No matter how you choose to phrase the topic of our meeting, join us at the Library for a lively discussion about us, about our branch, and about the direction we will be taking in the future. Many thanks to those members who have returned their completed surveys; the responses will guide us in this discussion. Come to the meeting and also learn about the structure of the board that will lead us for the 2008-09 term…and beyond. Branch member Carol Mazur will be our facilitator.

Two volunteers are needed to furnish refreshments. Please email (bookie002@yahoo.com) or call (916-2324-work, 330-5588-home) ASAP if you are able to attend and could bring a drink or small snack to share with the group.

Kathy Kelley
Hospitality Chair

Join in the discussion April 8 – it is really all about us. And you will hear about a very creative board structure. You may find just the right way for you to participate in the branch. We’re on this ride together and you and your thoughts and suggestions may be just what are needed to keep our train on the track. Your ideas for programs will be especially welcome – from the survey responses that I saw it is apparent that interesting programs will keep us coming to meetings and events. Looking forward to seeing you.

Convention news – I am very happy to report that we will be represented at the state convention in April by Kathy Kelley, DeAnn Hubicsak, and by new member Judy Clarke.

Mary Farrell
Branch president

Please welcome our two new members JUDY CLARKE and JACQUELINE GOODEN-SEAY who joined the Bon Air Area branch in early March.

Both Judy and Jacqueline attended our branch meeting on March 11. In fact, Jacqui was an early arrival and helped set up chairs for the meeting; by the end of the meeting, she had decided now was the time to join. Jacqui learned about our branch from contact with Cheryl Kapec a year or more ago. (Thank you Cheryl.)

Judy, who joined a few days earlier, was inspired partly by her sister who recently joined an AAUW branch in Maryland and partly by the information she found on AAUW's national web site.

Please add Judy (weareatrest@verizon.net) and Jacqui (jgseay@comcast.net to your email distribution list.

Pat Mallahan
V.P. Membership

The theme for April is home cooking, using cookbooks by churches and other groups. April 5, 2008, 7 pm, at the home of Connie and Ray Sorrell. Co-hosts are Maggie and Glen King. For more information call Connie at: 794-8547

May 3, 2008 will be a Wolf Trap Picnic, 7 pm, at the home of Nancy and Ken Berger. Co-hosts are Marsha and Reed Carter. For more information call Nancy at: 744 - 3040

Judy Clarke, a brand new member of the Bon Air branch, is sure that her father's proudest accomplishment was putting his four children through college. Both of her parents were so committed to education that they required each child to read one article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch every day and be able to talk about it at the dinner table.

Judy did her part by winning a four-year teacher scholarship to what is now Radford University. As a freshman, Judy made unintentional waves when she asked to have an African-American classmate become one of her roommates. Only after her father wrote a no-nonsense letter supporting her request was the request granted. The roommates continued to share their dorm space through the rest of their college years.

Judy's career has been a progression. She spent 15 years as a copywriter creating ads for radio and television; she wrote some of the earliest broadcast advertising for law firms. That led to teaching a course in marketing at the University of Richmond's T. C. Williams School of Law. Later, she served as co-chair of the American Bar Association's Strategic Marketing section.

In 1988, Judy participated in Leadership Metro Richmond as a member of the first class that had an equal number of women and men. Her group's subject was the Richmond City Jail. They started by spending a full day in the jail. That jail visit was a life-changing experience for Judy. She became convinced of the profound need to provide people in conflict with the tools to resolve conflicts and promote reconciliation. After winning a Justice Fellowship, Judy worked in a reconciliation program which guided offenders as they confronted their victims face-to-face and tried to resolve their mutual mistrust and animosity.

What's next? Judy will soon begin a two-year M.A. program in Conflict Transformation at Eastern Mennonite University. Upon completion, she will spearhead a Ministry of Reconciliation at her local church. She and husband Bruce recognize that their lives are "rich and full." So, even though their e-mail address is "weareatrest," a lull does not seem likely.

Pat Mallahan
V.P. Membership

Education Dept. to Ease NCLB in Pilot Program
According to the New York Times, the U.S. Department of Education announced this week that select states accepted to a pilot program will be allowed to differentiate the treatment given to schools labeled “in need of improvement.” Under new proposed changes, the Department of Education will give up to 10 states permission to focus their reform efforts on schools that are drastically underperforming and focus less on schools that are increasing the test scores of most students while failing to meet standards with just one group of students. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said, “We need triage,” in a statement that seemed to acknowledge what many have been saying for years—that the No Child Left Behind Act forces too many schools to be labeled as failing.

ACTION: In addition to other recommendations for reforming the No Child Left Behind Act, AAUW supports the inclusion of science as a required area of assessment under the No Child Left Behind Act's measurement of adequate yearly progress (AYP). AAUW believes that this change will provide valuable data about student aptitude in science and will help identify opportunities to improve student achievement in this critical area. This will also ensure that student achievement in science is measured in a way that allows the data to be disaggregated and analyzed by sex. AAUW also strongly supports the High School Sports Information Collection Act (S. 518), which would require high schools to report basic information on the number of female and male students in their athletic programs and the expenditures made for their sports teams. The Senate is currently working on adding provisions of this bill in the No Child Left Behind Act, and an increase in the number of cosponsors will demonstrate support for including the provisions in NCLB. If you haven’t yet done so, use AAUW’s Two-Minute Activist online to urge your representative to support the inclusion of science in NCLB assessments and urge your senators to enforce Title IX in our high schools.

Katherine Gallagher
Public Policy Chair

Bon Air AAUW Book Group routinely meets on the third Thursday of each month at 7:30 p.m. April’s meeting will be held Thursday, April 17, at the home of Florence Tromater. Contact Flo at rolling-t@escapees.com or phone 379-7290 to let her know you will attend. All Bon Air members and their guests are welcome.

In April, we’ll be discussing Empress Orchid, in which Chinese-American author Anchee Min tells the story of Tzu Hsi, China's longest-reigning female ruler and its last Empress. Min continues her mission to tell the truth about China’s past in a work of historical fiction, a corrective to the traditional portrait of one of China's most hated women in a novel based on years of research, including documents Min smuggled from the Forbidden City.

In May, we will lighten up a bit with Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, by Kiran Desai, a comic novel set in the remote regions of Northern India, just south of the Himalayas.

Please check our Branch Website for an updated list of books we’ll be reading from now through July. You may click here: http://aauwbonairva.org/book selections 2008.html, or go to the Bon Air Website at http://aauwbonairva.org. Click on the Interest Groups link.

Contact DeAnn Hubicsak at DeAnn.Hubicsak@dss.virginia.gov or call 233-5352 for Book Group information and if you would like to be included on the book group mailing list.

DeAnn Hubicsak
Book Group Coordinator

April 11-13 Sunday

State Convention and Leadership Workshops
Convention focus: Leadership, A Delicate Balance Roanoke, VA

April 8 Tues

Program: Who Are We and Where to We Want to Be – Our Branch ID Bon Air Library 7:30 pm

May 6, Tuesday

Annual Banquet and Installation of Officers
Program: “What do you intend to do with the rest of your life?”
Speaker: Rita Ricks.
Positive Vibe Café, 6:30 pm

June

Crossover – “Old Board / New Board” and planning session
Date, Location, Time: TBA

Be sure to visit our branch website at http://aauwbonairva.org. You will find a great list of resources: the schedule for the branch book group and the gourmet group; a page of links guiding you to information about government, reproductive rights, literature, libraries, books; current and archived copies of the branch newsletter; information on membership, public policy, Education Foundation, Legal Advocacy Fund, Eleventh House, and much, much more.