Following my very first meal at a Pizza Ranch for lunch, UniServ Director Kevin and I were off to Manchester on Wednesday afternoon.Manchester is the home of the West Delaware Community School District. The district was having a staff work day (no students), so we were given permission to stop into classroom, introduce ourselves and visit briefly. Here (at right) is the entrance to the West Delaware High School.
The building to the left is the High School Annex. Here we had the chance to visit with a number of teachers as well as my all time favorite, Dave Schultz. Dave teaches Government and History and his room is up the steepest set(s) of stairs, on the THIRD FLOOR. Dave was kind enough to meet us on the first floor to chat.
We were next off to the elementary building where we had the chance to meet and visit with quite a number of staff. We spent the most time sitting down to visit with Diane Bean (on the left) and Leann Van Dyke (on the right). Both Diane and Leann are Title I Reading as well as Reading Recovery teachers. They shared how funds have been cut so drastically for Title I programs that they are not able to serve all the students that qualify. The beauty of the blog, is I may add to it at a later time and today is one of those (October 29th). I copied this one segment from my blog regarding the conversation with the two Title I teachers and sent it with a message to U.S. Senator Tom Harkin's staff. I requested the staff to contact these great educators and listen to their concerns. Today I received a note from Rob Barron, Senator Harkin's education staffer in his D.C. office saying he had a great conversation with Diane and appreciated the opportunity to hear from the classroom practioners. Thanks, Rob Barron for the great work you do on behalf of our great U.S. Senator Tom Harkin!
We were next off to the Middle School (at left) to walk through the hallways and introduce ourselves to staff. We probably had the chance to meet at least a dozen or more before stopping by the office to see a long-time association leader and friend, Jan Schultz. 
Jan (pictured at right) is the Middle School Secretary and one of our great paraeducator leaders in West Delaware as well as in NEIEU.
At the end of the staff work day, association members from across the district gathered in the Middle School cafeteria for conversation with their colleagues along with cookies and juice. Kelly Jared (on left) chairs the West Delaware EA Leadership Committee and Chris Mundy (on the right) Spanish teacher and association Secretary, together organized the after school social.
Nearly two dozen members joined us during the hour or so that folks stayed around to visit. Pictured below (from left to right) are Tammy Bolsinger, West Delaware EA Membership Chair and Coleen Laubenthal, Elementary Art teacher (and yes, she has 500 students for instruction each week)!
West Delaware EA Co-Presidents (pictured below) are Marcia Powell and Jason Guyer.
The last of the photos I took are (below) of Jim McDermott, high school Behavior Disorder teacher and Linda Carlson, Elementary Math Strategist. I got so excited when I saw Jim walk in with the Red Sox t-shirt, I threw my hands in the air and howled (Boston was just about to play their first game of the World Series that evening). 
We had some great conversations Wednesday afternoon over those cookies and juice! We visited about Teacher Quality salary distribution, Teacher Quality Professional Development plans, as well as a variety of local issues.
I truly had a lot of fun meeting our leaders here in West Delaware! All are dedicated professionals that care deeply about making a difference for the students they work with.
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