I don't know if there's a light but maybe a glimmer of hope

I spent time researching this new senate bill that is wreaking havoc on my tournament preparations. I discovered that the issue of needing background checks on our judges is actually a district decision and not part of the law. The law actually states that exclusions to the background check are for people that are: parents or grandparents of children within a district, volunteers that are in the company of a district employee or those that volunteer for a single event. I spoke to my principal about it and he told me to ask the personnel director about it. I forwarded the information and she indicated that she was quite aware of what the law says but the decision to do background checks on every person or not was in the hands of the district. It seems they have the idea to go "above and beyond" what the state requires in the best interest of the students. Here's some issues I have with all of this.

1. Although I think the intention behind SB9 has good merits, the lawmakers were smart enough to include these exceptions for a good reason. The feasibility of doing these checks on volunteer judges in the next three weeks is next to impossible.
2. This puts our students that have to contact judges and ask them to cooperate with a background check in a very awkward position. I think most judges will not want to go to this trouble and some may find it offensive.
3. I would worry more about some of the parents that visit this school (and don't require background checks) than most of the community members that will be judging. We get attorneys, business people etc. that are well respected in the community.
4. By requiring background checks community members will be less inclined to want to help with school events which will ultimately hurt the students because there is a lot of value in having community members come in because it gives more credibility to some of the lessons we try to teach.

Well, I plead my case as well as I could in emails today and requested that we get a reprieve this year on all of this. The director was going to be discussing the issue of these background checks with the principals and the superintendent and will be letting me know. I hope and pray that they are reasonable this year.

I spent a good portion of today working on my lesson plans for the semester. I'm trying to get everything planned out and worked around the days I'll be gone for everything.

Tonight I'm still studying the algebra review information. I'm not ready for the test tomorrow, but I'm just going to do the best I can. I just hope it's enough to get me what I need to get into grad school. I'll continue the rest of the evening (aside from this blogging break) and finish in the morning. I need to review basic formulas and then just do the best I can. I really just need to get it over with. If anything, I'll make the best educated guesses that I can. The test is at 1:00 tomorrow. Well, back to work.