President, Sheila Pottorff, Called the Meeting to Order At9:09 A.M

CASSP Board Meeting, September 21, 2009

Call to Order

President, Sheila Pottorff, called the meeting to order at9:09 a.m.

Roll Call

The roll call was taken by signature.

Motion requested for approval of agenda as presented made by: President Sheila Pottorff

Changes or additions to meeting agenda: Add to standing items CHASSA report

Motion to approve made by: Carrie Coats

Second made by: Jim Lucas

Vote taken – note result of vote: Approved

Consent Items

Membership Reports: July and August 2009 membership reports

Focus on increasing membership

Motion to approve made by: Jim Lucas

Second made by: Kevin Schott

Vote taken – note result of vote: Approved

Financial reports - July, August 2009

A good deal of money was spent on travel last year. CASSP had a high expense in travel. Mr. John Hefty reported that it would be good to talk to the financial director. Mr. Hefty stated the two factors to look at with Howard is to ask about the cost to bring members to our meetings as well as how much it cost when we have to send people to conventions.

Motion to approve made by: Jim Szoka

Second made by: Greg Wieman

Vote taken – note result of vote: Approved

Board Minutes - July 28, 2009

Change was made, as under Standing Items the POY date is Feb 26, 2010 from the stated April 5, 2010 in the minutes.

Motion to approve made by: Kevin Aten

Second made by: Cristal Loehr

Vote taken – note result of vote: Approved with change as noted above.

Standing Items

CASE Executive Director – John Hefty

1. Financial information
2. Mr. Hefty stated that our financial trend is looking positive this year. That is a good change. It is in large part to a grant from the Colorado Health Foundation. It is around “creating healthy students and healthy schools.” One major variable for budget is membership. We are still in the process of merging members and non-members. This is taking time; therefore, some of the membership numbers are not accurate. The budget we are working on is based on 1,750 members. Mr. Hefty believes that we will be right on target with these numbers. The convention was very positive and the revenue gain was good. Our profit will be probably $244,000 compared to the $193,000 from the previous year. Mr. Hefty commented that Mary McNeil worked very hard on the convention by cutting expenses and working with a variety of contracts. This significantly helped our positive revenue.
3. The current budget this year will not support the CASSP liaison position at this point. But ifthe budget in November supports the need (based on membership), Mr. Hefty stated we could add $12,000 to the CASSP budget to help with our department. This amount is equivalent to the liaison position. The money will be used to increase membership.

2. Superintendents Conference

1. CASE asked Superintendents what they would like at their conference. The results were 97% wanted budget and finance on the agenda for this conference. It will be framed with an overall presentation about the state’s budget outlook. Discussion will be based around what the K-12 budget will look like in the coming years. Right now the estimate is 2% to 10% less for next year, but no one knows for sure, but this is a good estimate for the next year for school district budgets.
2. Signals/messages from the larger environment

• Mr. Hefty passed out a handout regarding the signals/messages from the larger environment (state and federal level messages).
• At the Superintendents Conference they will discuss how these signals and messages affect them directly and how they can best interpret these messages. We get these messages then we get a reduction in the budget. This presents a challenge as the message is you have less money but you still need to meet all the messages that are coming from State and Federal with a few things added on. Obviously this is a challenge for Superintendents to manage these messages.
• Roles and responsibilities need to be sorted out for Federal, State, Regional, District, School, and classroom in regard to Standards-Based Education system. This will be discussed at the Superintendent Conference.

1. Tirozzi article was passed out and reviewed.

• The turnaround model – this is a concern as the assumption is that there is a bigger pool for administrators. Tirozziquestions how this model will unfold, as the “pool” for administrators, at least in Colorado, is limited.

