Say it isn't so, Joe...

INVOLVEMENT VERSUS COMMITMENT
Joe Morgan was committed to improving the salary and working conditions of Novato's teachers. The Novato Federation of Teachers said good-bye and thank you to Joe Morgan, outgoing President, on Thursday, May 25th at the Garden Court Restaurant in Novato. Joe and Arlene Morgan were presented with a gift in the amount of $825.00 from the teachers in Novato with gratitude for their leadership, hard work and dedication to the profession of teaching and the children in Novato's public schools. We were lucky to have them both at the head of our team...Joe, the global thinker, and Arlene, the detail "Diva." Joe Morgan is a man of passion and action, with the gift of being able to elicit participation from all stakeholders in public education. Under Joe's leadership, the NFT has gained credibility. He spent endless hours networking with teachers, administrators and trustees. Joe fought long and hard for Novato's teachers to achieve parity with comparable districts in wages and benefits. During his tenure as President he scrutinized the District budget, and as a result, teachers' raises are now automatically built in as a cost item. But perhaps his greatest legacy is the idea of shared collaboration with teachers and the administration. There is evidence of this concept in the new elementary report card and the neophyte District evaluation committee. Negotiators for the NFT and the trustees now sit down face-to-face and gain consensus at the bargaining table, without the need for a lawyer to represent the District's interests. Teachers are now players, their opinions sought out and valued. But there is still work to be done to build upon the achievements of the Morgan "era." It will require more than involvement by the teachers in the NFT, it will require the kind of commitment that we have seen by Joe and Arlene Morgan.

By the way, "The difference between involvement and commitment is like ham and eggs...the chicken is involved, the pig committed." Martina Navritolova