DPIE Names 2009-2010 Board Officers and Members
Dublin Partners in Education (DPIE), a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering mutually beneficial business, community and education partnerships for the benefit of students of the Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) has elected officers for its 2009-2010 year. Two new members have also been named to the board. The Executive Officers are:
- Alcina Wegrzynowski, Board President
- Kathy de Jong and Fawn Holman, Co – Vice Presidents
- Bill Moy, Treasurer
- Peter Holthe, Treasurer Pro Tem
- Chris Bennett and Kellee Jones, Co-Secretaries
DPIE also announces that Edy Coleman and Kathy Rosselle have joined its Board of Directors. Edy Coleman, a 32-year Dublin resident, recently retired as Director of Community Services for the American Cancer Society and earlier served two terms on the Murray School District Board of Directors (one as President and one as Secretary) before it became DUSD. Kathy Rosselle is the principal at Wells Middle School which was honored as a California Distinguished School for 2009.
Other members of the DPIE board are Don Biddle, Dublin City Council member; Ted Hoffman, owner of Earl Anthony Dublin Bowl; Mona Lisa Ballesteros, Dublin San Ramon Services District (DSRSD); and Kathleen Schaub, Vice President of Sybase, Inc.. Greg Tomlinson, DUSD Board Trustee; Tess Johnson, Principal of Dublin Elementary; and Dr. Dave Marken, Assistant Supervisor for Educational Services serve as liaisons to DPIE from the DUSD.
DPIE Honorary Council members are Tim Sbranti, Dublin Mayor; Stephen Brooks, ACOE; Jim Gulseth, JG, P.C. Law; Don Babbitt, Heartwood Communities; Dr. Stephen Hanke, DUSD Superintendent; and David Haubert, DUSD Board President.
DPIE Executive Director is Janet Lockhart, former Dublin Mayor.
Dublin Partners in Education, which was established in 1992, delivers highly desired educational enhancement programs that are unfunded by other means. Popular programs include arts and mathematics enrichment, and mentoring services. DPIE is an autonomous organization but works closely with the Dublin Unified School District and related parent organizations.
“Dublin schools need community assistance now more than ever. DPIE has a full schedule of exciting programs to help, beginning with our participation in DUSD’s ‘Show Up for Education’ program. Our increasingly popular Celebrity Waiter fundraiser is coming up in late October. We also plan to pursue more corporate and non-profit grants this year,” said Alcina Wegrzynowski, Board President. “On behalf of the DPIE Board and its newly elected officers, I commit to connect the resources and considerable talents of our local business community and residents in the service of education.”
More information on Dublin Partners in Education can be found at www.dublin.k12.ca.us (click on the DPIE tab).
4:28 PM on August 29th, 2009
That sucking sound you hear is the syphoning of fund raising dollars from the east to the west. In case you do not know, 20% of all your donations to your school’s PFC will go to DPIE. DPIE claims they will distribute funds to “create equity” across the district. I think we all can imagine what that means.
4:39 PM on August 29th, 2009
To Anonymous @ 4:28 on 8/29 -
That’s not true – you need to get your facts straight. It is 20% of the “Show Up for Education” donation that goes to DPIE; it is not all of the PFC donations.
How can one NOT support the library/media techs with this donation? Can you imagine any child (even on the schools in eastern Dublin if there isn’t enough funding) without access to a school library?
2:18 PM on August 31st, 2009
In response to the Librarian Funding. I did contribute the reccomeded contribution for Librarians. though I wonder what it is that the librarians do? In the old days Librarians were sort of a a research assistant and or researcher. To save time you would request a librarian to research and find / collect articles and books on a specific issue. Now with the internet, what do we use the librarian for? Do the kids even use the library anymore? I can’t remember the last time I went the library.
10:59 PM on August 29th, 2009
What’s PFC?
5:52 AM on August 30th, 2009
Hi Anonymous – the PFCs are also known as Parent Faculty Clubs. As an illustration of their function, here’s a link to Fallon Middle School’s PFC:
http://www.fallonpfc.org/
Thx, John Z.
2:10 PM on August 31st, 2009
Great! Maybe these guys can Answer the questions regrading, WHY the City Didn’t issue Permits for the Play Ground Construction at Dublin Elementary School Started at the end of last term? And Why our children don’t have a playground to play on. Matter of fact the only 2 playgrounds they are are for Kindergarten and 5th Graders. They let the entire 1-6 fifth grades use the single structure and it looks like its only rated for like 25 kids.
Permits are a great source of revenue for the city. But that’s it they really serve no other purpose. All the safety and liability stuff is all absorbed by the builder. So being that Dublin is the Customer and the Customer, Why are the children of the TAX Paying Citizens being hung out to dry?
