Attending: Greg Bernhardt, Betty Lou Whitford, Maggie Payne, Jeannie Gerlach, Sarah Steel, Steve Baugh, Nick Michelli, Deb Shanley, Ada Beth Cutler, Leslie Wilson, JoNancy Warren, Eric Flack, Sam Hausfather, Pat Graham, Gary Callahan, Dennis Potthoff, Jean Eagle, Alice Kawakami, Marijke Kehrhahn, Judy Reinhartz, Carine Feyton, Pat McClurg, Ann Foster
Guests: Van Dempsey, Bryan Burgin, Carol Sue Marshall,
There is no action required on the budget at this time; the governing council reviewed the current budget documents that had been sent out prior to the meeting and had no questions.
Bylaws and next steps (bylaws are attached)
Update: The position of the NNER Governing Council chair is now included on the IEI board, ensuring that the communication between the two organizations continues to be reciprocal and ongoing.
Ada Beth Cutler moved to approve the NNER transition to an independent 501(c)3 not for profit and adopt the proposed bylaws. Jeannie Gerlach seconded the motion.
Discussion: The council noted that the costs and ongoing expenses to run the organization need to be thoughtfully considered. Questions related to budgets: What is the IEI’s current role in benefits? The IEI does not contribute to the salary at present; the federal grant currently pays for all benefits, and prior to that the IEI paid a stipend monthly to help defray insurance costs. It covered about half of the monthly costs for comprehensive coverage. It also contributed to retirement benefits.
What is an estimate of ongoing office costs? The office is currently run on $31,500 that is paid to the IEI to cover rent, office support staff, and supplies. The NNER will have to use this amount as the projected office costs. Using contract work such as the current newsletter publishing and web support will continue and continued conversation with the IEI on areas where the two organizations can share costs are occurring. Office space is an important consideration; the executive director proposed using her home office during the transition as it is the primary location for daily work.
Nick Michelli pointed out that the NNER must make this transition. The NNER as a separate organization will be positioned to receive grants and move forward while continuing to work with the IEI.
Greg Bernhardt noted that this will require collaborative work. The NNER will look at generating revenue—not with dues increases rather we will look at grants, programs, and additional members. Mary Ellen Finch raised the issue of raising dues; it’s difficult for some settings to meet current dues levels.
New membership recruitment will have to be more focused and will require governing council members’ initiative. Options for membership need to be explored including the possibility of a phase in process, dues structure that brings members into the organization gradually.
Steve Baugh noted that the calls by the executive board prior to the session were very helpful, providing background information, and he felt that this was a good leadership model for the NNER. Motion: passed unanimously
In follow-up conversation Ada Beth Cutler noted that we are able to do this now because of our confidence in the leadership.
The mission statement revisions were passed by electronic vote and are now posted on the NNER web page.
Nick Michelli provided background on the collaboration process to date.
British government to schools of choice, organized to promote renewal. (get iNET mission). Tom Clark and Nick Michelli drafted a memorandum of understanding that has been signed by the NNER chair and the iNET director. This formalized our intent to collaborate as it supports both group’s missions and provides possibilities for collaborative grants that are mutually beneficial. The mission alignment is strong. Tom Clark is working on a proposal for joint activity and cross-organizational exchanges.
Higher education partnerships are not common in the UK, and that’s our strength; we hope to use our experience to support the growth of this work.
CUNY may be a resource for beginning this conversation as there are logical connections.
Nick Michelli and Jon Cohen are working on addressing specific issues related to creating a safe environment for learning for all students in schools. They have submitted a planning grant proposal that includes the Center for Social and Emotional Education (CSEE) and the National Center for Learning and Citizenship (NCLC) at the Education Commission of the States (ECS) to the Leon Lowenstein Foundation. The NNER is included in the planning grant, Nick Michelli and Ann Foster are on planning group and the NNER settings will have first option to work with the assessments. School leadership is broadly defined.
June 27-29, 2007, will be held in Bellevue, Washington. The central work will be for principals new to partner schools. Teams from the local partnerships are encouraged to attend.
Recruitment for next year’s cohorts will begin soon. The governing council was asked to take the information to their partner districts that qualify for the grant and send possible applicant names to Ann Foster.
Will be held July 16-20, 2007, in Seattle. The executive board members will facilitate. Applications are being taken now.
Greg Bernhardt—2006 review
Review—Bryan Burgin looking at the future connections between his office and the NNER on an ongoing basis. He and his group did an excellent job coordinating the conference and the Ohio settings provided quality programming and thoughtful scheduling decisions. The conference was well attended, and continues to advance tripartite participation. The conference netted $7,295.53 for the NNER after expenses were accounted for.
Sarah Steel 2007—Update and information on call for proposals—October 3-6, challenge of role of schools in a democracy and in rural and urban settings. Bridging concepts and realities related to our work, past and future. Speakers identified to date include:
Joe Manchin III, Governor of West Virginia
Wendy Puriefoy, Public School Network
Mountain Stage will produce a session at the conference
Call for proposals—coming out soon. Bryan will send these out.
Jeannie Gerlach—2008—the conference will be hosted by AUSNER in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Ada Beth Cutler asked that religious days be considered in planning for the conference, as this year’s conference falls on a Jewish holiday.
Dennis Potthoff noted the connection between our work as a far reaching network and technology. See handout for summary. Dennis distributed a sign-up sheet to gauge interest and begin planning.
The goal is to maintain focus on the mission, cross-setting support for the work, and maintaining the characteristics of a network committed to common goals.
It was suggested that the NNER leadership contact people who have been active in an NNER setting but have since moved to other institutions as one recruitment strategy.
Steve Baugh reminded the group of the goal to have at least one setting per state and Canadian province.
John Anderson, past chair of the A&S tripartite council, is moving forward on a concept for an online journal. The idea came from the A&S session held in Seattle to address A&S involvement in the NNER.
Discussion included that the proposal be rewritten with a focus on a scholarship rather than on the tenure and promotion factor—focus on academic excellence. It was also noted that this is a big project and the broad scope and implications must continue to be considered. There was support for the tripartite nature of the proposal and for inter-setting collaboration for A&S NNER members. School voice is considered in this proposal and that is critical to our work.
It was suggested that a conversation at the annual conference would forward this idea; participants would bring web links to promotion and tenure processes. The group could look into how wide ranging the tenure and promotion processes and standards are. This is a way to engage A&S authentically in the work and dissemination of the NNER mission in diverse content areas, departments, and disciplines.
Wyoming Partnership brings A&S and P-12 Wyoming groups together to study and respond to student work at all levels P-16. The samples of work from all levels and various content areas are the basis for inter-institution conversations and bring about good conversation and greater understanding of each others’ work and students. A description of this will be in the NNER newsletter.
A&S faculty from TNE institutions that are in close proximity meet together as an A&S group, and this provides an environment for candid conversation across the settings. The geographic proximity supports this interaction and allows for conversation on areas in need of improvement. With no audience candid conversation occurs.
It was suggested that an A&S forum at conference be considered: What brings A&S into this work? How do you sustain its presence? These were examples of the topics that would provide needed information on the A&S work and contributions to the NNER. One observation was made that the people at the governing council who are committed to this work need to convene the meetings, and the conversation needs to be open and “no audience” as was described above.
As an example it was noted that in Illinois, where the DN work has taken hold, it has changed community so much that the concepts are going into all the surrounding districts. The message in this is that when one takes the initiative people will come!
[Print Minutes] [Close Window]
Copyright © 2007 National Network for Educational Renewal. All rights reserved.