AVID

This week has been busy and I am very tired as I type this so it will most likely be short.  Monday started out well at work with interviews for a Spanish position.  We found a girl we absolutely loved out of the four interviews we conducted. However, when the district offered her the job, she said that she wanted to wait until the end of the week to accept but they only gave her till Wednesday.  I am thinking that she has other interviews this week and just needs some time to find out and make a choice of where she wants to go.  Our second and third choices would be fine as well, but the first one has the personality we would like to have.  :)    The rest of Monday was spent trying to get a few things done like the invoices, working on getting summer school cleaned up and finished as well as some documents like the calendar done.  We had an admin meeting at 9:00 am that took some time and discussion as well.  Monday night we welcomed our new assistant principal to the school Diana Ochoa.  She is very nice and I really like her.  I think she will fit in well with our team.

Tuesday was productive…..  One of the teacher came in and we planned for the Credit Recover class we will be offering this Fall and Spring.  We identified the requirements for students to go into the class and we created a brochure for parents and students to understand the requirements and what will be happening in the class.  The morning was productive.  However, then we hit interviews for the Special Education position and needless to say, these did not go as well. The first interview did not show up and called to say that he was going back to school and therefore had an interview today for his master's program and therefore would need last period planning to be able to work for us and therefore he did not think he would be hired or could work it out.  The second interview really did not meet our needs as far as personality.  Then the third and fourth interview did not show up….REALLY!!!  No show, no call - how rude and odd!!!  I can't say this has EVER happened to me before. Most of the time people call or show.    The afternoon was filled with a few phone calls to get things done, responding to emails and getting reports finished.  I got home and had to finish packing to go to San Diego for the AVID conference Wed - Friday.  While I really want to go to AVID.  I truly have so much to do and I really need to be at work since school starts in a month.

Wednesday morning was the start of the AVID conference and we had fun and I learned a lot.  Megan was back from Washington for the event and she "snuck" into the same strand I was in.  As you guys know, I follow the rules, so I was not sneaking into any other event.  My luck is that I always get caught and get kicked out. or asked to leave.

Megan and I at AVID

I know that the program Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) is a fabulous program and something that all students, especially schools who have first time college goers, struggling learners and high poverty, need to do but I was very impressed with the conference and how it was set up.  I was in the Advancing Leadership strand and we discussed how to evaluate AVID at our sites, what to look for and how to maintain AVID.  The best part was having time with our Site Teams to plan out the AVID goals for this upcoming year and getting to know everyone and the wonderful food places that we tried. On Thursday, the site team when to eat together at Old Town to a place called the Coyote Cafe.  The food was excellent.

Victor, Jenny, Megan and I did go and eat together on Wednesday night.  We ended up for dessert at a place called Extraordinary Desserts, needless to say it was delicious!!!

Friday afternoon Megan and I dropped my car off at the Park N Fly and Victor and Jenny drove us to my apartment.  Megan and I got into her car after I briefly re-arranged some items and took off to Washington to take her car to her new home.  We stopped in Pasadena to eat dinner with her good friend Chris and then continued on the way till about 2:00 am in the morning when we stopped to sleep at Residence Inn.  Now, let me tell you that I don't normally drink a lot of carbonated drinks.  However, for this drive I needed the caffeine.  I really am not fond of this "Name on your Coke" thing right now, mainly because no one is going to put the name Leann on any drink!  So in honor of my friends, these are the two cokes that I found.

We were up and going by 9:00 am the next morning and made it to Washington by 8:28 pm.  The drive was very pretty.  It reminds me a lot of driving through Greenville, SC and Asheville, North Carolina.  The main difference is most of the trees are evergreens but the short weeds / plants / wildflowers and such remind me of the east coast up this way.    We made pretty good time, of course, for anyone who has ever ridden with me on the Interstate, you know that we make good time.  Hee Hee Hee

Looks a little like the East Coast

So the plans for the rest of the weekend is to see my good friend Sarah Abel today, Sunday, who moved here for a residency in Nuclear Pharmacy. She moved in June and I am so excited to see her today!!! While she is 17 hours from me on the coast, it is still on the same coast!!!  I am working on getting some things caught up while I am here and have some time to just sit and decompress.  I will be back in Sol Cal on Monday night!!!  Ready to TAME the Master Schedule Beast on Tuesday and Wednesday because it has to be locked in on Wednesday night!!!!