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Saturday, November 14, 2015

chosen

"You have been selected to serve on Hoopa Choopa High's Site Improvement Committee..." so began the email.

I have been selected, or I was the only sucker who applied?

A few weeks ago, the high school set about recruiting volunteers for this committee.  The message stated:

"This committee is charged with identifying and 
prioritizing the needs of [Hoopa Choopa]
and then presenting a final report of needs to the 
District Growth and Capital Needs Committee. 
Identified needs will be of a capital nature that 
will improve the educational environment of the school."

And I was thinking, there are a lot of "needs" in there.

Then I was thinking this could be interesting, but as far as I knew, the high school doesn't have any glaring capital needs that I know of.  I considered throwing my hat in the ring, but what if I was selected to serve and still felt there were no capital needs?  Should we spend money just because it's there??

See, Colorado legalized recreational marijuana.  A good bulk of the tax revenues are meant to go toward education.  Well, the pot business is going like gangbusters, so now there's all this pot revenue floating around.  I assume that is what gave rise to this site improvement committee - to help find ways to spend the pot money.

The recruitment message included:

"Membership will include at least three parents, two students (grades 10 / 11), 
three teachers, two classified employees and two administrators. "

So that seemed like fun enough.  I've cut back on the tutoring since I'm in grad school, and this sounds like a nice mesh of my interests.  But I put off applying until the final day.  In addition to our contact information, we were to provide

"a brief summary explaining your interest in being a part of this committee"

and I didn't lie.  I mentioned my interests in secondary education and project management and added a bit about  *paraphrased* - I'm a bit bored and isolated right now, plus my participation might help me get a real job in the near future.

Okay, so I've been selected.  How many people even answered the call?  Would they have turned anyone away?

Our first meeting isn't until January, so maybe I'll snoop around for needs of a capital nature in the meantime.  I've asked Meego for input, and he just has complaints about the librarians (not of a capital nature) and the fact that the vending machines are off limits during lunch - apparently thanks to Michelle Obama.  I think she's got  more pull than I do.

.

8 comments:

ShadowRun300 said...

If I were to guess, they were happy to see your application come through. :)
It doesn't sound like a bad gig though. I don't like the idea of spending money just to spend it either, but maybe there's a real need out there. And you could be the one to finally fulfill that need! I like that they asked a few students to be involved as well.

Linda Hensley said...

Lucky you! Go for arts enrichment, and I don't know, maybe a roof? Ohio won't be getting pot money because we voted it down this month. We're watching you to see how responsible you are before we get all radical.

Your mystery dinner rolls reminded me of a friend who told me that when he was growing up, he and his brothers would throw their toast away in the heat duct. Many years later a furnace repairman found that the entire duct was clogged with fossilized toast.

terri said...

Sounds like it could be a very productive group considering there are just a handful of teachers/employees, students and parents involved. Of course, the cynic in me thinks that just because you recommend a needed need, doesn't mean the Committee needs to accept your recommendation of needs. But seriously, I hope this ends up being a truly worthwhile endeavor.

One of our local high school's most recent (and costly) site improvements was to replace the grass on the football field with turf. I just couldn't help but wonder how much all that money could have improved that actual educational aspects of the school.

Abby said...

I like that students will participate too. I think we'll all learn from each other.

Abby said...

I think that promising the money toward education helped pass the pot legalization. Now, I don't want to see it get wasted on silly stuff!

Okay, now I'm paranoid about what's in our heating ducts...

Abby said...

If the group was much larger, I probably wouldn't have applied. It should be enriching or frustrating or both!

Replacing grass with turf is expensive. Maybe it cuts down on maintenance costs. I'm sure they looked at all the variables -- *sarcasm*

Riot Kitty said...

Hoopa Choopa? Is that a real name?

Abby said...

Yep, the fighting ham 'n' cheeses from Hoopa Choopa high! Nope.