Jeff 'You da Man' Bowden Retiring after 40 years of service to the Edison School District

 Wow, 40 years - that's a pretty awesome accomplishment to be serving the Edison Kids for 28 years and another 12 years serving his fellow Professional and Non-Certified colleagues for another 12 years as President of the ETEA.

Quite an accomplishment for one's life in and of itself - not to mention that along the way, the positive impact he has had in the lives of his students and to those he represented as President of the ETEA.

Now you may find it odd that someone like me who is a long-time staunch critic of the Edison Board of Education and all their mis-spending - would think this is important to highlight and say a few words about.

You see, over the years, I've gotten to know Jeff and oddly enough - because of all those Union contracts he was able to negotiate, but more about that later.

Perhaps he should be reminded that his greatest gift to the People of Edison was spending a lifetime educating our Kids and turning empty minds into open minds and impacting their lives for a lifetime - and it didn't go unnoticed.

Of course, teaching 'Earth Science' is somewhat above my pay grade and my head. Being just a beancounter who went to school on the south side of town a long time ago - guess I missed some of those classes or they didn't learn me too good. So, you know I have to ask him some questions when I see him again like (1) Can it rain fish, (2) Does the back of a rainbow look the same as its front side and finally (3) Do I weigh less on the equator than at the North Pole?!? Inquiring unlearned minds want to know.

All kidding aside now, it use to irritate me to no end whenever these collective bargaining agreements came up for renewal. The Board would just give away the money in these 3-year contracts and would turn around and say in future years that there's nothing they can do about it, it's contractual. Yeah right, first they give the money away then they say there's nothing they can do about it. Here's a thought - don't give it away.

Now, I can tell you that I've gone through all the Contracts that Jeff negotiated since he took over as President of the ETEA back in 2012. As much as it irritated me since the teachers were some of the highest paid in the state, he was able to get some of the most generous contracts that I've ever seen over the years (and that includes the latest 5-year contract recently negotiated) and his membership owes him a great deal for his service and raising the scale here in Downtown Edison - as much as I may have cringed when reading them.

And over the years, we've become friends and in spite that we come from different positions on these contracts, I've always made a point of congratulating him for a job well done under the circumstances when they were done. If you're honest with yourself, you have to give credit where credit is due and tip your hat and ask - how do you pull that off?

So, being just a bean counter, what better way to show my Respect and Friendship to someone who spent a lifetime serving others than with some personal thoughts about Jeff in, what else, a Chart:

Anyhoo, Congratulations on your Retirement and Remember, as you continue down life's journey, 'You da Man.'

PS: It's May 1st and waited to post this until today to Wish Jeff a Happy Birthday.