The Teacher Center of Broome County
Policy Board Meeting Minutes and Self Study
2001 - 2002

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The Teacher Center of Broome County Policy Board Meeting Minutes: September 18, 2001

Present:	Absent:
Sharon Bryden Colleen Cawley Janice Fiore Kate Griffith Dale Schumacher  Corinne Barnes Starr LaTronica Betty McAndrew Gail Szeliga Sharon Wells Robert Carpenter Ann Laczak Tammy Daniels	Mary Loftus Alice McNeeley Jennifer Westcott Cheryl Naslund Mike Sabo CV Representative Whitney Point Representative

The following new policy board members were welcomed:

  Bob Carpenter (Binghamton University)
  Tammy Daniels (Harpursville)
  Ann Laczak (Susquehanna Valley)

Financial Report:
 
Balance in state and local funds were reported.  No new funding was received from the state.  The Teacher Center received only 1/3 funding this year. Since all state money will be used by November, it was recommended that a contingency plan be drawn up and go in effect at the end of October.  Colleen, Betty, Kate and Sharon agreed to serve on the committee with Mike Sabo.

Old Business:

Policy Board members were reminded that a Policy Board Training Dinner will be held on October 16, 2001 - Owego.  Our own Mike SaBO will be the featured speaker.

New Business: 

Grant Selection Committees were appointed in case funds become available and we are able to award grants.

• Action Research: Bob and ______________
• Program Incentive: Cheryl and ___________
• Conference: Sharon and ________________
• Theme Site: _________________________
• Do It!: _____________________________
• Teacher Study Group: Betty and Colleen

Corinne Barnes reported on the state's Data Training Project.

Director Report

Policy Board vacancies - Chenango Valley and Whitney Point

Summer Institute Report - August 2001 - held in Rochester, NY.  Next year it will take place in Corning, NY.

Philadelphia Conference Report - July 2001- Web Page Design

Ambassador Training meetings were held during August and September.  Almost all ambassadors attended.  The new grant programs was outlined and ambassador's roles were explained.

Two substitute teacher information sessions were held in Sept. attended by 70 people.  An all day training session is scheduled for Friday, October 19 in cooperation with SUB (Substitutes United in Broome).

Meeting adjourned at 5:15 pm.

Minutes were submitted by Colleen Cawley.

TEACHER CENTER of Broome County
PLANNING MEETING FOR AUSTERITY OPERATING BUDGET
September 26, 2001

In Attendance:

Colleen Cawley, Mike Sabo, Betty McAndrew, Sharon Wells, Kate Griffith

Gail Szeliga

Minutes:

Due to the fact that the NY State Legislature has not passed a supplemental budget as of this date, it is necessary to develop a contingency plan in order to keep the center operating from November 2001 through June 2002.

The purpose of this committee was to develop a contingency plan by reviewing the current financial assets, along with the anticipated expenses and income for the remaining months.

The meeting began with a review of the following documents:

· Statement of Local Funds available as of this date

· Statement of funds remaining in the 2001 State Grant as of this date. This grant was for $86,400, 1/3 of the amount granted last year.

· Statement of expenses committed for October 2001 including rent, utilities, salaries and program along with the balance available in state and local funds as of October 28, 2001.

· Statement of expenses and possible income for the center from October 29, 2001 – June 30, 2002.

The committee also discussed generating additional income. Several ideas were presented such as: asking Binghamton to lower rent, asking District Teacher Unions to contribute so much per teacher, holding community technology training classes in the afternoon, starting a Friends of the Teacher Center group.

The hours of operation were reviewed. Presently the center is open Monday through Friday, 12 months per year. It is closed on the 13 designated in the BOCES calendar. A discussion ensued on the necessity of operating on the twelve-month calendar. It was suggested that the center adopt the same calendar that the school districts use and close in July and August along with school vacations when teachers do not work.

It was decided that the Teacher Center could remain open under certain conditions until June 2002 with local funds being the main source of funding since the state funds will run out in November 2001. A nine point contingency plan was developed for presentation to the Policy Board on October 16, 2001.

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TEACHER CENTER of Broome County

CONTINGENCY OPERATING PLAN

(in the event of no additional funding from the New York State)

 1.       The Teacher Center will follow the school district calendar starting on October 29, 2001. The staff salaries will be reduced for a gross savings in salary of 9.8%. 

