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Golden readies staff.

Byline: Jack Moran The Register-Guard

SPRINGFIELD - It had the feeling of a high school pep rally, complete with an enthusiastic crowd and a head coach urging a "go get 'em" approach to the impending im·pend  
intr.v. im·pend·ed, im·pend·ing, im·pends
1. To be about to occur: Her retirement is impending.

2.
 challenge facing her team.

But this wasn't about a football game. This was Springfield schools Superintendent Nancy Golden at her best, pacing the stage inside the Springfield High School Springfield High School may refer to:
  • Springfield High School (Colorado) — Springfield, Colorado
  • Springfield High School (Illinois) — Springfield, Illinois
  • Springfield High School (Louisiana) — Springfield, Louisiana
 auditorium on Friday morning and readying her squad for the school year that begins next week.

More than 700 district staff members and community members packed the building to hear Golden's annual end-of-summer speech - a sort of "state of the schools" address that the popular administrator has given every year since she was hired in 2003.

"As a leader, you're only as strong as the people you work side-by-side with (and) the community you get to serve," Golden told the audience.

"This is a time we celebrate our successes and talk about what's next," she said.

The 2006-07 school year included a major victory at the polls, where voters approved a $42.7 million bond measure designed to pay for construction of two new Springfield schools and other district facility renovations.

"Our community has shown that they really believe in us and really trust us," Golden, 56, said.

A top priority for the coming year includes launching the bond-funded projects.

Other immediate goals include investing in the district's "Talented and Gifted Talented and Gifted or Gifted and Talented may refer to:
  • Intellectual giftedness, an intellectual ability significantly higher than average
  • National Association for Gifted Children, a UK organization
" programs; preparing for adoption of a new math new math
n.
Mathematics taught in elementary and secondary schools that constructs mathematical relationships from set theory. Also called new mathematics.
 curriculum; and instituting the next phase of a "literacy initiative" in which struggling readers will be given more attention and student incentive programs are increased.

"We will be working on (the literacy initiative) forever, because it is a gateway skill," said Golden, who mentioned districtwide gains made last year in state reading and math test scores.

Besides the straight talk about past accomplishments and pending priorities, Golden peppered her speech with several doses of humor humor, according to ancient theory, any of four bodily fluids that determined man's health and temperament. Hippocrates postulated that an imbalance among the humors (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile) resulted in pain and disease, and that good health was .

Calling herself a "self-appointed transition specialist," the schools chief attempted to help district staff members prepare for the new school year by reminding them about "one of Springfield's most notorious students," Bart Simpson.

Golden referenced a contest earlier this year in which her hometown home·town  
n.
The town or city of one's birth, rearing, or main residence.

Noun 1. hometown - the town (or city) where you grew up or where you have your principal residence; "he never went back to his hometown again"
 and several other U.S. Springfields competed for the world premiere Noun 1. world premiere - (music) the first public performance (as of a dramatic or musical work) anywhere in the world
performance, public presentation - a dramatic or musical entertainment; "they listened to ten different performances"; "the play ran for 100
 of "The Simpsons Movie."

Although Lane County's Springfield lost the competition, Golden spoke as a slide behind her showed Bart writing "I really DO live in Springfield, Oregon Springfield is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States, separated from Eugene, Oregon primarily by the I-5 highway. Springfield was named after a natural spring located in a field or prairie within the current city boundaries. " repeatedly on a chalkboard. The gag drew guffaws from many in the audience.

"Clearly, the contest didn't get it right," she said.

Golden concluded that particular portion of her speech by displaying a slide of herself as a Simpsons-like cartoon character - another light-hearted moment the crowd seemed to appreciate.

Golden, the first woman to head the school district, began her education career in the 1970s as a teacher in Springfield.

She was an administrator in several Oregon districts before becoming the director of the University of Oregon's licensing program for prospective school administrators. She returned to Springfield four years ago.

On Friday, Golden ended her welcome-back speech on a positive note, encouraging teachers and other district staff members to get innovative this year and "create a personal signature" through their work.

"What I know is that in Springfield public schools The Springfield Public Schools is a comprehensive community public school district serving students in Kindergarten through 12th grade from Springfield Township, in Union County, New Jersey, United States. , we make the ordinary extraordinary," she said. "Now, let's go Let's Go may refer to: Television
  • Let's Go (Philippine TV series), a teen Philippine sitcom on ABS-CBN
  • Let's Go (New Zealand TV series), a New Zealand television music show
  • Let's Go
 back to school!"
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No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2007, Gale Group. All rights reserved.

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Title Annotation:Schools; The Springfield administrator gears up employees for the coming year
Publication:The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)
Date:Sep 1, 2007
Words:553
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