The reason that there was no school Nov 23-25 was not that we needed extra time to prepare our turkey, gear up for another Detroit Lions’ loss, or start our Christmas shopping prior to Black Friday.  We were off so that our entire faculty and administrative team could attend the LEC/CAPSO conference in Long Beach, California.  The Lutheran Educators Conference (LEC) was Sunday, November 23rd and included many Lutheran schools from California, Nevada, Hawaii, and Arizona; 1300 Lutheran school educators were in attendance.  The day consisted of a worship service with communion and an awards ceremony.  Our very own English teacher extraordinaire, Mrs. Emily Ball, was honored with the High School Teacher of the Year award!!  The evening capped off with a dinner reception at the Long Beach Aquarium.  

Tourist tip:  if you have never laid eyes on one of the more amazing creations of God (The Leafy Sea Dragon), you need to see them at the Aquarium.  I am attaching a photo of one until you can get to Long Beach to see for yourself that I’m not making this up!  : )

On Monday and Tuesday, we attended the California Association of Private School Organizations (CAPSO) conference.  This included thousands of teachers from Lutheran, Catholic, Jewish, Seventh Day Adventist, Episcopal, and non denominational Christian Schools from the SW United States.  I attended workshops entitled “Creating High Performing Employees,” “Enrollment by Branding,” “Professional Learning Communities,” ” Laughtership for Educational Leaders,” “The Five Levels of Leadership,” and “Passion + Practices + People = #1.”  I learned something valuable in each sectional, and I am confident each of us brought back some fantastic methods, insights, and strategies that we can use at Faith Lutheran to improve what we do each day.

I am thankful to Mr. Dunning and the Board for investing in our continual growth and development as teachers and leaders.  I would not want to see a doctor or dentist that had not kept up with current research, literature, or best practices, and I’m confident our Faith families do not want their children being taught and led by educators who have not continually sought out the latest and greatest in education.

The trip to Long Beach was a great way to “keep our swords sharp.”  The only bad news was I learned that the school van I was driving doesn’t enjoy going 70 mph…but other than a few fillings falling out from the rattling, we’re back safe and sound : )