HATBORO-HORSHAM HIGH SCHOOL
BUSINESS AND COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT
BUSINESS ADVISORY COUNCIL MINUTES
November 3, 2009
The Business Advisory Council Meeting was held on November 3, 2009 at 8:30 a.m. at Hatboro-Horsham High School. The following people were in attendance:
HATBORO-HORSHAM SCHOOL DISTRICT
Eric Coombs, School Board David Shinton, Teacher
Carol Miller, Teacher Dave Sowers, Teacher
Nick Pace, Teacher Terri Stern, Teacher
Billie Radosin, Teacher Tammy VanSteenburgh, Teacher
Ralph Rapino, Administrator Stephanie Woods, Student Teacher
Andrew Wu, FBLA President
HATBORO-HORSHAM COMMUNITY
Ken Baker NewAge Industries
Colleen Cody TEVA Pharmaceutical
Pat Dieterly Prudential Corp.
Jim Doherty IBM
Frank Hartwell Impact Thrift
Jan Lessman Susquehanna Trust & Investment
Denise Neason Bee, Bergvall & Co, P.C.
Dr. Amit Singh Montgomery County Community College
Janet Smith TEVA Pharmaceutical
Jon Viscounte Viscounte Financial
Welcome to Participants/Introductions
Carol Miller initiated the meeting at 8:30 a.m. by welcoming those attending and thanking everyone for their participation. Carol pointed out within each folder was a list of the current course offerings along with the e-mail addresses of each teacher who currently instructs the course. Each of the attendees introduced themselves and the organizations that they represented.
Status from Last Meeting
Carol indicated recommendations from last school years meeting were to focus on implementing a required Personal Finance course for all students. Unfortunately, upon speaking with administration, they indicated at this time, it will not be possible. The implications of a new course with additional staffing would be a significant cost to the district that would most likely not be approved. Carol indicated in the interim of continuing to pursue this requirement, the best method for making certain all students receive these elements of Personal Finance is to infuse them into an existing required course now. The course which all juniors take is called “Pathways” and the focus for the first half of today’s meeting is to come up with the key components that could be included in this course and then prioritize the components so when and if the course is expanded to a full credit, it will be easily adapted.
Personal Finance Key Components
Ken Baker spoke of his ESOP plan at NewAge Industries and how he had presented all of his employees with a spreadsheet document to manage a budget. His suggestion is to begin with the basics and infuse this type of model. In addition, he suggested we teach the students the value of ownership of a company, an understanding of personal income and expense as well as retirement planning. Eric Coombs stated he feels we should keep it to the basics and focus first on a budget. Make certain students understand how to gather all of their expenses and adhere to the amount of income that they have coming in is most important. He also indicated they need to understand all of the expenses involved in a situation. One example he provided was the mention of them obtaining an apartment. It’s not just the rent, but the heating, cable and other bills associated with renting. Jan Lessman indicated she is currently assisting Susquehanna University with a Personal Finance Ultimate Reality Show. The intent is for students to understand budgets and beyond. An additional focus is for them to understand how to get a lease and/or a loan for a car and to be able to actually physically read and complete both of these documents so they understand all aspects of them. Colleen mentioned she agrees with the importance of creating a budget. She also mentioned that equally important is the ability to prioritize with effective decision making. One other element she felt was important was sharing with students the impact of credit. Everyone agreed this was high on priority. Jan mentioned that 85% of adults don’t understand these key concepts which reiterate the importance of implementing this within the schools. In addition, with today’s economy, there should be instruction of the various mortgage options. Dr. Singh said on his campus they do focus on personal finance and really concentrate on the following three key areas: budget, importance of FICO score as well as investment opportunities. One item noted during this conversation from everyone is that employers do check your credit prior to hiring. Jan indicated it is shocking to many teens that employers also check the social network. Terri Stern mentioned this is already a current item infused into the Pathways curriculum and covered extensively with the students.
