The North Dakota Bush Fellows (or what we know of them) had planned a get-together which failed due to poor weather and terrible roads. Last week's blizzard keeps me from attending the Bush Fellows party down in Bloomington next Friday, which we had planned on -gotta stay home and man the sump pumps from the rapid melt of that snow. However, some progress has been made on my project, which is to further Pre-K and quality child care in my area and with state legislation in 2015.
The Dean of Education from our local college accepted my invitation to dinner and spent about 3 hours explaining the intricacies of North Dakota Pre-K teaching certification; its problems, semantics and barriers to sensibility. I can tell you that after my signature osso bucco over risotto had been consumed, we decided that there is a lot more to figure out as far as which avenue to pursue for policies we need to institute. Let it suffice to say that between Higher Education, the Department of Public Instruction and our Education Standards and Practices Board, we need more communication and less protective turf war behavior where Pre-K is concerned.
A couple of weeks ago I spent three days meeting with various Early Child Education advocates - the discussions and networking will stand me in good stead. Today I hosted two other state legislators and a contact from the northern part of our district that is helping us connect with a small town that I hope to work with on Pre-K issues. It felt like a productive brunch.
Three days ago, the two hour interpretation of my CDR personality inventory occurred, which was interesting and stimulating. It pretty much nailed me for what I am and left me with parts of my being to investigate and think about… My time has also been spent trying to connect two of the most important people I hope to work with and be aided by; our county economic developer and a non-profit that has yet to involve itself in ND. Like many of you perhaps, I am also continuing to read and learn about my project topic.
As a teacher entering my last month of a thirty five year career which includes coaching golf after school and then running to Harvard for the month of June followed immediately by an international legislative conference, it looks like the first week of July is when I get a breather. Reading what you people write, it strikes me that you are all probably as busy or busier. My hat is off to you all - good luck and I hope to meet many of you May 12 at Bush Connect.