2.       The Teacher Center will close temporarily on Fridays.  

3. Part time program assistant’s hours will be reduced to 10 hours per week as of October 29, 2001.

4. Presenter’s salaries will be reduced to $40.00 per hour from $60.00 per hour. This pertains to all presenters who have not presently entered into a contract with the Teacher Center 

5. A maximum of $10,000 will be allotted for professional development programs. ($3000 until January; $7000 until June).  Program Incentive requests will be considered.

6. The basic expenses on the attached expense sheet will continue through June 30, 02.   

7. Conference, Do It, Theme Site, Action Research, and Teacher Study Group Grants will be not be awarded if the state does not increase funding.

8. It is recommended that if continued state funding looks eminent, the Teacher Center will adopt the 10-month school district calendar as of July 1, 2002. This seems practical because of the low attendance for summer programs, the discontinuation of the August Educator’s conference and the uncertainty of the final budget amount that will be granted from the state.  

9. Employee contracts will be adjusted as follows:

a.    Gail Szeliga will work under the ten-month calendar plus 20 flex days in the summer; essentially this is an 11-month contract.  The Owego, Johnson City and Elmira and Endicott Teacher Centers work under this schedule. Her present salary will be adjusted to reflect this change. 

2. Kathy Harasta will work under the ten-month calendar commencing in September of 2002 and ending June 2003.   Since this would be a significant salary cut for Kathy it is suggested that she be promoted to the position of “Senior Program Assistant”.  This is an internal BOCES promotion that can be given to a program assistant after one year of service.

10. Other funding sources will be considered in order to build back the local funds for the future.

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TEACHER CENTER of Broome County
CONTINGENCY OPERATING PLAN (with notes)
(in the event of no additional funding from the New York State)

1. The Teacher Center will follow the school district calendar starting on October 29, 2001. This means that the TC will close on days when teachers are not working. Staff’s salaries will be reduced accordingly. This represents a permanent 88-hour deduction in overall hours. (This will work because BOCES will just adjust our yearly salary to a new base amount, and the new salary step will be based on this amount in 2002 - 2003).

2. The TC will close temporarily on Fridays and cut 4 hours a week from staff salaries starting Friday, November 2, 2001 and ending on Friday, May 24, 2002* (This represents another 96 hour deduction. I am not sure how this will work because we will then be getting into the hourly issue with BOCES and that affects retirement – any suggestions?)

3. Part time program assistant’s hours will be reduced to 10 hours per week as of October 29, 2001.

4. Presenter’s salaries will be reduced to $40.00 per hour from $60.00 per hour. This pertains to all presenters who have not presently entered into a contract with the Teacher Center

5. A maximum of $10,000 will be allotted for professional development programs. ($3000 until January; $7000 until June). Program Incentive requests will be considered.

6. Itemized expenses will be allowed. (Expense sheet will be attached.)

7. Conference, Do It, Theme Site, Action Research, and Teacher Study Group Grants will be not be awarded if the state does not increase funding.

8. It is recommended that if continued state funding looks eminent, the Teacher Center will adopt the 10-month school district calendar as of July 1, 2002. This seems practical because of the low attendance for summer programs, the discontinuation of the August Educator’s conference and the uncertainty of the final budget amount that will be granted from the state. This also will enable the center to run on less local funds for the year if that proves necessary.

9. Employee contracts will be adjusted as follows:

Gail Szeliga will work the 10-month teacher schedule plus 20 flex days in the summer; theoretically this is an 11-month contract. The Owego, Johnson City and Elmira and Endicott Teacher Centers work under this schedule. Her present salary will be adjusted to reflect this change.

Kathy Harasta will work under the ten-month calendar commencing in September of 2002 and ending June 2003. Since this would be a significant salary cut for Kathy it is suggested that she be promoted to the position of "Senior Program Assistant". This is an internal BOCES promotion that can be given to a program assistant after one year of service. The advantage for Kathy is that Civil Service will then allow Kathy to be paid a higher hourly rate. Kathy is a loyal and dedicated employee. She has a four-year college degree. If she cannot maintain close to the same salary as her present 2001 salary she will look for another job. It would be a shame to lose her.

The two part time employees are paid hourly so they do not have a contract. This includes Kathleen Czebiniak, part time program assistant (19.5 hours per week) and Julie Bertrand, student assistant (4 hours per week).

