PAACE Board Meeting
Oct.
14, 2003
Attendance: Kay Lynn Hamilton, Mary Anne Varacalli, Mary Kay Peterson, Joan Leopold, Dave Manzo, John Weidman, Chuck Klinger, Amy Wilson, Chris Coro, Barbara Van Horn, Sonny Sloan, Scot Mentzer, Mary Hohensee, Susan Mansuetti, Cathy Forsythe, Linda Herr
Called to Order: 10:15 am
Introductions were made of those attending
Approval of September Minutes: Minutes were corrected for spelling/typos. Mary Kay Peterson made the motion to accept the minutes, seconded by Cathy Forsythe. Motion carried.
President’s Report
Rob Bender will be chairing the Corrections Ed. strand at the conference. Don Bender, Corrections Bureau was sent a letter concerning the conference. Ed and the software project (Peopleware) is moving along. Scot Mentzer is the new technology chair. Dave indicated that the division of duties around Peopleware be shared is being explored. The suggestion is that Scot would manage the website and Chris would manage People ware function. Placement of the server will be at Scot’s facility. Mary Hohensee and Scot are working on the ability to pay for conference costs via Pay Pal. There will be a link and the registration and payment information will be forwarded to Karen Warner. Scot said it’s simple to register, purchase and check out, select payment method and choose the total amount due. If one is not a PayPal client, the individual needs to register and create an account.
Dave contacted the new Bureau Director, Rose Brandt, with congratulations and indicated that she is supportive of the organization. Joan noted that Rose, Sue Conrady, Chuck Holbrook and Carol Shefrin will meet about the administrators strand via conference all. Sonny Sloan is the new Bureau Representative on the PAACE Board.
1st VP
Mary Kay reported that 10 proposals have been received to date. Joan pointed out that the Bureau and administrator’s stand proposals are yet to be decided. Laura asked for clarification on Wed. evening activities. Mary Kay indicated that the basic conference format has not been changed. 7 - 8:30 has been slotted for Division meetings. Laura would like to plan a dinner meeting for the workforce division on Wed. evening during this time. Mary Kay said the market place will open at 5:30 pm. Mary Hohensee pointed out that Division chairs should spread word that the Market place will not serve the steamship round or as much food as in the past due to the expense. Actions are underway to ensure that the e-mail process for submission will be in place. RFP’s will be sent directly to Mary Kay and Scot intends to have the e-mail capability up and running by Thursday. Mary Kay indicated that Myron Hallock is very pleased to be the Honorary Chair. Chuck Klinger has offered to spearhead the Act 48 process. Kay Lynn Hamilton volunteered to help with that process. Both will work with Ella Morin.
2nd VP
Bob sent out corrected by laws. Joan contacted PANO who will review the document. Scot will post on line after that review. The Operations Manual is still under review.
Mary indicated that the membership income has been reviewed and is encouraging early renewal rather than having members wait until onsite conference renewal. May, Joan and Mary Kay were complimented on curtailing conference costs. Mary Kay made the motion to approve the report. Sue seconded. Motion carried.
Immediate Past President - no report at this time
Exec. Director - Joan received a thank you for the flowers from Dave Manzo and his wife. She also sent flowers to welcome Rose Brandt to her new position. Rose thanked the board for the planter that she received congratulating her on her new position. Rose will meet with Sue Conrady and others about the administrators’ strand at the conference. Joan indicated that the membership list is ready to purge. A list was passed of those whose membership has lapsed for the board to review and those present were asked to contact those they knew to determine if the lapse was an oversight or if had they retired/left the field. Joan added that the membership is close to 1048.
Eastern Rep – A member contacted Chris about Act 48 credit. He and Chuck will follow up with Deb Burrows who indicated to them that with the confirmation of attendance and participation that she would attempt to expedite the process for this member.
Central Rep. - Cathy downloaded the PAACE Newsletter to send hard copies to 3 members who had requested them.
Western Rep - no report
Scot reported that he is in the process of moving the PAACE site. Conference forms will be posted as soon as that is accomplished. He would like to move the board and membership from Yahoo to a separate listserv site. He could generate division lists, board lists, general membership list, etc. He stated that the division chairs could be the gatekeepers who would approve the entries then forward them to the division membership. He also thought that one needed to be a list member to post. Mary Ann Varacalli had wanted a separate division list for Higher Ed-specific mailings. Joan will email Mary Ann the Higher Ed Division list. Amy suggested that we keep the listserv as it is now because of overlap - members being interested in more than one division. She said it may be best to post pone generating more lists until the traditional listserv is utilized more by the membership.
