October 23, 2009

Welcome to another Friday—I hope you’re all staying healthy! I read a scary statistic the other day—apparently the flu virus can live on a dollar bill (or probably most surfaces) for up to 17 days! Yuk. All the more reason to follow Nurse Amy’s advice and wash, wash, wash those hands!

On Tuesday morning I had the privilege of seeing some of our Lead Ambassadors present to sophomores at Waynesfield-Goshen High School to prepare them for our upcoming Sophomore Career Days. What a great job they did! I think kids listen most to their peers, and these young people were so articulate in sharing their experiences at OHP and telling about our programs. I overheard one young lady saying very emphatically that she just had to get into her first-choice program because “this is what I’ve wanted to do for my whole entire life!” It was neat to see the excitement among those kids—our future students! Thanks to our ambassadors for representing us so well.

On Tuesday I also met with our Student Advisory Council, and as always it was a lively discussion. In addition to talking about technology issues, t-shirts (they’ll be getting them), a graduation party on campus (that won’t be happening), and other issues on their minds, they also talked about their overall OHP experience. I thought you should know that one student shared (and the rest concurred) that he definitely feels our teachers care about students and that they really know their stuff. So go ahead and break your arm patting yourselves on the back!

Wednesday I attended the annual meeting of the Educational Tax Policy Institute. I just became aware of this organization last year, and I was really impressed with the publications they put out. They are a non-profit group made up of representatives from Buckeye Association of School Administrators, Ohio School Boards Association, Ohio Association of School Business Officials, Ohio Education Association, Ohio Federation of Teachers, and school district around the state. Their purpose is to educate state policy-makers and the public about the implications of proposed changes to state and local tax policies in Ohio’s public school districts. Through the services of an economist, this group is able to positively impact policy for schools. One recent example was the adjustment to the average teacher salary used in the Ohio Evidence Based Model for funding. I was pleased to hear that they are very aware of the current flat-funding model for career-tech and the fact that we do not have representation on the School Funding Study Council (although it’s hopeful we’ll have representation on the subcommittee where the work will really get done.) ETPI is also collecting and distributing information about the real impact on education of bringing gambling to Ohio. Interesting stuff—you can check it out on their website at www.etpi-ohio.org.

I visited WPKO/WBLL Thursday afternoon, along with Mike Minnich from NetGain Information Systems on behalf of United Way of Logan County. In order to get the employees’ attention and hopefully add some entertainment to our request to support United Way, we donned “Vote for Louie” buttons and t-shirts and danced in to the two-step. I don’t put on a goofy t-shirt and dance for just any cause—but United Way is one that is near and dear to my heart. I hope you will all give whatever you can to support our community in this time when needs are greater than ever.

I’ll end with a neat experience I had this past weekend. I decided I’d better get on the ball and buy some pumpkins. There’s a roadside stand at the end of a driveway around the corner from our house which has had pumpkins for several weeks. It was curious to me that I never saw anyone out there to make sales. I stopped to see what they had, and there was a money can (with several dollars in it) and a sign that read, “Take what you need, leave what you can.” What a great philosophy in this time of struggle for so many. Actually I think that’s a great philosophy for life—think what a difference it would make if everyone took only what they needed from the world and left far more for those that will follow.

Enjoy your weekend!