Minutes of the Wisconsin Council of Teachers of English Language Arts

Executive Board Meeting

Thursday, May 1, 2003

Paper Valley Hotel, Appleton, WI

 

Members present were Tom Scott, Chris Van Hoof, Lynn Aprill, Ellen Last, Joanne Katzmarek, Trista Dauk, Bonnie Frechette, Ruth Wood, Marti Matyska, Debbie Kinder, Scott Oates, Mari Sue Bethke, John Zbikowski, Carol Conway-Gerhardt, Jacki Martindale, and Bill Schang.  Guests included David Beard and Deano Pape.

 

I.   Call to Order and Approval of Agenda

Debbie Kinder called the meeting to order at 6:04 p.m. Bonnie Frechette motioned to approve the agenda as published.  Tom Scott seconded the motion, and the motion carried.

 

II.  Secretary’s Report-Chris Van Hoof

Ruth Wood moved to accept the February 9, 2003, minutes with the correction of moving Constance Weaver  and Peggy O’Brein to the bullet about possible speakers, not Wisconsin authors. Scott Oates seconded the motion; the motion carried.

 

III. Treasurer’s Report-Scott Oates

A yearly budget report was handed out and explained. It provided details about WCTELA’s income and expenses for the year thus far. (See attached handout for specific details.) A proposed budget for 2003-2004 was offered for discussion. (See attached sheet for proposed changes.) A lengthy discussion about how to cut costs included the following: cut down on convention costs, move to a fall convention hoping to draw more people, go to a one day convention, eliminate one of the English Journal issues or send only one in hard copy and the other electronically, use school and university connections for printing when possible rather than professional printers, and eliminate funding the summer retreat. John Zbikowski also asked why the treasurer’s pay is not on the budget.  Scott Oates explained that the treasurer has not been receiving payment for several years.  Carol Conway-Gerhardt moved to table the budget until after committee reports were given.  Tom Scott seconded the motion. The motion carried.

IV. Committee Reports

A.      District Director Liaison

No report was given.

B.      Membership-Trista Dauk

Revised membership cards have been drafted and were passed around for critique. Trista will forward the revised version to Scott Oates.

C.      Publications

1. Update-Roxanne Biffert offered to do a spring Update, but Tom Scott moved to hold off and do an enhanced September Update.  The deadline for that issue will be the end of May.   Bonnie Frechette seconded the motion, and the motion carried.  Someone will do an article on this year’s award winners, Mary Graber will do a column about district directors, Tom Scott will write a letter from the president, Ellen Last will write a state of the state and a farewell, Jacki Martindale will include a call for proposals for her convention, and Tom Scott will include an invitation for people to join WCTELA. 

2.  Wisconsin English Journal-Due to budget constraints, three options for the journal were suggested. Option 1 was to produce only one journal each year.  Option 2 was to fight to keep two issues a year with a strong commitment from David Beard and Ruth Wood to look for additional funding sources.  Option 3 was to have one issue printed as usual with the option of an online issue if material warrants.  Mari Sue Bethke moved to accept option 3. Carol Conway-Gerhardt seconded the motion.  After further discussion, the motion was amended to say that one publication will be printed as usual, and the possibility of an online publication will be investigated. The amended  motion carried.  John Zbikowski and Ruth Wood will report  at the next meeting.

3.  Website-John Zbikowski consulted with Judy Knoll and was told that having the convention information on the website was helpful.  We can consider automating convention registration in the future. John suggested that coordinating publication schedules with website activity would be helpful and should be done at the summer retreat. Information sent for posting to the website should be sent as a word document or PDF file.  Currently there is a map of CESA districts on our site, but it needs to be refined.  John will work on creating a link to the CESA directory.  The domain name, WCTELA.org, costs  $65 every two years, and renewal is coming up in February. 

In addition, it was suggested that a counter be added to the page, and John agreed to do that.

4.  Wisconsin Authors Video -Mari Sue Bethke and Bill Schang haven’t found a time to meet, so there hasn’t been much progress.   Ben Logan is still interested and available in May and June, so Bill and Mari Sue will arrange a June date for taping. The project is still looking for an urban element, so if you have any ideas, send them to Bill or Mari Sue.  

D.      Professional Issues-Debbie Kinder

Debbie has still not received a response to her letter, but she will continue to fight the content test.  John Zbikowski reminded the group that we are not allowed to lobby, but we can express our professional opinion.

