Absent: Marc Bandelian, Clara Cary, Cheryl Keller, Anthony Mussachio, Eric Przykuta

MINUTES FROM 9/23/2010

Present: Dana Besch, Joe Borgisi, Paul Cary, Rosemary Conley, Elizabeth Dunne, Sue Ellis, Cheryl Fita, Don Kirsch, Nancy Lalley, Teresa Lawrence, Cesar Marchioli, Scott McBride, Jamie Pernick, Judy Roberson for David Cantaffa, Lori Rohloff, Heidi Salva, Kathy Ward.

Absent: Marc Bandelian, Clara Cary, Cheryl Keller, Anthony Mussachio, Eric Przykuta

Meeting called to order at 8:30 am.

Minutes

Approval of June 14, 2010 minutes approved with corrections by Joe Borgisi, 2nd by Heidi Salva. Motion to accept unanimous.

Budget Report

Cheryl Fita informed the board that there was a slight difference in budget since the June 14th meeting. We only have the 952 account to work off this year. The grant account is gone. The 952 account shows a balance of $86,366.00. Formal budget presentation at the next board meeting on November 4, 2010.

Old Business:

RFP - is ready to go out for the Winter/Spring Catalogue. RFP’s have been streamlined to make the process easier to complete. Due date for completed RFP’s will be October 29, 2010. Program committee members will get the information to review by email before the board meeting so they can be reviewed for approval on November 4, 2010.

Meeting Schedule – The December 2, 2010 meeting time has changed. Starting time has been moved to 8:00 am Committee Meetings and 8:30 am. Policy Board General Meeting. Location stays the same – Depew Board of Education Building.

Online Learning Statement – A Survey Monkey vote had been taken and the 16 people who voted passed this statement.

New Business

Election of Chair and Vice Chair – Don Kirsch was nominated to Chair the board of directors by Dana Besch, 2nd by Elizabeth Dunn. No opposition – all members voted unanimously to appoint Don Chair. Don Kirsh nominated Dana Besch to Vice Chair, 2nd by Lori Rohloff. Motion to accept was unanimous.

Committee Assignment – There is a need to fill vacancies on board – Heidi Salva will work on trying to get a board rep from Depew, Don Kirsch is working on the Parent rep or Parent/Teacher rep. Rosemary Conley brought forth Rose Rupert’s name. Rose may be a good candidate for this position. Joe Borgisi is working on getting an Erie 1 Person and believes he will have someone by the next board meeting. Last but not least a NonPublic School representative is needed. Cheryl Fita is working on this and been given idea’s on who to contact.Lancaster admin position was filled by Cesar Marchioli.

Bylaws Continuation Clause – Motion made by Joe Borgisi to accept this clause, 2nd by Dana Besch. It was suggested after the motion to change the bullets to numbers and lower case the teachers association in the 3rd bulleted sentence. Following motion was made to accept this clause with amended changes by Joe Borgisi, 2nd by Dana Besch Motion to accept unanimous.

Funding and Revenue Generation - Cheryl Fita updated members on grant monies which at present are none. Need to expand our market to reach out to districts that have lost their teacher centers. Farwest Network partnerships are also being explored. There are some great opportunities out there and this year will be more of an exploratory year and getting the organization moving forward. Everyone agreed that by having Cheryl on board, with her expertise and knowledge, the teacher center should be able to expand its market to outside districts.

A lot of equipment that belongs to the teacher center is being house at the BEST center (laminator, button maker, Ellison dies, binder) most of it is not in use at this time and maybe we should think of bringing it back to the teacher center area at BOCES to provide another source of revenue. It was commented that they tried this in the past but no one came to use the equipment.Posters however can bring in a decent profit. It was decided to have Cheryl create some advertisements on poster maker to advertise service.

Grant opportunities are being looked into. There are monies out there it’s just finding them.

There are a number of free workshops being offered by companies which we should explore. The teacher center could run these courses here and this could be another source of revenue.

Marketing of Center -Cheryl is also working on. She will work on re-designing website, creating contact database and developing other marketing materials (brochure, newsletter). She will also send out mass email to introduce herself and contact administrators to get on agenda at faculty meetings.

Needs Assessment – Last one was completed in 08. Program Committee will discuss before the November 4, 2010 meeting and update the old to present.

Director’s Report – Was covered and presented throughout the whole meeting.

Committee Reports - At this time there were no other committee reports to present.

Cheryl thought it would be a nice idea to have a round-table at the end of each meeting. This would give everyone an opportunity to speak out or say something which hadn’t been brought up at the meeting. Members present thought this was a very good idea. Everyone was glad to have Cheryl on board and welcomed her. Don Kirsch made special mention to thank everyone for their support through this challenging time. Looking forward to the new year and the many challenges that are in store for the future of the teacher center.

Motion to close the meeting at 10:24 am was made by Dana Besch, 2nd by Joe Borgisi. Motion to accept was unanimous.