3 Months to approve a Permit? WHAT?!! I watched a crosswalk project get approved in 1 week. I think it took 8 days total start the finish.
Where is our Transparency and Accountability?
8:00 PM on August 31st, 2009
Chris @ 2:10 on 8/31: Permits, funding, building, and all of the politics around these items are the responsibility of the District to oversee. I believe this would possibly be a Facilities function for the District. DPIE can support it financially if deemed appropriate, but they don’t typically drive the building of playgrounds, etc.
9:34 PM on August 31st, 2009
Hi Chris, I’m a current library science grad student (nearly done), so I hope you don’t mind if I jump in here and try to answer your questions in a way that doesn’t bore you to tears. : )
One thing to note is that not everyone you see in a library is a librarian, though budget cuts have blurred the roles quite a bit in many libraries. To be a librarian, in most places you have to complete a professional Masters degree from a program accredited by the American Library Association (usually referred to as ALA) — for example, I’m working on a Masters in Information and Library Science (MLIS) at San Jose State. Not every state has such an accredited program, so sometimes librarians study via distance education.
In your local public library, the librarians typically staff the reference desk (rather than the circulation desk). Being degreed in librarianship usually means having management responsibilities, too, so many librarians become branch managers etc., deal with library policies, put together the annual budget, write grant applications for special projects, manage the physical library itself (maintenance, construction, etc.) and all the non-librarian staff members and volunteers.
Librarians typically also select all the materials at the library — usually known as acquisitions and/or collection development — by determining what needs and interests are specific to the surrounding community. Librarians handle the challenges that come up from time to time, such as when a parent requests a book to be removed from the library. Librarians also “weed” the collection when items become too damaged or too out of date to be useful. I have sometimes referred to this as like a tide going in and out, all based on evaluation of the universe of available new materials combined with near-continuous evaluation of the existing collection.
When it comes to the kind of research support you mentioned, this is still a very active part of the work librarians do. Although the ‘free Web’ has lots of information to offer, it also has lots of misinformation to offer. While a simple Google search might be great for what we call “ready reference” questions — definitions, dates, maps, etc. — when it comes to depth or details, technical information (like health info), and for sure any controversial issues, you cannot necessarily trust that information you find randomly on the Web is factually correct or most up-to-date. The librarian’s job is to find the most reliable, most authoritative, most current information possible and then make it available to you. This applies to print materials (books, magazines, government documents), reference collections,(encyclopedias, atlases, etc.), media (DVDs, books on CD), Web pages, and subscription databases.
Sometimes this means creating special collections — a good example is a special reference collection targeted toward small business owners, and believe me, those folks use those resources! : ) — or offering special services, like ESL classes, introductory computer classes, and so on.
A major subject in the field is “information literacy”. In other words, how can librarians teach all patrons — regardless of age, language, disability, and so on — how to find that good, reliable, authoritative information. Librarians are always looking for ways to make all of those resources available to you in person and online so you can find them, you can get to them as close to when you need them as possible, make sure you understand how to use them, and try to help you evaluate them. Sometimes we joke that librarians are one of the only careers where you spend all your time trying to teach your ‘customer’ how not to need you anymore, which would be crazy in a for-profit business. All of this is true of school librarians or school media specialists, too. Their main difference being the audience (school grades) and in the close links the librarians have to the teachers and what is being taught.
Another big issue is what we call the “digital divide”. As more and more information goes online, people who don’t have easy and unrestricted access to the Internet — can’t afford a private Internet connection at home, don’t know how to use a computer (true of many senior citizens, for example), or can’t use a computer (because it isn’t equipped with assistive devices for the blind or for people who can’t use their hands, etc., which are expensive) — are really at a disadvantage. This issue of equitable access is huge for public libraries and one of the most important services librarians provide. As people have been losing jobs, their need for free access to the Internet has meant a flood of visitors to public libraries everywhere.
I could go on and on — obviously! — so I think I’ll stop here. I definitely encourage you and everyone else on Around Dublin to make use of your public libraries. Librarians are committed (and I mean by a Code of Ethics and a Library Bill of Rights and everything) to having free resources and activities for all members of the community.
Cheers!
…..
Dublin branch library
Some features highlighted include: collections in community languages including Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Spanish and Vietnamese; 42 different [subscription] databases for homework help, research, and popular reading available from the Library’s website; adult book discussion group; exhibit case for local displays; two meeting rooms.
Alameda County Library
Notice the Job Search Workshops, the Ask Us! service, and Readers Corner (to help you find that next good read). There are blogs, podcasts, and news feeds. At the bottom are a list of services for different groups and a list of research support services. Under Events at the top of the page, I see book sales, “Lawyers at the Library,” and library-hosted support groups.