The Trunk Party!

Today I attended the trunk party for one of my nieces. She's headed to the University of North Carolina. Proud of her is the understatement of the year! I wish her all the best and I know that she'll make all of her family here in Philadelphia and New York very very proud!! She will major in accounting and who knows, maybe even advise politicians that the math they use to calculate school budgetary needs is in a word.........OFF!!!!

But the main point of the post is this, as soon as I walk in, one of the brothers stops me and the conversation that he started (not me for once) was all about the state of public education, particularly in Philadelphia! The topics ranged from the fiscal crisis to the fact that his mother is three years retired after 38 years of teaching kindergarten in a public school in West Philadelphia, teachers that go above and beyond and really care, my paying for school out of pocket, the expense of teaching certifications and credits, and more. We must have passed the time and talked for more than an hour waiting for the event to begin.

Then, his mother, the 38-year kindergarten teacher, walks in. While I had met her some years ago, I didn't much expect that she would remember me. We, then, picked up the conversation from there! Our topics ranged from the care of our students that we provide, the kids we have with whom we stay in touch, the fact that we are more than just "teacher" to many of them, the financial mess, a colleague of hers who had taught for 50 years (wow!!!), our "beloved" mayor, and her curiosity as to what the PFT's next moves will be should things not be resolved.

Tonight was great! My niece is off to school, a young teacher had a chance to converse with a seasoned teacher, a non-teacher sympathizes with our calling and cause, it just was great!