E.       Censorship/Intellectual Freedom

Catherine Conover has agreed to be the SLATE representative. Tom Scott should check with Emily Tymus to see if she is interested in attending the Intellectual Freedom conference in the future.

F.       Conference on English Leadership-Tom Scott

The NCTE convention will be in San Francisco in November.  CEL begins at the end of the  NCTE convention, from  Sunday through Wednesday. The following year (2005), NCTE will be in Indianapolis. Because there will no longer be a CEL Spring conference, local affiliates will  host CEL executive board meetings in conjunction with state conferences.  Tom has offered WCTELA to host CEL in 2005.

G.      Wisconsin Conference for English Education-Debbie Kinder

The group met earlier today and shared plans for dealing with PI-34.  (They are a small but earnest group.)  CEL and CEE are making a joint venture taking a strong position against high stakes testing.  If you’d like to participate in this project, contact Tom Scott.

H.      Archivist-Helen Dale

No report was given.

I.         Liaison Reports

1.  DPI Report-Ellen Last

Ellen Last is retiring June 30, 2003, and she expressed that this meeting is a bittersweet farewell.

Because of cuts at DPI, she is uncertain whether her position will be filled, but Jack Kean is hoping to fill the vacancy.  Tom Scott expressed extreme gratitude for Ellen’s insight and information throughout the years and how dearly she will be missed by this group.

2.  Wisconsin Communication Association

Deano Pape thanked Scott Oates, Tom Scott, Marti Matyska, and the organization for their work  putting this year’s convention together.   WCA appreciates the joint convention, and would like to continue the collaboration.

V.  Officer Reports

A.      Incoming 2nd Vice President- Bill Schang

Bill is excited about working with people that are in the classroom daily, and he looks forward to the challenge.

B.      2nd Vice President-Jacki Martindale

The official call for proposals will go out in the September Update.  The 2004 convention will be April 29-May 1, in Appleton.  Jacki is working on contacting speakers.

C.      1st Vice President-Tom Scott

At the last meeting we discussed having directors greet/introduce speakers, but no directors responded to Mary Graber’s  email, so it was dropped.  Ruth Wood suggested getting college students to be greeters for future conventions.

D.  President’s report-Debbie Kinder

Debbie thanked Tom Scott for all his hard work on the convention.

VI. Old Business

A.      Elections

Debbie expressed  a desire to fill all district director  positions.  Currently 4 and 9 are vacant.  Bonnie Frechette moved to extend Marti Matyska’s convention manager position through 2005. Mari Sue Bethke seconded the motion; the motion was approved.

B.      Director Position

Due to budget constraints, Scott Oates decided to drop the issue at this time.

C.      Arts in Education Liaison

Someone suggested Penny Parsons for the position, but no one has spoken to her yet. Debbie handed the issue over to incoming president, Tom Scott.

D.      Partnership with WSRA

Debbie Kinder sent a packet of information to Joanne Katzmarek, and Joanne forwarded it to someone at WSRA.  The beginning steps for a partnership have been taken.

E.       Promising Young Writers Coordinator

We are looking for someone to take on this position.

F.       Summer Retreat

In order to save money, Ruth Wood moved that WCTELA should pay for meals, and individuals should pay for rooms, with the exception of new members who will be completely underwritten.  Lynn Aprill seconded the motion, and the motion carried.  The retreat will be July 31-Aug 1, at St. Benedict’s  Center in Madison.

G.      Fall and Winter Meeting Dates
The fall meeting will be Sept. 19-20, at the Holiday Inn in Stevens Point.  The winter meeting will be Feb. 6-7, and Tom Scott will decide where it will be.
VII. New Business
A.      Pooley Foundation

Marty Wood is proposing some substantial changes, and he will be calling the trustees together this summer.

B.       Back to Budget

The following changes were made to the proposed budget: increase CESA rebates from $600-$1,000, increase meetings from $500 to $800 to include part of the summer retreat, include $100 for website as a separate category, and eliminate the miscellaneous category which included $200 (those items typically go into executive operations).   Total budgeted expenditures  are $ 24, 600.  Joanne Katzmarek made a motion to accept the proposed budget as changed. Tom Scott seconded the motion; the motion carried.

VIII.            Adjournament-

Jacki Marindale moved to adjourn and Ruth Wood seconded the motion.  The meeting adjourned  at 9:00 p.m.