December 9th

I have a number of events to report, both upbeat and sad.

On a sad note, two local deputies were killed accidently in the early morning of November 28th. They had placed stop sticks in the road to catch a stolen car speeding toward Pahokee, but they did not (why? perhaps for lack of time) employ them with the lanyards to pull them back in. After catching the car, they ran out in the road to remove them and were killed by the K-9 unit chasing the stolen car. I knew Jonathan Wallace from the time he was a 7th grader. I had met Donta Manuel several times at the school and other events. Ironically, the car thief was a former student of mine, too. I remember calling his mother numerous times for behavior problems. His mother would always excuse his behavior - someone else was "messing" with him. He also blamed others from his misbehavior. I notice in the article that the family continues to make excuses. The school schedule was somewhat disrupted due to a candlelight vigil at the gym on Tuesday and the funeral at the fairground in West Palm on Wednesday. Many students were absent since a good portion of the town either is related to one of the young men or attended Jonathan's mother's church across from the school. Certainly, no one can miss the irony of two upright young men dead, while the perpetrator is alive in jail. God works in mysterious ways. Below are links to several articles in the Post.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/search/content/local_news/epaper/2007/11/28/1128WALLACE.html
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/search/content/west/epaper/2007/11/29/a17a_wallace1129.html
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/search/content/west/epaper/2007/12/05/m1a_deputies_1205.html

Here is an appropriate quote: What becomes of the soul after its
separation from the body?

...The question concerns that which has a place and that which is placeless. The human body is in space; the soul has no place in space. Space is a quality of material things and that which is not material does not partake of space. The soul, like the intellect, is an abstraction. Intelligence
does not partake of the quality of space, though it is related to man's brain. The intellect resides there, but not materially. Search in the brain you will not find the intellect. In the same way though the soul is a resident of the body it is not to be found in the body.
~ Abdu'l-Baha,
Divine Philosophy
p. 127

On a lighter note, our football team won the state championship. They have won 4 out of the last 5 years. There was some talk of moving us up from 2B to 6A, although our total student population doesn't warrant it. My question is, what happens when we have a bad spell? We had a long dry time in the 90's. Anyway the 2B schools are trying to change us to 2A so they will have a change to win occasionally. This year has been a banner year, starting with taking a national championship in California over the summer and then the Muck Bowl. They have a28 game winning streak that started in 2005. Another evidence of Pahokee power house is 3 players picked by the Post for the best players in the last 100 years from Palm Beach County out of 15 positions.

I have mixed feelings about the football program. I know that for a small community, where football is one step below religion, having a winning team is a chance for bragging rights. On the other hand, neither the state nor the local school board gives points on our school grade and the federal government does not factor in championship games into AYP. Last year our school grade went from a C to a D and we did not make AYP, so we are now in restructuring. This means that the state could take over running the school and reassign all the teachers if we do not improve our grade or make AYP. I opposed allowing 2 young men to leave early for Orlando and miss class because they are often absent, come late to class and don't complete assignments. I got a lot of flack for that decision but I feel that we are sending the wrong message if we ignore poor school performance. I rather feel like a voice crying in the wilderness. While the football program generates some revenue, the money is generally plowed back into the program. In my opinion, only a few students are directly benefited through scholarships, while a large number are sidetracked with dreams of glory.

Here are a couple of articles:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/search/content/sports/epaper/2007/12/08/1208pahokee.html
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/search/content/sports/epaper/2007/11/30/w1b_prepplayoffs_1130.html
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/search/content/sports/epaper/2007/12/09/a8b_hsdorsecol_1209.html

Another upbeat note is that I passed my National Board. It was a long hard trek. The program generally takes 1-3 years, but I actually took it twice, so it took me 5 years. I guess I am a slow learner. I am uncertain if it will be of much benefit to me at this point in my career. I would recommend it more for someone closer to the beginning of their career or at least doing it before age 40. I will get a nice bonus and the opportunity to earn more money through mentoring but i would have to work until I am 68 to take full advantage of it. I cannot get the bonus if I stop working as a classroom teacher. All the new NBCTs will be honored at a ceremony on January 22 and at the school board meeting on January 23. I still halfway believe that I will log on to my profile and find out they made a mistake and that I really didn't earn it yet.

Catherine