ANNUAL REPORT
2016-2017
www.maineadulted.org
association.maineadulted.org
MAEA President’s Report
A Message from President Nancy Allen
To all MAEA Members,
It has been an honor to serve as your president this year. It was wonderful to have a diverse board that reflected the make-up of our membership! It was great to have different perspectives during our lively discussions.
This year we worked on the following events, issues, and legislation:
~ Offered Appreciative Advising training –organized by Razell, Thelma, and Shirley for our partners and us.
~ Developed a Superintendent’s Presentation-actually two –a Prezi and a PowerPoint to help spread the word about adult education.
~ Revamped our financial records, bank accounts, and investments to provide improved accounting practices.
~ Continued to build the MAEA website as a “go to” site for information about Maine adult education.
~ Worked with the State Team to provide WIOA best practices.
~ Worked with legislators on bills that included providing more funding for New Mainers to increase adult education’s ability to serve this growing population.
Of course the highlight of my year was attending COABE’s Capitol Hill Day with Tom Nash and Alan Chretien, a student from Spruce Mountain Adult Education. Meeting and talking about adult education with Senators King and Collins, and Representative Pingree, was amazing.
This year has been an incredible ride of ups and downs for me, and I thank you all for the wonderful support you have given me. I feel privileged to work with each one of you in supporting our students on their journeys, because we are all on a journey. Being able to work with such wonderful people makes that journey worth the trip!
Sincerely,
Nancy Allen
MAEA Board Members – 2016-2017 (Term Expires)
President: Nancy Allen, Director, Region 9 Adult Education Learning Center (2018)
377 River Road
Mexico, ME 04257
207-364-2012
President-Elect: Lorraine Robida, Director Marshwood and Kittery (2018)
260 Dow Highway, Route 236
South Berwick, Maine 03908
207-384-5703
Past-President: Razell Ward (2017)
Director, MSAD 52 Adult and Community Education
486 Turner Center Road
Turner, ME 04282
207-225-1010
Treasurer: Allen Lampert (2017)
Director, Sanford Community Adult Education
21 Bradeen Street, Springvale ME 04083
207-490-5145
Secretary: Executive Director fills function of Board Secretary.
2016-17 Elected Board Members:
Vivian Champagne, Admin. Asst., RSU 54 (2017)
61 Academy Circle
Skowhegan, ME 04976
207-474-7355 (w)
207-399-7344 (cell)
Susan Knight, Education Coordinator, Somerset County Jail (2017)
131 East Madison Road
Madison, ME 04950
207-474-7409
Ann Sargent, Director, Ellsworth Adult Education (2017)
248 State Street, Suite 15
Ellsworth, ME 04605
207-664-7110
Shelli Pride, Windham/Raymond Adult Education (2018)
406 Gray Road
Windham, ME 04062
207-892-1819
Louise Burns, Noble Adult Education (2018)
388 Somersworth Road
North Berwick, ME 03906
207-676-3223
207-534-3339 (cell)
Appointed Members (2016-2017)
Thelma Regan, Director, PVAEC (2017)
50 Mayo Street, Dover Foxcroft, ME 04426
207-564-6525
Suzanne Nowinski, Director RSU 19 Adult Education (2017)
266 Williams Road
Newport, ME 04953
207-368-3290
Jenny Rose, Director, RSU #16 Adult Education (2017)
P.O. Box 129, Mechanic Falls, ME 04256
207-345-3217
Bill Grant, Director, Lewiston and Auburn (2017)
Director, Auburn Adult Education
77 Harris Street, Auburn, ME 04240
207-333-6661
Marcia Cook, Director, Monmouth/Winthrop Adult Education (2017)
39A Highland Avenue
Winthrop, ME 04364
207-377-2265
Robyn Raymond, Director, Spruce Mountain AE (2017)
9 Cedar Street
Livermore Falls, ME 04254
207-897-6406
Ex Officio:
Gail Senese, Maine Department of Education
23 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333
207-624-6755
Staff
Shirley Wright, Executive Director
841 North Road
Dover Foxcroft, ME 04426
207-564-3630 (office)
207-343-2157 (cell)
Action Team Chairs 2015-16:
Awards: Robyn Raymond
Advocacy and Communication: Thelma Regan and Bill Grant
Conference 2017: Lorraine Robida
Corrections: Susan Knight
Elections: Razell Ward
Finance: Allen Lampert
Hall of Flags & Legislative: Shirley Wright, Robert Howe, and Zane Clement
Membership: Shelli Pride
Professional Development and Conference: Suzanne Nowinski and Lorraine Robida
Scholarships: Nancy Allen
Technology and Data: No committee
ACTION TEAM REPORTS
Awards 2016-2017, presented at University of Southern Maine, Portland, June 2017, Robyn Raymond, Chair
Awards will be presented in the following categories: LeVasseur, Director, Teachers, Special Recognition, Support Staff at the 20147 MAEA Conference.