10. Other funding sources will be considered in order to build back the local funds for the future.

Note: Fridays were not included in June since contracted employees did not want to lose the salary step that they were entitled to for the next year due to the automatic raise that is negotiated by the union. If we temporarily drop our salary by 9.5 % for a select period of time when we close on Fridays, and then resume the salary in June we were hoping we would not lose the step.

The TEACHER CENTER of Broome County

Policy Board Meeting

Minutes: April 17, 2002

Present                                                                       Absent

Sharon Bryden                                                 Mary Loftus

Ann Laczak                                                                  Kate Griffith

Janice Fiore                                                                  Cheryl Naslund

Sharon Wells                                                                Dale Schumacher

Alice McNeeley                                                        Colleen Cawley

Gail Szeliga                                                                   Starr LaTronica

Betty McAndrew                                                       Jennifer Westcott

Mike Sabo

Tammy Daniels

Troy Rounds

Corinne Barnes

Robert Carpenter

Tina Conklin

Sharon Bryden called the meeting to order at 4:03.  She welcomed Tina Conklin, a new policy board member from Chenango Valley CSD.  Minutes of the March 13, 2002 were approved. 

FINANCIAL REPORT:

A full financial report was given to policy board members by Gail Szeliga , Director. 

Since it was necessary to move some funds an amendment was approved by the policy board at the February meeting and sent to the State.  Official approval has not been received yet.

A financial plan for the summer was discussed.  The policy board agreed to spend as much on the summer programs as was spent last summer.  Grants will not be awarded in the summer since we have received no word on funding for the 2002 – 2003 school year.

OLD BUSINESS

• The following Teacher Center handbook statement was worded to read:

·  One or more consortium teachers may submit a grant application.  The application should have a signed acknowledgment of the building principal.  If the grant is awarded to the applicants a copy of the award letter will be sent to the building principal and the district superintendent.

• A decision was postponed on the following Teacher Center handbook statement until Gail checks with Isabel Pickett at the state Teacher Center office.

• Any person (who do we mean? – any consortium member? i.e.  administrator, support staff or teacher) is eligible to apply for a grant

·        TC Spring Retreat at the Sagamore reports: All policy board members who attended were very pleased.  Several policy board members shared materials that were distributed at the conference.  Mike Sabo shared a document entitled “Roles and Responsibilities of Policy Board Members” which he felt was worthwhile.

·        Review of NYSUT Standards and Assessment Conference at the Desmond; Tammy Daniels reported a positive experience at this conference.  She encouraged others to attend next year when it hopefully would be scheduled at a better time of year. 

·        The Teacher Center will sponsor 18 consortium members attendance at the Autism Conference to be held April 26 in Owego.  Nationally known speakers will be featured. 

·        Sponsorships were awarded proportionately:

·                    Binghamton – (5 registrations/4 substitutes)

·                    Vestal  - (3 registrations/3 substitutes)

·                    Maine Endwell – (2 registrations/2 substitutes)

·                    BOCES – (3 registrations)

·                    Harpursville -  (1 registration/1 substitute)

·                    Chenango Valley – (1 registration/1 substitute)

·                    Whitney Point – (1 registration/1 substitute)

·                    Deposit – (1 registration/1 substitute)

·                    Non-Public (1 registration)

NEW BUSINESS:

A decision was made to offer six sponsorships to the Character Education conference this summer at Cortland.  Two sponsorships will go to Binghamton, and one each to Chenango Forks, Windsor, Deposit and Whitney Point.  The sponsorships reimburse the attendee for the registration fee after they attend and turn in a conference report.  We received sponsorship requests from 5 districts by the listed deadline.

DIRECTOR’S REPORT:

• Conference Report – NYSUT and Sagamore
• Update on TEACHER CENTER happenings!

SELF STUDY

Last year’s Self Study document was reviewed and discussed.  The required document entitled TEACHER CENTER SELF STUDY QUESTIONNAIRE: USE OF TEACHER CENTER STANDARDS: 2001 – 2002 was reviewed and completed.  Gail will mail this to the state by May 15, 2002. A copy is attached for each policy board member.

Jan Fiore presented the results of this year’s self study planning committee’s work. It was decided to focus on only four goals this year.  The self study document will be revised and presented to all policy board members for their final approval at our May meeting.

The next policy board meeting was scheduled for May 8, 2002.

The June policy board meeting will take place at Nirchi’s restaurant in Endicott at 5 pm on June 19, 2002.

Meeting adjourned at 5:45 p.m.  Minutes were submitted by Gail Szeliga.