1. PERA - Mr. Hefty briefly commented on PERA, as Bruce was unavailable for this meeting.

• Secure PERA committee discussed a possible suggested balance for PERA to be brought to the legislative this fall.
• There is a “listening tour” going around the state. Mr. Hefty passed out a handout that outlined some of these concerns. The downside when it began was that there was no dollar amount for the concerns (i.e. increase employer contribution, cost of increase for retirees). The committee has now figured out the dollar amounts of the concerns and based on this new information they want to present the balance to secure PERA to the legislative.

Calendar/Timelines – Sheila Pottorff

The motion was given to begin the CASSP meetings at 8:30 am. The motion was passed with two votes against. Discussion was given for the purpose for the 8:30 – 8:45 am timeframe and the position of the committee work. Future meetings will begin at 8:30 am based on this motion. Committee work will begin at 8:30 a.m. and the actual meeting will begin at 9:00 am. You need to be here for your committee meeting if at all possible.

Sheila reviewed the CASSP timeline. Please make sure you mark your calendars.

Jim Szoka made a comment about having to drive twice in one month for the Legislative Day and the POY interviews in February. Sheila will put together the information from the candidates and give it to us the January board meeting. We will also do a web cam for the POY interviews. The purpose is for board members that cannot attend the Feb. POY interviews. Mary McNeil will make sure we are set up for remote broadcasting for those members that cannot attend the interview process. Board members are not required to attend the POY interviews, but highly recommended.

A suggestion made to make the April Board meeting a remote board meeting. Mary McNeil will organize this board meeting. Another suggestion was made to have a board meeting prior to the celebration night for the recipients. Both suggestions will be taken under advisements and we be discussed at January meeting and a decision will be made at that time.

Board Changes/Elections - Kevin Schott

1. Kevin reviewed the terms for each board member. He reviewed the end term dates so board members know their term limit. Sheila reviewed our CASSP board committee members and updated our roster.

Committee Reports:

Legislative - Kevin Schott

1. Bruce was absent for this meeting. The committee discussed at length the financial situation of the state and the budget concerns going to legislation.

Membership/Ambassador -Jim Lucas

1. Currently Melissa Gibson will be updating our system regarding for membership.

Professional Development - Mary McNeil

1. Winter Leadership ideas were discussed
2. Robin Jackson was suggested as a speaker. Andy Hargreaves is confirmed for the conference.
3. INTS standards for technology – this was adopted by the CDE. Districts need to look at these standards to make sure teachers have met these standards. Thompson SD is looking at their teacher evaluations to make sure they are in alignment with these standards. The federal gov. wants teachers to be assessed. At this point there is not a standardto assess teachers. The big question is also what will be done with this information. The deadline for compliance for this is December. Survey Monkey is a good Website to use as a baseline for assessing teachers.
4. Ideas for discussion – Growth model, ELL, budget items
5. Webinar topics – legal issues, and 21st century skills for leaders
6. Mary is looking at bring back the Aspiring to the Principalship. Current PD is has a seminar for Administrators of Color.
7. Convention was very positive. Our attendance was up from 800 to 1,200. The profit does not include staff time for the convention. Any profit then goes to advocacy topics that CASE supports.

Discussion Items

CASSP Budget Considerations – Sheila Pottorff

1. We receive 15 dollars per member from the general budget. Sheila made a comment that this year that CASSP will not need to send anyone to the National conference. We get $256 from NASSP per member per year.
2. Sheila will bring a line item budget for our next meeting.

Membership Communications – Sheila Pottorff

1. Sarah came in and showed us how to operate Members360 program.
2. A handout was given on instructions for Members360 program.

NASSP Regional Director’s Report – Jim Lucas

1. NASSP convention is in Phoenix – great conference if you can attend. CASSP does have a block of rooms for those available. Deadline is Oct. 30, 2009
2. Dan Cohen was chosen as a National POY nominee.

2010 APOY/ 2011 POY

1. A packet was given out for board members to preview. It was would be to get a good representation of nominations.
2. Doug Deason suggested that it would be great to see if this Board could get a nomination from each region.

