Best wishes for 2009!

Donna Summer is 60 today!

“Donna Summer is 60 years old today. Today is December 31, 2008, and now the news from NPR.”

This was the opening line from Carl Castle for the 7 AM newscast as I drove to work this morning.

And when I arrived at work I had an e-mail news summary from The New York Times. One of the columns quoted Thomas Mann:

“Time has no divisions to mark its passage. There is never a thunderstorm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols.”

It seems I got reminded of two very important facts this morning:

1) I’m getting old. I went to high school and college in the 1970s. Donna Summer was the disco queen of that era, and now she is sixty years old. I’m less than nine years away from entering my sixth decade, too.

2) Another year has come and gone. 2008 is about over, and I’ll now have to learn to put 2009 on checks and dated documents (something I don’t usually master until February).

Mann may be correct in his assertion that time has no division to mark its passage … but my missing hair, wrinkles, creaky knees, and age spots may beg to differ.

Darkness to Light, an update

Michael Thorsland (Operations) and Earnestine Williams (Human Resources) provided training to custodial/maintenance staff members at each of the schools in the Darkness to Light program. These employees are key members of our staff who need to know the signs of child abuse as well as the protocols to follow if they are uneasy about a relationship that exists between an adult and a child. The program provides the facts and our procedures for handling such situations.

Click here to view the video in Windows Media Player.

Darkness to Light has as its mission to …

• diminish the incidence and impact of child sexual abuse, so that more children will grow up healthy and whole; and
• raise awareness of the prevalence and consequences of child sexual abuse by educating adults about the steps they can take to prevent, recognize and react responsibly to the reality of child sexual abuse
  Our school district has provided training to principals and counselors, as well as providing training to teachers in the district.
  

The program consists of seven steps (clickable links) …

• Step 1: Learn the facts
• Step 2: Minimize Opportunity
• Step 3: Talk about it
• Step 4: Stay Alert
• Step 5: Make a Plan
• Step 6: Act on Suspicions
• Step 7: Get involved

The website is a great resource, and it provides free online training for parents on prevention of sexual abuse.

Check out these resources … we must work diligently to provide an environment that protects children from abuse.

A New Year’s Resolution … “Eat that Frog”

Simple Truths (http://www.simpletruths.com/) has some great videos related to motivation and leadership. I got a link to this movie, “Eat that Frog,” the other day, and I really think it clearly identifies the resolution I should make for the new year.

One thing I really hate to do is to deal with all the “stuff” that winds up on my desk during the course of the day and week. It sits there, and I could easily file things away or discard the items, but I avoid this task. My “frog” that I’ll eat in 2009 is to tackle my desk each morning before I begin work for the day.