James Hartman the President of Palos Verdes Rotary Club, did the Invocation, he announced the name of the new Rotary club members John Gathjy and Megan Lyne; performed the Flag salute, pledge of Allegiance led by Lara Humphreys; Sang the patriotic song of “God bless America” led by Chris Leigh; presented the visiting guests.
Bob Gutcher introduced the new Rotary club member John Gatjy, who is also the new Minister of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. He is working on his Doctorate degree at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena and has a fantastic Tenor voice. Jim Hartman presented him the rotary fellowship certificate and introduced him as a new member to the Palos Verdes Rotary club.
He also announced the program in San Pedro is a luncheon on April 7 with Olympic Gold Medalist Rafer Johnson to raise money for the Special Olympics World Game 2015 being held here this summer. Luncheon is $75 per person and tickets are available through the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce. He said that Joan Behrens and I are attending the luncheon; other are welcome to join us.
April 18, Saturday, Garden Day 8am-10am, more volunteers needed. Jim thanked for the support of “Beer and Wine” event on Sunday May 3rd at the P.V. Botanic Garden at 26300 Crenshaw Blvd. Suzy Zimmerman spoke about the March Birthdays and Anniversaries. Greg Allen, Nancy Crawford Jonathan Udewitz and Gary Tossel. Less Fishman and Virginia Butler 22, Julia Parton 17the anniversaries. Memberships Anniversaries for: Christine Barnicki 24 years member; John Cameron 31 years; James Morgan 2 years; and, Chris Stillians 21 years.
At raffle ticket drawing: David Row and Steve won a bottle of white wine.
For the Speaker of the week program; John Stillo Introduced the speaker Doctor Donald Austin PHD, Superintendent PVUSD who has spent his entire carrier in Education. Doctor Austin has been the principle of Laguna Beach high school in Laguna Beach, Assistant Super Attendant at Huntington Beach for educational services, prior to accepting his position as the Palos Verdes Unified School District “PVUSD” as Super Attendant, the position, which he had declined twice before accepting the offer and responsibility. Doctor Don Austin, started his talk by a joking about setting the time for his speech and not texting, while was looking at his cell! He talked about his day at golf course and emphasized on effect of people’s ancestral’ s back ground on their personalities. Spoke about his home town being across the southern border and being able to see T.J from his home. And referred to “Attacking the Gap” in our education system at P.V. Gaps such as: 1/ lack of Guidance; 2/ need for Organizational Clarity; 3/ better Team work. He also talked about the fact that majority of Americans have not traveled more than 80 miles away from their homes. For his administrative approach and skill, he is learned how to say things direct, rather than going around the subject, the lessen he has learned it from his football coach in Kansas! His father was a highway worker and his mother was a secretary. The lesson he learned from his father was; “don’t ignore the weeds and the broken glasses on your path”, show up every day and take care of people who are great.
When he took the job as Super attendant at P.V. unified school district, he realized that schools were high achieving and were award winning schools such as “Silver Spur”. Community support was impressive, graduates were competing for the best colleges spots. He realized that people really cared and the local funding and distribution did matter. “Common Core” education was important but needed “organizational clarity” improvement and better communication in order for the people to have direction and to know that where it is going. They needed “leadership” and “guidance” during the transitional period. He believes that for reaching to those goals, one has to hire good people, who have the training and experience in what you expect from them for the job and as you well know , selection of those candidates can’t be done in a 20 minutes interview. In order for you to get the “end results”, the leader should not outperform the employees, instead train those good employees and keep them as the team members for a long time.
He said that the adaptation of Common Core was from an old 1988 textbook, which outlines structural practices, no limitation option, which is more exciting and less scary. He also mentioned that the Common Core system is 5% California standard and 85% National Standard. It emphasizes not only on the Math but also on creativity, collaboration, reading and writing not only as expressive but also as argumentative writing by using primary sources and writing about the facts. In his Leadership philosophy, Dr. Donald Austin believes that; there is no finish line in world class, desires to improve, stretch, to drive up to the scene must be the approach. He concluded his talk by answering questions about the enrollment projection for school district and code writing curriculum at schools.
Jim Hartmann presented Doctor Austin with his picture at the podium and certificate of appreciation. Prior to adjourning the meeting at 1.30 pm, Jim Hartman quoted the “Charles Kuralt” the journalist that; teachers know, how to bring out the best in students and also “Ann Bancroft” the Actress, who was a very shy student and said that; I was lucky because I had a teacher, who saw something in me.