Regional Meetings – Adobe Connect Pro (Adobe Flash Player)– Mary McNeil

• New software available for meetings. This is a partnership for the cost of the license. The program will be used for webinars, videoconferences, and remote meetings. It also allows you to add agenda, documents and powerpoints. A great resource. Mary McNeil showed us an example of Adobe Connect Pro.

Regional Reports

Region 1 – Cristal Loehr

• Funding – budget cuts are a big issue. They are also struggling with the ability to get online due to lack of access with the Internet and connection. Mesa County is doing okay and holding its own financially. A “no food” policy has been one of the cuts. Basically you can’t feed people for any reason.

Region 2a – Patricia Buschjost

• HINI Flu - all districts are concerned about when and how this will affect the schools and students being at school.
• RTI – is also a hot item in the region discussions.
• Poudre is in their transition year, 6th went to middle school and 9th grade went to high school.
• Thompson District, former educators are running for the school board open seats. Sheila Pottorff will be going to DC for being the middle school Principal of the Year.

Region 2b – Greg Wieman

• New position for him, he came to CO from Michigan. He is beginning to get information out to his region.

Region 3 – Judy Florian

• This is a new position for her and she is beginning to get information from her region.
• Her district, Morgan County, has been working on some high school issues, regarding having a valedictorian and salutatorian. They are also looking at a new district strategic plan.

Region 4 – Delaine Hudson

• Delta County is down 100 students for the district. This is huge especially if there is a deficit of 2 to 10 percent per student. Delta County has two open seats for

school board. Grants have also fueled this district. Delta County received the BEST grant for one of their schools.

• Montrose/Olathe has new principals, but this county has a decrease in enrollment.
• Districts in this regions are using Alpine for data.

Region 5a – Jill Martin – Jim Lucas reported for Jill.

• Colorado Springs is holding steady on numbers. They are potentially going to close Mitchell High School due to enrollment numbers.
• Academy 20 is doing well financially.
• Douglas County Supt. just resigned and they are in some financial disarray ($60 million in the hole).

Region 5b – Jim Szoka

• Alamosa received a BEST grant as well. Sergeant is building a new 7-12 school. San Del Cristo is also building a new school. Both districts are working with a solar energy company.
• Decreasing enrollment in all districts in this region. Not huge, but it is affecting the sports classifications. This could present a travel issue.
• Monte Vista might change classifications. They also have 3 open seats currently.
• Monte Vista has the only Chinese Language program in the state. Monte Vista also has a new superintendent.

Region 6 – Paul Jebe

• Business manager is going to challenge the State because they didn’t receive the BEST grant and she believes it is due to the change they made after the requirements were sent to school districts. It will be interesting to see how the challenge goes.
• RTI is still a discussion for many districts in this region. Talking about how to get better measurements from students with common assessments. Teachers are getting used to the RTI process. This is a growth process for some of the schools in this region.
• Swink has added a math block and parents are not liking the title of the math class which was named RTI time.
• Enrollment is low in the SE Colorado.
• LaJunta used stimulus money to hire technology coaches. But now there is a potential to not have enough money for 2 out of the 4 teachers hired for these positions.

CASSP Questions for Discussion

• Jim Szoka asked about the PILT money. Kevin Schott suggested that districts talked to their county commissioners, as there is money for districts potentially.

• Paul Jebe suggested that we keep RTI as a discussion and it is good to hear what other districts are using.

CHASSA – Kevin Aten

Bill Reeder is retiring June 2010. The Board will begin to look for a new commissioner.

Kevin reviewed how CHASSA’s foundation, functions, committees and reporting abilities.

Meeting Adjournment

Request for motion to adjourn meeting made by: President Sheila Pottorff

Motion made by: Greg Wieman

Second made by: Cristal Loehr

Vote taken – note result of vote: Approved

Meeting adjourned at 1:10p.m.

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