TVEA Board Meeting Spotlight
Good Evening, I am pleased to be able to share the TVEA Spotlight on the eve of the start to the 2017-18 school year.
There is nothing in education like the anticipation of the start of the school year and Day # 1. It is time to begin the critical process of teacher and student interaction, hands down the most essential action in the educational system.
As our association President, I visited with various TVEA members at all three comprehensive high schools today and look forward to getting out to middle and elementary schools very soon. I have the utmost confidence that our teachers and specialists across Pre-School to grade twelve will “Stand and Deliver” in their usual highly competent and caring manner.
TVEA had the pleasure of meeting with and providing lunch to the approximately 60 new TVEA members who attended and participated in the New Employee Orientation last Friday. I learned that at least three of the newbies are Alumni who graduated from a TVUSD High School. We hope to work with TVUSD in recognizing this small group as we did with identified TVUSD Alumni last year.
A couple of TVEA highlight notes from the summer:
First, kudos to our Executive Board member Melissa Young along with other fellow Pauba Valley teachers Elena Barrios, Laura Drlik, and Michelle Truax who participated as teachers in the Safety Town program at Jackson Elementary back in June. TVEA partnered with the host community organization, the Temecula Sunrise Rotary. Safety Town is an interactive safety awareness course for children ages 5-8 in which covers various types of safety including fire, bicycle, traffic, and water/sun.
Second, we were pleased to learn that two of our TVEA members received CTA Institute for Teaching Grants for the 2017-18 school year. TVEA will act as the fiscal agent for both grants.
Tianna Youssi of Margarita Middle School will receive $5,000 toward MMS Robotics and Engineering in the STEM classroom there. This is the second year in a row that MMS has been awarded a grant for this program.
In addition, AP Biology teacher Tobin Brannon was awarded a $20,000 grant for a new TVHS Biosustainability Project. A greenhouse will provide space for a student designed, built, and maintained aquaponics system. This grant provides resources for a Biology based elective course and will emphasize collaborative learning and critical thinking skills while promoting both community service and community connections.
Finally, I want to commend my 2017-18 TVEA Executive Board. We held our fall 2017-18 planning meeting last Thursday and they all volunteered one of their final summer days to do so. Our organization historically has not held such a meeting until the very end of August so we feel ready for kick off tomorrow as well!
Our board identified areas in which we hope to continue to build our successes on as well as areas to improve or develop.
We look forward to working with TVUSD as we seek to effectively represent our members over the course of the 2017-18 school year.
Thank You.