ESL - no report
Workforce - Laura has asked the division membership to submit proposals for the conference. She has also encouraged them to prepare Field Notes which could be used as a springboard for presentations
Publications - no rept
Nominations - no rept
Amy reminded the board about the adult learner conference (PAVE) in March. The specific date has not been announced. An article about the conference has appeared in PAACENews and she is recruiting students across the state to attend
Public Relations - no rept
Strategic Planning - no rept
Awards - Joan said Bob and Sandy Strunk were award chairs. Mailings will be sent to the membership to solicit nominees. The new nominations process will be followed this year.
ABSE - Chuck approached Lori Forlizzi about the possibility of being nominated for a board position. She expressed an interest and would considerer the nomination.
He is disseminating conference presentation information through the PDC’s. He is also encouraging GED trainers to submit proposals. He plans to invite Diane Foucar-Szocki and Susan Holt, curriculum developers from VA, to attend and introduce their curriculum.
Membership - Kay Lynn, new membership chair, will meet with Joan after the meeting today.
Constitution/By-Laws - Nothing to report at this time
Bureau - nothing additional to report at this time
Family Lit - Sue reported that Gov Rendell doesn’t do public signings so any PR generated around that event for Family Literacy Day will not happen. The co-chairs are soliciting quotes about what family literacy means to them from participants across the state. These will be compiled and submitted to all legislators. Sue requested room dividers rather than several tables at the conference so that art presentations could be displayed. The quotes would be interspersed throughout the artwork display. The division is hoping to have a children’s author to attend with book signing, etc. They are working with Susan Pannabaker (Commonwealth Libraries) on this. The Division Lunch will be held on Friday. It is hoped that there can be some collaboration with public television next year around Family Literacy day. Amy Wilson has been in contact with a general manager of a large radio chain who has agreed to do literacy promos. This could possibly be used to promote Family Literacy day in’ 04.
John reported on the latest actions for education appropriations. The House passed the bill which has 13 million more for adult education state grants and no cuts to Even Start. The bill is in conference committee now. We need to ask the conferees to support the house bill. Contact Peterson, Sherwood, Specter who are on the committee. WIA reauthorization just passed out of the Senate (unanimously) Health Committee. For profit funding is not in the Senate version and that omission is expected to meet strong opposition. We need to work to keep this out of the final bill. TANF action has been extended until March. Now is a good time to send letters to Specter and Santorum. John sent a sample letter to the listserv. The two key elements that were in the house bill that we want to eliminate in the Senate are 1) limiting time allowed for education and training programs to 4 out of every 24 months and 2) increasing state work requirements to 70% of their caseload working 40 hours per week. Barb noted that Nikki Askov had contacted Peterson. Vorberger, the staffperson who handles education issues for Rep. Peterson, e-mailed that they would keep an eye on what’s happening with Even Start. Specter can’t do very much because he needs to support the Senate bill. John urged us to contact Specter and continue to ask for his support. John also indicated that he is available to do advocacy workshops around how to get involved with legislators. It’s a good way to energize the membership. A presentation at PAACE was suggested. John said that he will be personally calling members to get them involved. Amy agreed that an in-person ask really makes the difference. John will not attend the ProLiteracy America conference; however he will work with PAACE members to set up a meeting with Sen. Specter. Mary Hohensee suggested contacting Ellen Ross who is a good literacy advocate. Mary Kay also suggested that his workshops be channeled through the Regional Reps. John will follow up by contacting the regional reps.
Mary Anne announcing the Project Management conference on 11/6-7. She intends to mail the conference information to membership. She would like to take PAACE conference registration information and RFP’s to the conference. Laura Beach asked if the conference announcement could be posted on the web site. She thinks that some workforce division members would be interested.
Budget and Finance - nothing at this time
Amy contacted the Donelly Foundation to support a groundswell of students at the capitol. She needs more lead time to arrange for the busses to transport students to meet legislators during the conference. The application is due 3/15 for conference ‘05.
New Business - Chris Cooper is expecting his first child any day. He is our conference coordinator at Hershey. The next meeting is 11/11 in Williamsport. Directions will be posted on the Website. Linda will get the directions to Scot
Mary V. Made the motion to adjourn
Mary Kay seconded. Motion carried. The meeting adjourned an 11:45
Respectfully Submitted,
Linda Herr in Karen Warner’s absence