Change in Plans

Today got off to an early start after a very restless night’s sleep.  I was able to produce a newsletter for Arizona Conference educational stakeholders and educators.  It had been over a month since my last edition due to all the interruptions and detours that pocked my last month. 

My plans going to bed last night were to travel, after the office worship, to Yuma to do some observations and then stay for their monthly school board meeting.  I was rudely reminded by a morning email that there was a major conflict which made my entire day change directions.  Instead of traveling to the Yuma school I made the decision to remain in Scottsdale and do my observations at TCE. 

The reality was that my presence was needed at this evening’s meeting at TCE.  They had graciously moved their board meeting dates to facilitate my attendance at their meeting.  My theory is that Yuma must have moved their school board meeting thus creating the conflict.  I will have another major conflict tomorrow due to another changed school board date.

In any case I enjoyed my observations today at TCE.  I am beginning to use a new instrument for my formative classroom observations in the elementary system.  They incorporate more differentiated instruction into the overall observation.  It took me a while to edit the previous template, but the result is a much more comprehensive form that will not only provide the assessment, but provide the teachers with a list of areas that I am looking for as I conduct my observations.

The TCE board is going through a transitional stage.  It is creating some interesting dynamics.  It is to be expected that most systems that employ humans will eventually face dynamics that will require a spirit of cooperation that may be counterintuitive to our natural tendencies.  I like working with people—the process may get dicey at times, but I still believe most people want to get along and are willing to work to make the common good the goal.

Morning at Mesa

Can you believe it?  I went the entire day yesterday and was not reminded even once that it was 11/11/11.  I did not even have time to blog for the day.  Today is 11/12/11, which is aesthetically pleasing but does not have the same chronological or metaphysical impact as yesterday did for many people.

On the other hand today took me to the Mesa Spanish SDA Church.  I had been invited a few months ago to preach for the main service.  As a side note, I had inadvertently double-booked myself to speak in two places at the same time during their original date scheduled.  Thankfully, we were able to re-schedule the date for today without much impact to their preaching schedule.

It was a bit of an odd request since I was asked to visit and preach a “stewardship” sermon.  Not only do I not work in the “stewardship” department, but I have had a career-long reputation for overlooking stewardship-type events in the church service.  I won’t even mention my shortcomings in the development side of my duties over the years.

In any case, I accepted the challenge without letting on regarding my hesitancy.  I preached a sermon entitled “La Fe de Oquis” with translated means “the Faith of Okies” but that with a play on words can come to mean “A Useless Faith.”   It would be difficult to explain the play on words that works for Hispanics of Mexican descent that is triggered by the use of such a title.  As it was I had to give sort of a history lesson on the Dust Bowl of the last century, in addition to labor relations in the Central Valley of California during the mass migration from the Dust Bowl States to the Central California.  Penny got lost in the language and claims she did not understand most of the sermon.  She stayed awake though, which is a good thing.

This afternoon I am headed to a wedding here in town.  Penny is getting herself ready.  This has provided me the time needed to blog a few lines.  She will be leaving tomorrow morning back to California.

New Day at Education COuncil

I am in the midst of the final day of the Fall Education Council.  I believe I have been here long enough to be able to make some valid observations of the differences that have taken place since the last council meeting in the spring.  The changes have been noticeable and positive.

The meetings this year seem to have moved at what seems a faster pace.  There is less lag time during the meetings and less fluff in content during the general sessions.  One major improvement is the fact the union colleges are no longer given a portion of the report time to give reports of what is happening at the university.  That alone has saved over an hour of time during the “report” portion of the meetings.  On the other hand, this year they sponsored the traditional Wednesday Ice Cream Fest after lunch.  It was truly a tasty treat.

Another major change is the move of the policy portion of the meetings to a time frame earlier in the program, thus more valuable discussion was made when the larger group was present and more energetic as they were previously had been in previous meetings, at the end of the session.  It was a great change.  Some pretty meaty items were discussed.

Two major issues that will have a direct impact on the Arizona Conference are related to task force workers and locally-funded employees.  These areas will require some creative thinking if we are going to honor the policy as it behooves us while protecting the viability of church schools that depend on one or both of these provisos in the policy to enrich, and at times, keep their local school open.  It will be our immediate challenge to find a way to bridge the gap.

Divine Intervention Needed

The meetings continue at Education Council in Ontario.  All day…Lord, help me!

Weekend Roundup

Daylight Savings Time kicked in here in California, where I arrived to attend the Fall Education Council for the Pacific Union.  Principals, educators, business managers, and superintendents from the entire conference congregate for a couple of days two times a year to work on policy, to review curriculum, to take in some in-services, and to network with other educators from across the five states that make up the Pacific Union Conference.  I look forward to these meetings for the fellowship as much as I do for anything that actually takes place, as important as some of those activities are for the direction and philosophy of education in the entire field.

There will be an official changing of the guard this fall.  Berit Von Pohle will be in charge of the Educational Council for the first time since the transition between Kelly Bock and Berit as Superintendent of Education for the Pacific Union took place in early July.  She has already demonstrated some extraordinary leadership abilities in her short tenure.  I am looking forward to see what transpires for the next couple of days.

In the meantime I spent a wonderful Sabbath morning at the Mesa Palms SDA Church in Mesa.  After preaching the sermon (Penny said it was great!) we got to eat some great food at the church potluck.  We even got to sit with the pastor and his wife—which also meant Penny and I got to take cuts to the front of the line.  That always makes me feel more than a bit guilty.  That didn’t keep me from benefitting from the courtesy afforded me. 

