How Time Flies

It is hard to believe we have been here some seven months already - time truely does fly when you are having fun.  I am enjoying my job here in Pulaski County Public Schools, I am fortunate to work with wonderful school board members, great educational leaders, principals, teachers, and staff - it is a community of caring.  Joan, likewise has settled in and had fun getting the house set the way she likes it, being able to help Brittan with her new daughter, Brooklynn, and just being able to relax a little.

We have enjoyed visits from family and Christmas in Naples with the entire Becker clan.  Here are some recent pictures:

My New Office

First Week in Pulaski

Well I have completed my first week in Pulaski County Public Schools and LOVED IT.  I am very lucky to be working with some very fine people.  It was a busy week, I began my meetings with School Board Members, my Administrative Cabinet, School Principals, Education Foundation Members, Community Leaders, etc.  all in all I will be meeting with over 50 people as I work to understand the many perceptions of Pulaski County Public Schools.

I have included some pictures of my new office - the only thing you cannot see is the incredible view out the window behind my desk - it looks right up into the wooded hills, it is beautiful and really helps keep things in prespective.

We are looking very forward to everyone coming in July!

We have just returned from Pulaski County where we now have a home, we were able to settle on an old Victorian home that is about 5 blocks from where my office will be.  We are excited about getting moved in and that it will have many things for family to do when visiting.  Across the street is a tennis court and a half court basketball set up, and there is a playground down about a block or two.  Now we just need to get final word on when I will be starting, that should come on Wednesday night or Thursday morning as it is a board agenda item for this weeks meeting. 

This has been an interesting process and to say it has been faith promoting would not be doing it justice, we have been greatly blessed.

While in Pulaski this weekend we were able to watch one of the presentations of the High School Musical and it was fun, the did Thoroughly Modern Millie - they were well mic'd so it made it easy to hear and did a great job, we were glad we went and look forward to many more!

We are Pulaski bound!

I have been waiting to update the blog until I had some news to share - I can do that now, Joan and I will be relocating to Pulaski County in southwest Virginia where I will be the new superintendent of Pulaski County Public Schools.  We are very excited about this new opportunity. Interstingly the posting for this position and another that I had applied for closed the same day, yet I was not contacted about an interview until I had heard that I was not going back for a second interview with the other school district.

I had my first interview in Pulaski (pronounced Pewlasksi) on Saturday, January 9th, three days following my brothers memorial service - I figure Jeff was already busy pulling strings for me!  Joan and I had gone up the night before to look over the area and really fell in love with the town, the people we interacted with were all very nice.  The interview went well and we prayed we would hear back. 

We went back Wednesday the 20th and the interview seemed to turn into a conversation, I felt very good about how it went and then on Thursday received a call from the school board chairman that I was their top candidate.  Many things have transpired between then and now, but on Monday, March 15th I was introduced as their new school superintendent and will begin on July 1st.

I (we) appreciate all your thoughts and prayers - we have felt the hand of the Lord throughout this process and do feel we will be where he wants us.  Now you all have a new place to come visit us in as we continue on our journey through life!

Is It Virginia or Michigan?

Well we certainly learned that it can snow in Virginia!  We received some 10" of snow on Saturday.  It was forcast to begin sometime after midnight and when I got up at about 3:30 am on Saturday morning there was no snow, so I returned to bed convinced it had missed us - WRONG!  It snowed all day and finally about 8:00pm it quit.  Of course to make matters worse after 3 years of no snow I had gotten rid of any snow shovel, so there I was shoveling with a 6" wide flat nosed spade, it took me forever to get any shoveling done - yes my next purcase is going to be a snow shovel if I can find one.  Joan and I will be house buddies again today (Sunday), I hope she survives bein in the house with me for two days.  We ventured out on Saturday in the morning and got around ok, but there were no stores open. 

There is bright sun shine today, so while it may not melt, it will be beautiful!

Happy New Year!  Well this new decade of the 21st Century really started off hard.  Following what was a wonderful Christmas and New Year things got interesting as we learned my younger brother Jeff had passed away on January 7th.  It was a great blessing for me that I was in Michigan with Bob, Emily, & girls when I got the news.  Interestingly I was in Michigan to speak at the funeral of a long time family friend and my 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Ekelof.  It was a beautiful service and good to see many long time friends.

I had a wonderful time with Bob, Emily, & Girls - we even went to Bronners (the only true Christmas store in the World) and Tony's.  Bob got a BLT that had ONE POUND OF BACON!  It was huge and he ate the WHOLE THING.  I got to help Bob build some shelves in the basement - it was a blast, just being able to do things with him was fun.

My brother John met me at our home on Sunday and we drove to Alexandria on Monday, as you can imagine it was a tender time.  Jeff left his wife, Brenda, and two high school age children, Megan (17) & Max (15).  The viewing and service were touching with the number of folks who came and paid tribute to Jeff - the Budweiser folks flew in a clydesdale in full parade dress for Jeff.  His loss will be deeply felt, as will his contribution, whenever I think of Jeff there will always be a smile, he brought so much to our lives.  It was pretty cool that after the open house they had a 21 golfer salute to Jeff - 21 friends and family drove golf balls down the fairway - he would have loved that.

Following his services Mom and I were off to Pulaski County Public Schools on Friday afternoon for a Saturday interview to become their next school superintendent - we had a great time and the interview went well - in fact we are headed back this coming Wednesday (1-27) for a second interview.  It is a nice community nestled between the Blue Ridge and Shennendoah Mountain ranges.

We are both working on getting in better shape this coming year and in that end we have gotten a treadmill - after many delays in getting it here it finally arrived a couple of days ago - I am looking forward to some early morning time walking before work.  I must admit however it takes up a pretty good area.