If you are a parent or teacher, you have no doubt heard this question barked out, usually in a frustrated tone, coming from your teen or pre-teen as they encounter their first experience with abstract concepts.  As educators, we strive on a daily basis to better understand how people learn in an effort to make learning more meaningful, relevant, and fun.  Learning is way more complex than we are willing to admit; and most of us teach the way we were taught.  As teachers, today’s society creates new demands on us as we compete with unprecedented stimuli coming at kids through mass media, information, and pop culture.

This is the time of the season for the theater arts programs in VUSD to kick into full gear.  This past fall, our school bands and choirs performed and competed throughout the state and region collecting championships and awards and connecting hundreds of students to their schools through positive personal relationships!

VUSD has received one-time federal stimulus funds to help backfill lost state funding and invest in improving the efficiency of school systems to reduce costs in the future. It has been odd for our district staff to be experiencing general fund budget cuts and job losses while we are spending federal dollars on restricted projects.

You have no doubt heard or read about the difficult budget cuts facing Visalia Schools.  Our school board has been grappling with a $10M cut in state funding.  We have proposed a two-year plan to try and spread the pain out just a little.

When we read a title with the words “teacher” and “powerful” we may assume the article is going to be about unions.  Not this one.  As we work in Visalia Unified to continue improving teaching and learning, we know there are elements critical to our success.

The VUSD School Board and staff have spent the past several months studying the district budget in an effort to make the best possible recommendations to meet a cut in state funding of $10M.  The Board declared a fiscal emergency last year and has been holding public budget study sessions to allow for community input and involvement in the budget reduction process.  District staff have been holding meetings at all levels including gathering input from teachers, classified staff, principals, and district administrators.

Each fall, we get the results for our local students and how they do on their annual state testing.  We’re about more than test scores.  We know that our schools are more than a number and a student is much more than a test score.  We also know that as our students increase their academic skills, they are improving their quality of living for a lifetime.

After weeks of summer vacation and tending to all the things our children want and need, it’s time for Visalia’s children to return to school for the 2009-10 school year.  Parents will return to more structured time schedules and daily routines.  Kids get to reconnect with all their school friends and find out what everyone did over the summer.  It also means earlier bed times, refocusing on school and home work, and no more sleep-overs or “all night movie nights” with friends and family…at least during the week.

 How often we hear the jeers from those outside the school business about the relaxed summer vacations for those who work in the schools.  It is true that school is out for summer and all teachers and students are not attending daily.  However, there is much you may not know.

This is the time of year when we celebrate the thousands of students graduating from Visalia Unified School District.  From late May through the first week in June, VUSD launches our graduation season which includes our high schools, alternative schools, adult school, and nursing program.  We hold ten ceremonies in eight days!  In these precious few days, we shake hands with each and every one of our graduates and re-fill our inspirational tanks for the entire next year!