NNER Governing Council Meeting Agenda 1. Welcome and introductions Attendees Bernard Badiali (for John Skillings) -Miami U., Mike Moody -Nebraska Partnership, George Johnson-A&S representative, Paul Chaplin -public school representative, Deborah Carr-MUPER, Irma Van Scoy (representing Les Sternberg until he was able to attend) Les Sternberg-SCNER, Betty Lou Whitford- USM, Tom DeFranco-U.Conn, Vi Florez-UNM, Nick Michelli- CUNY; JoNancy Warren-ISU Partnership, Randy Hitz-Hawaii Institute for Educational Renewal, Vernon Henshaw-Public School Tripartite Chair, Richard Young-BYU Public Education Partnership, Greg Bernhardt-Wright State, Deb Shanley-COE Tripartite Chair, John Anderson-A&S Tripartite Chair, Carl Brown (for Bonnie Konopak)-CalPoly, Cori Mantle-Bromley-IEI, Ada Beth Cutler,-NJNER, Kathe Rasch (for Mary Ellen Finch) Mary Ellen Finch (present for first agenda item)-Metro St. Louis Consortium, Sandra Hurley (for Josie Tinajero)-El Paso NER, Cindi Chance-GA Partnership, Jeanne Gerlach-UTA Partnership, Jim Lowham-Wyoming School University Partnership, Carol Wilson-Colorado Partnership for Educational Renewal, Ann Foster-Executive Director of NNER, Bill McDiarmid-U.Washington, Tom Bellamy invited guest present for the Equity Report discussion as Maughn Gregory was unable to attend. 2. Conference Update Mary Ellen Finch provided an update on the 2004 annual meeting to be held in St. Louis October 21-23 Registration and call for proposal materials were distributed and will be on the NNER web page. For purchasing videos, CDs, and bookmarks, and for additional information, contact nnercon04@maryville.edu or mfinch@maryville.edu or call 314-529-9469. Please note: proposals must be submitted on hard copy and are due May 14, 2004. Each setting may receive up to five free registrations. In order to provide accurate processing of these registrations, settings are asked to submit the free registrations with the yellow voucher form that Mary Ellen distributed (if you need to copy it, please copy it on yellow paper) and note that the vouchers may be used only for the person named on the form, if those designated for free registration cannot attend, their voucher may not be used for other participants. 3. Budget update NNER current financial status report was distributed and reflects that the budget expenditures to date are within the budget approved in October. The mentoring new settings allocation is nearly spent, figures from the SLC expenditures indicate that the setting charged $19,572.73 of the allocated reserve of $30,000. This is comparable to the NJNER expenditures from the previous annual meeting. Appreciation was expressed for the hard work and time dedicated to hosting this event and is not accounted for in the budget expenditures. Acknowledging that it does take time to move paperwork through institutions, Richard Young noted the long period of time it took for some conference fees to come in and suggested that we all try to facilitate quicker registrations payment. 4. Tripartite Council work The Tripartite Council Chairs, John Anderson, Vern Henshaw, and Deb Shanley gave brief presentations on their reflections from the first Tripartite Council meeting and the strategies that emerged from the scenarios process. After small group discussions where all Governing Council members were able to respond to the nine strategies proffered by the Tripartite Council and hear their colleagues’ perceptions, each member selected one to three strategies that would best serve the organization. The results follow:
In the discussion that followed this activity, it was noted that while there was agreement on the strategies that will best serve the network for long term work in advancing the mission, the group agreed to submit to Ann and/or Carol points from the small group discussions that would clarify vocabulary. As an example, the phrase "educate the community" might be better stated as "engage the community." The strategies where there was most agreement will be developed more fully to guide activity for the NNER. It was also suggested we in some way attend to all the recommendations. For example, Nick Michelli pointed out that we lack cultural and ethnic diversity and should pursue avenues to change this. 5. Equity Committee Report Nick Michelli made a motion to adopt the Preface and Equity Report as policy; the motion was seconded by Ada Beth Cutler. The motion passed unanimously. The discussion included an expectation that the conversation on this area will continue and that we accept the challenge in each setting and the NNER to act on this report. This report, along with the NNER Mission Statement, will become part of the process for accepting new settings into the network. Additionally, the discussion included suggestions for word clarification, the position the GC took on this was that adopting the statement was the most important first step and that we will engage in a process to study the NNER’s work toward this statement as reflected in the settings’ annual reports, continue to examine the progress, have conversations, and promote activity focused on the work. If feedback indicates that changes are needed in the wording, this will be addressed once people have the opportunity to work with the current statement. Note: UWV was not represented at the meeting due to travel and weather issues, however, Van Dempsey, the UWV GC representative met with Ann Foster after his arrival at the conference and indicated that his setting had studied the report and their position was to adopt it. 6. Future Conference Planning Paul Chaplin and John Anderson gave brief reports from their perspectives as school and A&S representatives on ways to authentically engage the school and A&S partners in the annual conference. Paul noted that he reviewed 210 proposals for the SC Partner School Conference and that if school personnel are invited to attend and present they will respond. John indicated that strands and panels focusing on the A&S content and research as they relate to the NNER mission and democracy could be explored. He and Linda Pacini-Pitelka and David Alley are working on a survey to send to A&S partners to get more detailed responses on connecting their work to the conference. Additionally, there was brief discussion on the five free registrations that are currently provided to the settings. The Future Conference Planning committee will work with the Executive Board on a recommendation for this as the NNER reserve set aside for the conference will not be available after the 2005 conference. 7. Reward Systems Bernard Badiali presented the idea that NNER could develop recognition for outstanding work in university/school partnerships. He noted a Holmes Group award that provides national recognition for outstanding work. This could help address the tension between university reward systems and partner school work. 8. Announcements Cindi Chance distributed a report by the Georgia Deans of Schools and Colleges of Education entitled Who Will Teach Georgia’s Children? She indicated that if people would like electronic copies or more information she can be contacted via e-mail at lchance@georgiasouthern.edu Strengthening and Sustaining Teachers Initiative Betty Lou Whitford and Bill McDiarmid encouraged setting representatives to attend an informal discussion on the SST work and possible NNER setting participation. A packet of materials was e-mailed to GC members as background. New Books Cori Mantle-Bromley gave a brief overview of the new books from IEI including the release of A Place Called School, Education for Everyone, Romances with Schools, and The teaching Career and the Journal of Excellence and Equity that features articles form NNER setting work. Video and Timeline Orders Order forms for the video and timelines developed by the BYU Partnership were distributed and settings were asked to respond with orders as soon as possible so the IEI can manage the orders and make sufficient copies of the video. Detectives in the Classroom Mark Kaelin, from Montclair State University, with support from an NSF grant, produced electronic materials for secondary level science and health classrooms. He would like to come to NNER settings where there is interest to provide professional development sessions on the materials. Ada Beth Cutler provided a summary of the grant work and the dissemination provision that will fund Mark’s travel to conduct in-service sessions. GB members received packets of information to be distributed to schools. School-University partnership wins second national award University Park, Pa. -- A Professional Development School (PDS) partnership
between Penn State and the State College Area School District won the
Zimpher Award for the "best university/school district partnership
in the nation," presented by the Holmes Partnership on Sunday
(Jan. 18) in San Diego at its annual conference. |
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