pink slips....

http://www.register-pajaronian.com/V2_news_articles.php?heading=0&page=&story_id=3734

This article is about our School and District...my roommate is interviewed in it. :)

Please be praying for our school and district. It is devestating to us all, as we are really unsure of our futures. Thanks!

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!

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!

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!)

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!

Tahoe...

Too tired to write...so will post more later. Went to Tahoe last weekend with the young adult group. Lots of fun!

More babies!

Adam Velazquez Serriteno was born today at 7:19 am. He was 7lbs and 2 oz. I work with his mama, Sandra. I have become great friends with the whole family. They called me at 7:30 to tell me and soon after, I was on my way to the hospital! I am super excited to get to be a part of Adam's life. :) They're telling me I have to stay t Radcliff for another 10 years to be his teacher....don't know about that...Congrats Sandra and family!

NYC!

We had an AWESOME time in New York. I wish we could have gone for longer! The weather was at record high at 70! We went to Rockefeller, times square, ellis island, ground zero, trinity church, 5th avenue, central park, the Met, Hairspray, Grease, and lots more! Enjoy the pictures!

Old Friends, New Fun!

These past few days, I was able to go visit one of my dear friends from college, Melanie. We became good friends our last year in college, in the credential program. Mel and her husband, Peter, were such a blessing to me during that year at Cal Poly. The last time we saw each other was June 2006! We have kept in touch, but I decided it had been way to long. Plus, Mel just brought Joshua Peter Thomas into the world on November 29th! He is so, so precious. We enjoyed just sitting around, catching up, sipping hot chocolate, touring the places that she grew up in, eating yummy mexican food and playing with Joshua. I so enjoyed my baby time and being able to help Mel out. Here are some fun pictures of Joshua. Hope you are all having a great 2008!

Christmas at home

Merry (late) Christmas to you all! I hope you had an awesome time celebrating our Savior's birth.

We opened presents at 545 am. Yes, you read that right. My step-dad had to get to work, so all presents were opened by 630. I'm still recovering. Then to grandma's then to dad's. It was all a fun time, and really fun to see the family. I got an electric toothbrush and blanket, some movies, lots of teacher stuff and a wonderful Nintendo Wii. It's awesome.My new favorite toy.My arm is actually sore from playing so much! Should be fun to have for parties and such! I hope everyone is having a great break. I will post pictures when I am home!

Charger fans at their finest...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1Ex8crGPjYs


I swear I don't know these guys...I never went to church with them or anything....

December is here!

I can't believe Christmas is here! wow! December has been a fun month for me. I got to celebrate my birthday all weekend, since it was on a Friday. Friday night we went to dinner and out on the town. Saturday was our young adults Christmas party and Sunday, we had about 30 people over to celebrate my birthday. It was awesome! I am so blessed to have that many loved ones in my Santa Cruz life. I enjoy being with them, all the time!

Birthday weekend:

Tomorrow, I head home to San Diego, for a week. I am looking forward to seeing all of the family! After that, I head back to Santa Cruz for new years, Visalia for a few days to visit Mel and baby Joshua, and then it's off to New York!! Soooooo excited!!


Christmas party:

Tomorrow, I head home to San Diego, for a week. I am looking forward to seeing all of the family! After that, I head back to Santa Cruz for new years, Visalia for a few days to visit Mel and baby Joshua, and then it's off to New York!! Soooooo excited!!

School ended well this December. I will miss my kids dearly for the next 3 weeks. The new year will be a new challenge for me, as I begin taking classes for my masters degree. Starting January 23rd, I will be enrolled in a masters program for a year. I will have to take two classes a week, even in the summer. :( Luckily, each class is only 1 night a week. To start, I will have one class on Tuesdays and one online(because its full). I think that will help me ease into being back in school. It should be crazy, but totally worth it, in the end. Well, Christy is here to scrapbook with me all day and night! yay!! :) I will update more after Christmas! Merry Christmas and remember the little one in the manger!

california missions!

Every Monday, I teach social studies in the after school program. We get to do a lot of fun things I usually don't have time to do in class. This week, I worked 2 days, and we built 5 California missions! It was AWESOME! The after school program purchased them at michael's (they bought the slo mission just for me) and I was surprised how easy it was for the kids to put together. They loved it! I wish I could do that with my own class! Here's some fun pictures!

Thankful...

Yeah, I know, Thanksgiving was a long time ago. I've been busy!But, it's still the season, so I'm still going to tell you what I'm thankful for.

I'm thankful for...

Jesus
My family
My Nugent family
my friends at home and here
my students
having an awesome principal
my job
time off
my awesome apartment
my cute christmas tree
netflix :)
starbucks

and many, many other things. Not much to update. All is well here. :)

SLOing down life...

I went away this weekend for a much needed vacation. On Saturday, I hung out with my Nugents and went to the melodrama with Cassie, Christy and her friends. SO much fun. Sunday was church and meeting up with my old college roommates. It was awesome to see them! Sunday night we watched the awesome/horrible charger game and played lots of games! Today was fun filling with Morro Bay, smores and more games! It was just what I needed, and it was awesome to see everyone. William is getting huge, and 2 months is too long to be away! Can't wait to go back soon. :)

Yosemite...in pictures

I went to Yosemite last weekend for 4 days, with some friends. It was amazing..I didn't want to come back to real life. Best Story? Coming back from the bathroom at 3 am with the girls, to find a bear in our campsite. Needless to say, we ran. We got back and it was gone! Crazy times!