Advocacy and Communication: Thelma Regan and Bill Grant
Our focus this past year was to create clearer messaging of what Adult Education is all about. Our surveys surprised us that adult education has a way to go in its marketing for state-wide understanding. We created a PowerPoint and a PREZI Presentation to share state-wide. This presentation teaches the audience what adult education is all about, what we do, and the economic and social impact we have upon our communities. Select directors are in the process of sharing this with their regional superintendents' alliance group. After the presentation, we have built in time for questions and answers. Thus far, the presentations have been received well. We were also pleased that Bill Grant, Director in Auburn and Lewiston was named a member of the State Task Force on Workforce issues. It is so nice to have an adult educator at the table for this important work.
Conference 2017: Lorraine Robida
Conference planning was underway last fall, as Lorraine Robida took the lead role as president-elect of MAEA. Lorraine assembled a team to plan the conference and the venue of USM was chosen. This year’s conference promises to be a wonderful opportunity for all involved.
Corrections: Susan Knight
This committee was in a “regrouping” year with many new members. The committee worked on planning for the Hall of Flags and for the MAEA Conference. Corrections wants to be part of both of these events. Also, the Corrections members statewide renewed their MAEA membership for the second year in a row. So nice to have them all as MAEA members once again!
Elections: Lorraine Robida
A new slate of officers will be presented by June 1, 2017. Members of the nominating committee are Nancy Allen, Razell Ward, Allen Lampert, and Lorraine Robida.
Finance: Allen Lampert
Allen Lampert (Director at Sanford community Adult Education) served as Treasurer for MAEA for the 2016-2017 year. Over the past year, Allen and Shirley Wright (Executive Director) continued to work on re-organizing MAEA’s accounting and budgeting process. They are happy to report that much of the work has been done to stabilize MAEA accounting and budgetary processes. Gwen Bedell became the new MAEA accountant and took the time to organize MAEA accounting according to the specifications outlined by Shirley and Allen. Ms. Bedell also performed a full audit of the MAEA financial records and determined there were no irregularities with MAEA accounting and budgeting over the past several years. This work was critical to establish a sound baseline for MAEA to begin to move forward. MAEA By-Laws were amended, and the accountant position was re-designated as the Assistant Treasurer reporting directly to the MAEA Board and Treasurer. Allen and Shirley are pleased to report that MAEA is financially solvent, generating consistent net income each year and managing expenses. For over three years, MAEA has not needed to move monies from its investment portfolio to cover annual operating expenses. Furthermore, through a change in membership fees and guidelines, the long-term hope is to strengthen income through increased memberships in non-profit and private sector organizations. Finally, MAEA’s entire investment and banking portfolio was transferred from Morgan Stanley to Key Bank. The reason for this transfer was to minimize MAEA’s investment risk and set up a balanced long-term investment strategy. The goal is to establish a stable income stream from these investments.
Hall of Flags & Legislative: Robert Howe, Shirley Wright
The First Regular Session of the 128th Maine Legislature convened in early January and is expected to adjourn in late June. One of its major responsibilities is to enact a two-year budget. Governor LePage submitted his proposal in December. He proposed that funding for adult education, including College Transition, wpuld be at essentially the same level as the previous couple of years. The budget is now in the hands of the legislature's Committee on Appropriations & Financial Affairs which has been discussing its details, often behind closed doors, for many weeks. We know of no effort to undermine adult education funding.
Adult education programs have a long history of helping members of Maine's workforce improve their skills through a variety of training programs. This session, workforce development is playing a prominent role in legislative discussions, in part due to the difficulty many employers are having in finding qualified workers to fill job vacancies. Bills have been introduced and sent to at least three legislative committees, and a special task force has been created, all designed to look at the big picture of workforce training.