Jon Viscounte said we need to keep it simple. A budget would be appropriate as the students need to complete this. Pat Dietery indicated with her experience we even need to go further back to the basics with balancing of checkbooks or whatever banking system the students are utilizing. Carol mentioned at the last meeting in May with Denise Neason and Jon Viscounte the topics that they brainstormed included the following: balancing a checkbook and budgeting, negotiating a lease, understanding grant perspectives, stock exchange, loans and credit scores. She then reiterated what the consensus seems to be for the key components are: Budget, Importance of Credit and Credit Rating, Investing/Saving. All agreed. Carol then mentioned from the last meeting the suggestion was made to educate the parents on the elective opportunities within the department and one specific idea was to hand-out a flyer at the “Financial Aid Program” in January to parents informing them of the Personal Finance class. Jon stated it may be wiser to send out an e-mail blast as many parents don’t actually attend this evening and he felt that this was equally valuable to parents as our nation continues to experience the economic situation which we currently are in. Ralph indicated this would not be possible as this would create a competition among all elective areas to create an e-mail blast advertising elective courses. Jon indicated he felt this was more important and if we could do this for the H1N1 problem which is a national concern, we should be doing the same for educating our youth and parents on finance which is also a national concern. Ralph said the venue to pursue would be to team up with the guidance area. There was discussion on creating opportunities for our students and parents in regards to educating them by bringing in speakers. Billie Radosin stated when she asked her students why they selected Keys for Financial Success, most of the students replied it was due to their parents. Jon stated he would favor speakers and any financial education programs for our students and a good place to obtain funding would be through the HHEF grant process. Carol stated that would be wonderful. Pat Dietery indicated we need to keep in mind both of our target audience groups: parents and students. Dave Sowers said if we can get them enrolled, they will enjoy the class. Frank Hartwell mentioned it would be valuable to involve civic engagement with students in regards to finance. All agreed this would be a great idea.
Resume’ Preparation/Submission and Interviewing
Carol stated in order to adhere to the agenda we should precede to the next topic: Human Resources. The question was asked of the larger corporate representatives, “What do they look for with resume submissions”? Janet Smith indicated within her company of 6500 employees in the United States, she views close to 150 resume’s a day. Her recommendation is to follow the directions for the posting of the position as the company states. Most resume’s are lost or discarded if they do not follow the pathway in which applying should take place. Second, she indicated that experience should be clearly stated. It is often difficult for her to decipher what an applicant is trying to say as far as their experience if it is not worded correctly. Jim Doherty asked if it is more advantageous to apply directly through the company website or advertising source. Janet explained it doesn’t matter as they both will get to the source of the company in her situation. She did state often the company’s website and posting list is more up-to-date and accurate as opposed to a source such as monster.com would continue to keep a posting after it has already expired.
The question was asked regarding cover letters. In Janet’s experience, she stated she really focuses primarily on the resume and whether the applicant is indeed qualified for the position. Being honest about qualifications is vital. Ken Baker mentioned his process is rather rigorous and he mentioned we should model this for our students with having them go through more then one or two interviews. Tammy mentioned within the Internship program, we currently have the students go through an actual interview. During the process the students are to answer questions and the interviewers are able to respond with feedback as to why they would or would not hire them. Jim Doherty participated in assisting with this in the past and Tammy welcomed the opportunity for any of the members present today to assist in the future. Jim quickly added a suggestion for the future would be to make the space on the feedback forms a bit larger so interviewers are able to write their comments in each area.
Carol then asked Janet and Pat about follow-up. She indicated she often tells the students that they should follow-up after applying. Jim Doherty indicated after an interview, follow-up is appropriate but not after an application is submitted. Jan Lessman stated perhaps it should be completed through smart networking. Janet Smith indicated that would usually work in her situation. Carol indicated in the effort to keep to the time limit, Jan Lessman could conclude with her comments as she was waiting for an opportunity. Jan stated for interviewing instruction, the students need to know their audience and appearance really does matter. All Hatboro-Horsham teachers indicated they agreed and will relay to their students.
Conclusion
Carol thanked everyone for their time and remarked there will be a follow-up with minutes and an e-mail to everyone. At this time opportunity to participate within any of the programs mentioned at today’s meeting would be communicated.
The meeting adjourned at 9:30 a.m.
Bus. Adv. 11/03/09 Page 4