After that Penny and I traveled back to Riverside and closed Sabbath with the family.  Sunday was spent at a rainy flea market in Orange County and babysitting my grandson in the afternoon.  We all went to visit grandma in her new surroundings.  We managed to squeeze in a couple of meals—Bolivian and Vietnamese!  It was a good day.

I am spending the night in Ontario.  I have an early morning meeting with the PUC Educational Leadership Committee.  I am still getting used to all the committee work I participate in as part of my job description.  I am learning the ropes, but I am determined to master the information that will make me a better asset to the committees I serve.  It’s not about me—it’s about the people I serve.  They deserve the best I can be for them.  Good night.

Of Computers and Life Lessons

Well, it’s Friday morning and I have a full day of tasks to complete on this day that the conference office is closed.  Last night I attended a very important school board meeting in Laveen, Arizona—where the Maricopa Village School is located.  I came back to the office to pick up my computer which I had left there, intent in getting a head start on my work for today.  Boy was I in for an unpleasant surprise.
My computer went berserk!  Before the night was done whatever glitch had affected my laptop had literally wiped out every file and every program on my laptop!  Everything was gone—files, internet, programs, pictures…everything!!!  Obviously I did not get anything done last night.  I was dreading today when I went home after a futile attempt to recover anything.

I believe God got me out of bed at about 12:30 this morning.  I was impressed to return to the office where I had left my laptop going through a scan to see what had caused this collapse.  While in the office I cancelled the scan and discovered the “system restore” function.  It gave me two dates as options: one yesterday, the other—October 31.  I chose yesterday.  Bad decision!  It restored the system which had already been purged of whatever Trojan horse had entered the system to the moment right before the virus struck.  I got to see, first hand, the process of collapse.  It was disheartening.  It restored the laptop to the moment all files were wiped out.

After cleaning out the system again, I set the system to restore, but this time to October 31.  I got tired of waiting for the computer to restore at about 2:30 a.m.  It was just frozen (not totally since an icon was spinning).  I went home and left it doing whatever it was doing. I did a lot of praying before going home and before going to bed for good.

This morning I woke up not knowing, but hopeful of, what I would find when I got to the office.  The fact that I am writing this blog is a testament to the fact the God impressed me correctly to do the needed steps to restore this machine.  God is good! 

In the big scheme of things I guess it’s not a big tragedy.  It would have been a major inconvenience to have to reconstruct financial programs and try to assess how many documents were lost forever due to the collapse.  I was prepared to accept the loss but a bit perplexed as to how I would get the computer set up to work today since it was totally stripped of every program, not just every file!  Lesson learned.  Number one:  Back up files regularly!  Number Two: Being restored is better than being lost.  I like that.  But the third one is just as important:  Be careful what you let into your system.  Something innocent can have tragic results.  Finally:  Know your sources.  Stay away from the unknown. 

I don’t know the exact moment when the virus got into my system.  I can only speculate.  But trust me I am going to be a lot more careful about emails and hyperlinks from sources I do not know.  I thought I was vigilant—I will be even more vigilant.  Somebody out there is trying to mess me up—mess all of us up, in fact.  We cannot let our guard down—ever.  That kind of sounds like a life lesson as well. 

On a positive note—Penny will be flying in later on today and spending the weekend with me.  That’s pretty awesome.  I will be in a better state of mind now that God has restored my computer and files to working order.  I better get busy.  I need the make the house presentable for my special guest!

Exciting Times

The three AZ Conference officers returned today from their North American Division (NAD) year-end meetings in Washington, D.C., Silver Spring, Maryland to be exact.  Major votes on women’s ordination and locally funded employees were among two of the significant votes taken.  The first, at least for the time being, places the NAD out of compliance with the General Conference policy.  There are people in this division who feel very strongly about this issue and the contingent has voted to go out on a limb so to speak.  I am sure the vote was not without painful discussion on both sides of the issue, since even the NAD is not monolithic in its position on ordination as it pertains to the women of the church.

On a personal note it was nice to see the officers back—at least two of them, today.  The third one had a secondary appointment that kept him from being in the office. 

A major meeting also took place between the GC auditors, the AAF leadership, TAA administration, and AZ Conference officials—yours truly included.  It was one of those moments when you know history is taking place.  As you may know TAA and the conference office has entered into a partnership with AAF (Alumni Awards Foundation) to provide management and funding to TAA as they work to make it a model school.  Today was one of those days that was bound to take place sooner or later as the reality of the partnership becomes cemented into the day to day operations. 

In this case the need for clarification of roles and processes became necessary due to a recent General Conference yearly audit of TAA.  It became apparent to all present during the audit exit interview that GCAS (General Conference Auditing Services) was not familiar at all with the new governance paradigm in place between the entities that participate in the new governance format.  It was a stimulating and at times tense discussion as roles and definitions of the Memorandum of Understanding were vetted out and clarified for the sake of the auditors.  In the end it was a great meeting with all parties feeling better about having taken the time to bring the group together, if for no other reason than to ensure future audits are implemented with the new paradigm in place and clearly understood by all parties.

It is exciting to be part of something new and innovative.  I do not know where it will lead.  A lot of prayer and thought has gone into it, but we are in uncharted waters.  It will require a lot more of both prayer and thought in the future as well.  Good night!