January 8, 2010

Happy New Year and welcome back to all of you! And welcome back to our Ohio winter weather. To me, this week seems to have lasted a month with catching up after the holiday break and dealing with the uncertainty of the weather. But no doubt it will be a downhill slide (no weather pun intended!) from now until the end of the school year with the many activities in our compact schedules.

I heard someone on the radio say that we have finished the first decade of this century. Wow—that really puts the passage of time into perspective! Remember all the fuss over Y2K? Seems like yesterday--and now we’re 1/10 of the way to Y21K.

It’s so nice to see our students back—and I really think they’re glad to be back. I’ve had a couple of them giving me advice on when to put us on a delay or cancel school (“as often as possible” is pretty much their philosophy!) One young man asked me every time he saw me on Monday, “Hey, did you catch that weather report?” And some of our very dedicated Adult Basic Literacy Education students were here early on Wednesday in spite of the delay. Joan Manns in Adult Education found them a nice, warm place to work until their classes started. Thanks to all of you for your flexibility with the altered schedules. I know it’s a nuisance—and this is likely just the beginning!

Speaking of dedicated, as I drove in early on Wednesday, I passed one of our staff members who was here even earlier. Tom Carrig, Printing & Graphics teacher, was out trudging through the snow to snap photographs of the beautiful frosted trees for next year’s OHP Christmas card. It really isbeautiful with the frosted trees and blanket of snow, and I can hardly wait to see what Tom and his students come up with!

Monday evening I had an opportunity to meet in a small group with Congressman Jim Jordan at one of his local stops in Logan County. He focused primarily on the Health Care Bill, but I did have an opportunity to share with him some of our new programs, the adult workforce training opportunities we’ve made available to displaced workers, and our expansion into Champaign and Union Counties. He said, “Wow, a lot has changed since I was last there!” He said he’d love to come see it all, so we will work to set that up with his legislative aides. I’ll let you know so you can be ready to show off when he comes!

Well, I’m headed to the Cleveland area this weekend for a workshop. Nothing like picking the worst weather in the state to drive into! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend—stay warm and be careful out there!