The TEACHER CENTER of Broome County

Policy Board Meeting

Minutes: May 8, 2002

Present                                                                                   Absent

Sharon Bryden                                                             Mary Loftus

Sharon Wells                                                                            Kate Griffith

Alice McNeeley                                                                    Cheryl Naslund

Gail Szeliga                                                                               Dale Schumacher

Betty McAndrew                                                                   Starr LaTronica

Tammy Daniels                                                             Jennifer Wescott

Corinne Barnes                                                             Ann Laczak

Tina  Conklin                                                                            Janice Fiore

Colleen Cawley                                                                        Mike Sabo

                                                                                                Troy Rounds

                                                                                                Robert Carpenter

Sharon Bryden called the meeting to order at 4:03.  Minutes of April 17, 2002 were approved. An mail/e-mail will be taken of all policy board members regarding the important votes on the agenda.

Old Business:

• A decision was made to include both the following statements in Teacher Center handbook by those present and by a majority of the e-mail/mail votes of those not present.

·        Any teacher who is under contract with a consortium school/district is eligible to apply for a Teacher Center grant.

·        In the case of local conference sponsorship and similar awards recent BEDS statistics relating to population of teachers in each consortium district will be the basis for the proportional award decisions.

·        Sponsorship Update – reimbursement of registration expense

Character Ed. Conference

·        Total # applications = 13 (5 districts)

·        Cost = $125 pp

·        Number awarded = 6

·        Survey results = TEACHERS MATTER

·        Teacher Study Groups and Conference grants came out first in the survey.  Response rate was good with over 300 surveys returned.  2000+ were sent out, but it is impossible to know how many were distributed.  Each policy board member received a copy of the results.

·        The 2001 – 2002 Grant Matrix was distributed.  This matrix serves as the final report for all six grants that were offered during the 2001 – 2002 year. Total number of awarded grants for each district were listed along with the $ value of all grants given to each district.  Maine Endwell came in first place with the highest $ value and Chenango Forks came in last with the least $ value of awards.  All consortium categories were represented on the matrix.  All consortium districts received at least one grant. 

·        Four goals were outlines in the 2002 – 2003 self study.  Each policy board member received a copy. Communication, ambassadors, professional learning communities and strengthening ties with union leaders will be the focus. A decision was made to adopt the final self study document by those present and by a majority of the e-mail/mail votes of those not present. 

FINANCIAL REPORT:

A full financial report was given to policy board members by Gail Szeliga, Director.

All monies have been committed and we seem to be on target as to our spending.  A few areas are in the minus column, but they balance out with the areas that are in the plus column.

The policy board gave permission to Gail Szeliga to submit a second amendment if necessary.  Permission was granted to move $10,000 into the 40 code.  Money would come from the 15 code – Professional Salaries - $5,000, the 20 code – Equipment - $4,500 and the 45 code – Supplies and Materials - $500.

BUDGET 2002 – 2003

The 2002 – 2003 proposed budget was adopted by those present and by a majority of the e-mail/mail votes of those not present.  Each policy board member received a detailed copy.  It is summarized below.

CATEGORY               CODE             PROJECT COSTS

Professional Salaries                     15                       102,000

Support Staff Salaries                     16                       39,048

Purchased Services                    40                       49,792

Supplies and Materials             45                    16,654

Travel Expenses                   46                       12,451

Employee Benefits                     80                       22,740

Indirect Cost                   90                   5,824

BOCES Services                   49

Minor Remodeling              30

Equipment                      20                    5,991

                              Grand Total                      $254,500

GRANT PROGRAM 2002 - 2003    

Five grant programs were approved to run in 2002 – 2003 by those present and by a majority of the e-mail/mail votes of those not present.

·        Conference (Committee: Sharon and Colleen)

·        Teacher Study Group (Committee:  Alice and Betty and Tina)

·        Peer Observation (Committee: Tammy and Sharon)

·        Theme Site (Committee: Ann and Bob and Starr)

·        Program Incentive (Committee: Cheryl and Troy)

Any policy board member not listed as a committee member is invited to join the committee of their choice.

Grant committees were asked to meet before July 31 to revise applications so they can be ready for September.

The June policy board dinner will take place at Nirchi’s restaurant in Endicott at 5 p.m. on June 19, 2002.

Meeting adjourned at 5:10 p.m.  Minutes were submitted by Colleen Cawley.