PAACE BOARD MEETING 3/12/01

Attendance: Joan Leopold,Tana Reiff, JoAnn Weinberger, Cathy Forsythe, Eric Failing, Rose Brandt, LindaHerr, Tom Wojcicki, Bob McNeil, Paul Failing, Karen Mundie, Mike Sobkowski

Approval of FebruaryMinutes:

Motion to approve made byTom. Cathy seconded. Minutes approvedas read.

Officers Reports:

1st Vice President: Linda askedabout the costs usually considered in the selection of a keynote speaker. Joan indicated that 2000 to 2500 range waswhat was typically used. VictoriaFisher was suggested as the honorary chair for the next conference. Joan pointed out that her selection shouldencourage broader participation from Higher Ed. The selection of Victoria wouldreflect something of a return to what had been done in the past with honorarychairs attending and participating in the conference rather than just showingup to speak. Cathy Forsythe commentedthat if we were to consider a “sponsor” to consider the Steelworkers. There presence would increase visibilityabout adult Ed and they also have a lot of money to give to worthwhileagencies. No decision was made aboutthe level of involvement of a purported sponsor. Tana suggested that possibly Victoria would be able to make suggestions.

Bob asked if the call topapers could be sent earlier to CEA. Itwould make participation easier because of the long range planning they need todo. Target April for initialmailing. Conference date is February 12– 15. Karen said that Gary Deanrequested a flier be sent to the research conference as an early notification. Karen indicated she would take care ofgetting the flier. Karen, as aconference wrap-up said that she sent a thank you note to Kathryn Pavelko andconference presenters.

2^nd VicePresident: No Report

Treasurer’s Report: Treasurersubmitted a written report. A motionwas made by Rose Brandt to approve the Treasurer’s Report. Tom Wojcickiseconded the motion. The motion passedunanimously.

Secretary’s Report: No Reportother than minute approval

Immediate PastPresident: No Report

Executive Director’sReport: Joan is putting bookstogether for the new board members. Shenoted that everyone should have a copy of the Strategic Plan since that shoulddrive the board for the next few years. Karen commented that there were certain items in the strategic plan thatneed to be acted on now or relatively soon. Karen indicated that coverage of AV cost at mid-winter has appeared inthe last two plans and would the board decide now – if we were to cover the costs,that information could be put on the call to papers. Joan noted that $7500 for AV equipment (doesn’t include theInternet access) at the last conference. Joan wrote a letter to Hershey ind

Continuing Higher Ed: Marianne is now the 1^st VicePresident of Higher Ed. Bob willcontinue to attend as part of the Awards Committee. Marianne iterated the importance for the call for papers goingout early. She also pointed out thatthe partnership between Higher Ed and PAACE should be pointed out on thefliers. It would be helpful if otherknew about the partnership and that PAACE has a commitment to Higher Ed. This information could be put on the datesaver, tabloid, etc. Jo Ann pointed outthat no one from Higher Ed was on the legislative committee. She asked if anyone would be willing toserve. Bob asked if Jo Ann could mentortem. Eric Failing could help out asDelaware County Community College. Bobpointed out that someone needs to be involved who has an “ear to the rail” interms of where Higher Ed is going. Thetop two issues for Higher Ed are to increase financial aid and transfer ofcredits. Bob said that sometimes that’sa school issue and should not be a legislative issue. If no one wants to participate, perhaps we could get minutes fromHigher Ed meetings. Joan has asked Ellaabout the possibility of getting a Higher Ed person from the Dept.

ESL:

NoReport. Carol did tell Karen that sheis scaling back in her work and would be looking for someone to take her placeon the board.

Family Literacy: Mikenoted that he has sent out a letter to member s asking for nominations for theco-chair positions. Reponses should beback by the end of April. Ballots go outin June and July election for two-year terms. Two special projects for family literacy programs: 1) make a quilt withprograms providing a square representative of their program to be presented tothe Ridges in support of their efforts in adult and family education and 2)develop a scrapbook for programs across state. Keeping a working history. JoAnnsuggested that Mike send out legislative information about family literacy.

TLC: No Report

Workforce: No Report

Eastern: Rosesaid she was getting out legislative information. The on-going challenge of where does the information go and theimpact.

Central:

Cathy hascollected the information from Monica and she is to pass this on to theconstituents. Cathy mentioned that itwould be helpful to have a job description. Joan indicated one appeared in the operation manual in the binder.

Western:

Tom wanted toparticipate in some brainstorming around increasing membership.

Awards:

Bob felt thatthe awards went well for Higher Ed. Outof ten recipients, he received one thank you and a phone call from the sameperson. Bob noted that there were someirregularities in the nomination process. (Xeroxed copies of old nominationswith unchanged dates). He intends toaddress. Discussion moved to the needto work on legislators to attend. Rosesuggested that we take award winners to the capital and set up appointmentswith legislators. It was pointed outthat there are challenges with that in terms of transportation, separating thegroups (learners and practitioners), when would they go (legislators don’t meeton Thursday the learners generally do not stay over), and learners really enjoythe atmosphere and attention on Wednesday – which is already a full day. Rose stated that for the legislators to meetthe learners would make adult education real. It was pointed out that they may have some down time and they could takebuses to the capitol then. Joan addedthat Marty Finsterbusch (sp?) would like to do an advocacy session for thewinners as a part of their participation on Wednesday. It was suggested that maybe they could boardthe bus and go to the capitol to meet with legislators after the session. Karensuggested the Awards Committee “work through” these hurdles and we’ll continuethe discussion. The Board appears to betoo divided to decide what actions, if any, should be taken.

Membership: 134new members. Letters were sent to 200members in arrears. They must renew by3/12/ 01 or they would be purged.

Legislative: JoAnnhoped that the Family Literacy bills would pass. The Senate bill passed the education committee. There has been no vote in the House, yetthere appears to be no opposition to either bill. She urged us to support Ridge’s proposed budget. Gubernatorial issues gathered at theconference were posted on the Board's listserv. JoAnn thought that collecting that information didn’t work aswell in the marketplace; it seemed to be more effective when collected at theluncheons on Friday.

Public Relations: NoReport. No chair for thiscommittee. This is a criticalperson. We need someone who iscommitted and is willing to spend the time.

Publications:

Tana notedthat this was the one-year evaluation for the PAACENews on line. Tana received 19 responses frommembers. All but 1 member indicatedthat the News should continue online. Tana indicated that continuing online means we could share withnon-members. Karen said that the onlyquestion was “should the print version be continued?” Joan pointed out that last year we sent out fliers, then 2 postcards asking if members wanted a hard copy. She continued that we would need to continue with sending cards for thetime being. It was acknowledged thatnot all the membership participates on the listserv – which is limiting thedissemination of information.