Dear Friends,

The goal of our ongoing training of our school superintendents is that they will take responsibility for running the schools, including taking decisions and action well ahead. Over the past couple years we have increasingly emphasized the authority and responsibility of the superintendents as a team. The board consists of the five superintendents - Timothy, Hibru, Lukson, Lindon, Joel, and the school governor Philip. They meet each month and they set the agenda together, and are jointly responsible for all planning and decisions.

So it was very encouraging to receive Timothy's report of the October 2009 Board Meeting a couple weeks ago. (There can be a long delay between reports being written and us receiving them.) Under the section where he reports on board meeting business and decisions, Timothy writes "teacher postings, adult literacy classes, local school board workshop dates, teachers who are having difficulties and not teaching."

It was good to see that the question of assigning teachers for the 2010 school year was addressed well ahead of the start of the school year on February 1. Teachers who will be teaching for the first time have had time to get themselves located in the community where they will be teaching and work on student enrollment. Their local superintendent will have been following up and helping the teacher make these preparations.

We are interested to know more such as which teacher is assigned to which school and how the new schools are going. We won't know that until we return to PNG on March 19 but meantime we are very happy to know that it is taking place - without us knowing or needing to know the details because across the other side of the world the local team of Haruai, Kobon and Minimib are working together and taking responsibility for those things.

In His Love and Grace,