Date: 2014-01-28
To: Griffin Send-Off Party
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light snow

It's time to get serious about focusing on preparation for the AT in 2014. I planned to resign my part-time teaching position as of 2012 but decided to teach one more year (thanks to Kathleen and her son Scott!). Chris Wolfe, the librarian at Griffin School, where I was teaching, organized a send-off party for me at the end of the 2013 school year. Although I certainly didn¢t feel worthy of a party, only teaching a couple classes a day, Chris did remind me that I had taught there almost 10 years. Well that doesn¢t compare to Linda Wozniak, who retired at the end of the year, after 32 years at the school, but I was grateful for the very nice gathering of teachers and staff, all interested in my future endeavor with my son, whom most of the teachers at Griffin had in elementary and middle school! (The current Superintendent Mr. Greg Woods, was Michael¢s 6th grade math teacher. Greg¢s brother was hired as Capital High School¢s principal when Michael was a junior there.)Griffin School, a huge part of our little community, and its own school district, has almost been like a second home to me. Michael started at the local Steamboat Island Cooperative Preschool at age two, which ¢funnels¢ into kindergarten at Griffin. Many of the families involved in the preschool, when we were there, were Griffin Families, and many of them had older children who had gone through the preschool and were already at Griffin. Enrolling at the preschool was as much for me as it was for our son. By the time he was in kindergarten, Michael had a ¢community¢ of families at Griffin. He¢d come home and tell me that ¢Mrs. Falkenburg was a playground monitor¢, or ¢Mrs. Scholes helped out in the classroom today¢. Not having any relatives around, I knew this would be Michael¢s family!After ten prior years teaching at a local, independent, alternative high school that closed due to lack of funding, I was a stay-at-home mom for two years, which was wonderful. But it was soon time to do something. Griffin was starting a new program for home-schooling families and would be looking for a certificated teacher to coordinate the program. A couple friends knew about this new program and immediately thought of me. Long story short, I applied, interviewed and got the position. Michael was in 5th grade at the time.About four years into doing the home education program, I was offered a 10th grade geometry class for advanced 8th graders as well, having an endorsement in high school math! So now, I was about a 0.4 FTE! I told the administration that if I went over 0.5FTE, I¢d quit, since I didn¢t want to be full time! For the next few years, I had an advanced math class and the Home Education Program.Michael went on to high school, and I was still teaching part time at Griffin, enjoying the connection to our community school and getting a glimpse of the high school where our 8th graders would go, especially the math department. Michael graduated in 2012, and I was going to quit teaching, thinking that my certificate expired that August, and we¢d be taking family trips both in October and once Michael started hiking the PCT. Well, I had another year on my certificate and the mom of a 7th grader told me how glad she was that I¢d be teaching her son geometry the following year! Oops!I rescinded my resignation for 2012 and was also given a class of 7th graders for 9th grade algebra. Oh, and that 8th grader for geometry? He was my only student ¢ rough class! Thanks, Scott, for a great geometry class! This was it, however. By winter, I was firm in my decision to quit. Michael and I would be hiking in the spring of 2014, and I thought it easier to just leave and let the school do what they need to do to fill my position right from the start for the 2013-14 school year.At the time of the party, Michael was well into his Pacific Crest Trail Hike. He had volunteered with one of the PE teachers, Stacy Nelson, doing outdoor skills. Stacy had a map of the PCT up, plotting Michael¢s updates as I¢d get them to her. Some of the teachers had their iPads with them, asking about Michael¢s online journal. Jen Jersa ("Mean Ms Jersa", when Michael had her!) got to his journal and projected it on the wall.It was a great send-off. And I may have even inspired a couple teachers to pursue the dream after retirement. Thanks, Chris, and thank you to the entire staff at Griffin. It was great being a Griffin Parent and eventually a Griffin teacher! Oh, and my student Scott, he apparently got a perfect score on his Geometry End-Of-Course exam! Way to go, SCOTT! (And he gave me a bag of dried cherries that his family prepared, to take on the trail. Yum!)Marilyn, Mother of: