Day 2----

Today I had to be at a breakfast meeting for State Contacts so left Randi behind as I headed down to the ballroom at 8:30. My duties as State Contact (to Virginia) essentially require me to take California's positions to them and to bring their positions back to our delegation. I also deliver presents from CTA to their President.
When done with my meeting I met Randi for the 10 minute walk to the convention center to attend the Town Hall with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. It is especially significant that this dialogue is going on when there was none for the previous 8 years. He spoke and then a panel of about 10 teachers spoke either making comments on his remarks or posing questions for him to respond to. After that they took questions from the floor. It was clear that there are some areas of disagreement but I appreciated his taking the time to talk and listen and he allayed a few of my concerns. The issues of merit pay, union practices such as tenure, and of course, charter schools still are issues that need to be resolved. (I'll try to post a link to his speech if we get it.)
We took a quick tour of the exhibit hall picking up free items such as water bottles, pencils, pens,etc. and made note of booths we'd visit when we had more time. I was amazed at the number of conservative Christian/religious booths there were. Guess even though we are in CA I have to remember this is a national convention.
We then drove out to Coronado and had a late lunch at the Hotel Del Coronado. We did a little shopping and headed back in time to change for our Santa Clara County Service Center's dinner at 6PM.
Our real work begins tomorrow. We have to be at the CA Caucus meeting at 7AM(!!!!) at the convention center. Then the Rep. Assembly begins and goes from 11-5PM. The remaining days it's still 7-9 for CA Caucus and then 10-6! It was interesting to get a preview of the hall today when we went to hear Duncan. Because CA is the host we are seated down front and we were all wearing our NCLB t-shirts that say on the front: NCLB Erase, Rewrite, Reauthorize and then on the back: "Learning is more than a test score ...and so is Teaching."