Bill Grant, director of Lewiston-Auburn Adult Education, was appointed by Senate President Michael Thibodeau to serve on the task force, formerly titled "21st Century Work Force Task Force." Those interested in following the work of the task force can get information at this link:http://www.maine.gov/legis/opla/economyandworkforce.htm
Much of the focus of legislation and the task force is on so-called New Mainers, recently-arrived immigrants who, with a little help, can play a vital role in Maine's economy. The co-chair of the legislature's Committee on Education & Cultural Affairs, Senator Brian Langley, has asked MAEA to develop a plan for helping to attract immigrants in other state's to Maine, and for helping them to develop English language and other skills to meet the workforce needs of Maine employers.
MAEA has been working with Coastal Enterprises, Inc. in drafting legislation that would create an Office of New Mainers and would develop or expand programs to serve new Mainers. A hearing on the bill will be held the second week of May.
Do your legislators know what your program is capable of? If not, consider inviting them to see what you are doing to help develop Maine's workforce.
Membership: Shelli Pride
This committee went back over the work previously done regarding membership tiers and refined that work. The MAEA Board voted on the tiers at their April meeting. This committee is now ready to start recruiting new members from other organizations that support Adult Education.
Professional Development : Suzanne Nowinski
The Professional Development Committee works along with the Conference Committee. This year, the committee did a needs’ assessment of PD needs from MAEA members across the state. The results of the survey were used to inform the Conference Committee.
Scholarship: Nancy Allen
Scholarships of $500 each for two students will be awarded at the MAEA Conference on June 21 and 22 at University of Southern Maine, Portland. Scholarships of $750 each for two teachers will also be awarded at the conference.
Executive Director’s Report, Shirley Wright
The Maine Adult Education Association employs an Executive Director for an average of 20hr/week and it is wonderful to have the opportunity to support our field and Maine’s adult learners in this position. During 2016-17, I have attended meetings of the Board and subcommittees and provided staff support to Board committees and ad hoc groups. Committees have been very active and very busy all year. Work this year has focused on Advocacy. Many bills have been presented in the committees this year about immigrant training and workforce. MAEA has remained diligent on following these bills and informing the field.
I was fortunate to be able to attend the COABE Conference in Orlando, Florida this year. This event is wonderfully done. I was able to meet Sharon Bonney, COABE’s Executive Director and also network with other state leaders. There were workshops across many strands, including leadership, in which I participated. If you have never been to a national conference, I hope that you will consider attending COABE. Scholarships are available.
MAEA continues to oversee the statewide portal for Adult Education. Added last year were two pages on the association’s website that are password protected. We will continue to add information that will be available to MAEA members only. Currently, there is a secure site for MAEA board members to review monthly information and work in draft. There is also a secure site for directors that contains the salary survey, job descriptions, and other information pertinent to the field.
MAEA’s Advocacy Committee developed two presentations to take to Superintendent’s Regions around the state. To date, presentations have been done in the Lewiston area, the Penquis area, the Mid-Coast area, and in Northern Maine. We hope to move this presentation in other areas of the state as well.
The association website can be found at association.maineadulted.org . This site has been updated over the year and should be easier to find an use. There is a lot of information on the site and all in the field are encouraged to visit the page often for updates and information.
COABE has launched Educate and Evaluate, a national campaign to keep constituents informed of federal legislation changes. Currently, there are cuts on the table at the federal level that could be devastating to states and local programs. I encourage all involved to join this campaign to receive updates and keep teachers and students in the loop as well.
It was a busy year and I loved every minute of it. Adult Education is the place to be!
Maine Adult Educators Association (1965-1967)
Maine Association for Public School Adult Education (1967-1990)
Maine Adult Education Association (1990-present)
Years of Service President Location
1965-1967 Dick Mayo* Bangor
1967-1969 Jim Flanagan* Portland
1969-1970 Bob Curran Camden
1970-1971 Gerry LeVasseur Van Buren
1971-1972 Len McGinnis Waterville
1972-1973 Duke Martin Presque Isle
1973-1974 John Simpson Biddeford
1974-1975 Clayton Blood Searsport
1975-1976 Jack Webb Sanford
1976-1979 Doug McGowan* Presque Isle
1979-1981 Gaille Heseltine* Portland
1981-1982 Ray Bussiere Bangor
1982-1983 Ervin MacDonald Houlton
Loren Ritchie Sherman Station
1983-1984 Paul Dulac(resigned) Gardiner
Patrick O’Reagan Augusta
1984-1985 Dick Madore Bangor
1985-1986 Sharon Martin Westbrook
1986-1987 Dick Madore Bangor
1987-1988 Don Berry Belfast & DECS
1988-1989 Cathy Newell Bethel