movie. I usually don't like movies like that, but I really enjoyed it.




In other news, my mid year review is over, and my principal offered me tenure for next year. She also assured me that almost all teachers would receive their jobs back in july. That being said, it looks like I will stick around Santa Cruz for one more year. After the 2008-2009 school year, I will re-evaluate, and I will probably make a move to a different city or district. We will see what awesome plans God has for me in the next few years. Please continue to pray for direction and wisdom!


I'll leave you with some new pictures from the past few weeks....Hope you are all well!

Friday, February 15, 2008

pink slips...

From our Superintendent:

For PVUSD, the Governor’s proposal reduces revenue limit income and other unrestricted funding for next year by $8.8 million from current levels. (The State is recommending that Special Education revenue alone be reduced by $1.1 million below this year’s income level. Other recommended reductions from state funds include transportation, K-3 Class size reduction and 9th grade Class size reduction.). The restricted accounts are projected for a $3 million. In addition, we know that our employees’ step and column movement and a 7% additional cost in benefits will increase our District’s expenditures by $4 million. Although we have initiated an energy education savings program we know there will be increases in operating expenses due to inflation (e.g. insurance, and retiree benefits). With these proposed reductions in income and increased expenses, the bottom line is that we will need to cut $11.8 million relative to our current spending in order to have a balanced budget for 2008/09.

For certificated employees, the District has a requirement to send an initial notice of potential layoff by March 15. Even though layoff notices are being issued, we will do everything we can to retain as many programs and people as possible. For certificated employees, a final resolution of the possible layoff notice must occur by March 15. Please be assured that after this date and throughout the summer, we will continue to work to bring back people and programs as allowed by our budget situation.

**So much to think about. I am 99% sure I will be receiving a pink slip. I don't know how many people will be asked back. I can't be a person who sits around all summer to see if my job comes back. I have to have something lined about, mostly because I have loans to pay! Until then, we pray!

Monday, February 04, 2008

A weekend getaway...


This weekend, I was able to getaway to SLO for a whole 8 hours. Some old friends from college were in town visiting and I needed time away. It was tons of fun! I got time with the girls and time with the SLO fam. Alyssa came along for the ride and had fun, too. Hope you all had a great weekend, too(Except for the Giants winning, mine was great!)








Friday, February 01, 2008

Decisions...

This school year, has been, well....a rough one. At the end of this year I will probably be making some decisions about my career. I know I will always be a teacher, it is just a matter of where. Please be praying for me as I finish this school year and make decisions about the next one!