February 22, 2006 ACE Board Meeting
9:00 A. M. @ Billings Hotel and Convention Center

1. President Bob Barnes called the meeting to order at 9:05. Bob had the group introduce themselves. ACE board members present were Bob Barnes, Les Cabot, Andy Begger, David Huether, Mark Brajcich, Al Sipes, and Tim Dolphay. Guests present were Josh Middleton, Fritzie Walker, Tamra Covington, Craig Kitto, Linda DeCock, Brenda Koch, Martha Young, and Andy’s son Joey. Gail Richardson and Jerry Scott were also present for the meeting.


2. David Huether made the motion to approve the January 25, 2006 minutes with the correction on item number five, the vote to have ACE pay for the meals for the March 6 PIR day. The minutes are to read 5 – 2 and not 7 – 0. Tim Dolphay seconded the motion which passed 7 – 0.


3. Upon review, Les Cabot moved to approve the finance report as given. Andy Begger seconded the motion which passed 7 – 0.


4. Jerry gave an update on the March 6, 2006 PIR day to be held at the Laurel High School Auditorium. Registration, coffee, juice and rolls will began at 8:15 with the first session with Jerry Mills starting at 9:00. The Luther School group will do coffee, rolls and lunch at $12 per person. Jerry Mills has made his own arrangements for room and transportation. The board reviewed the evaluation tool that ACE has been using for its workshops and suggested to make sure the evaluation scale was clear. Jerry reviewed the schools that have registered stating that thus far there will be 322 attending the workshop. The schools present gave their registration numbers pushing the total to around 500.


5. Jerry updated the group on the plans for the April 1 – 3 ASCD conference in Chicago. All arrangements have now been made.


6. A report was given on the MASCD book fair held in Bozeman on January 30th. Jerry helped with the book fair and said some of the companies present may be able to provide speakers or other help for future ACE workshops. He suggested that ACE might have MASCD hold a book fair in our area sometime in the future. The discussion lead to the conclusion that it is very difficult for schools to get teachers and administrators to such functions. Bob Barnes stated that when ACE first started reviewing curriculum in 1989 or 1990 they would also review text books for that subject area and rate them for the group. Jerry stated that storage became a huge problem and he has since given away all of the sample books ACE had gathered. It was suggested that a few companies be contacted to send samples for each of the curriculum review committees to look at. Perhaps then the committee could recommend a couple companies doing a presentation for ACE. Jerry said he would contact some other schools for a sample of their textbook evaluation tools. After the last meeting with Jerry, Gail Richardson developed a textbook survey tool that the board reviewed. The purpose of the survey would be a data bank for all ACE members so they could know which school was using what textbook and how they rated it. The data would allow member schools to contact the other members in order to obtain information about textbooks they were interested in. All present felt this was an excellent idea and directed Gail and Jerry to send the survey via regular mail to superintendents, principals, and curriculum people. It was suggested that the survey also include some type of question as to why a school changes textbook series in the past 3 to 5 years.


7. The board was asked to readdress the motion made at the last meeting to not give MASCD a $500 sponsorship fee for the spring conference in Helena. Fritzie Walker and Jerry explained to the group the benefits of such a sponsorship including helping to keep the registration fees reasonable still bringing in high quality professional development. They also explained that the spring conference is now a joint endeavor between SAM and MASCD. Mark Brajcich moved to have ACE become a $500 sponsor of the spring MASCD conference in Helena. David Huether seconded the motion which passed 7 – 0.


8. Gail and Jerry reported on the February 9 social studies curriculum review. There were 21 attending from 7 ACE member schools. The board felt that ACE should continue to encourage more schools to participate in this important event because everyone benefits. Gail reviewed the process used and said the review group suggested that all member schools be sent a draft with a deadline so all ACE schools could make suggested changes before the final document is completed. The board felt this was a good idea to give everyone a chance to comment even if they choose not to participate in the actual review. Gail and Jerry reviewed the five-year plan stating the plan it also be sent to all members schools.


9. Al Sipes reviewed information from NovaNET, a computer based class system that would allow students to take remedial, make-up (credit recovery), and advanced courses. Al suggested ACE might become the provider in order to keep the prices down. Member schools would pay for the service. Al stated that Columbus has a problem with overcrowded classes when failing students have to retake some subject areas. Billings uses the same system and Al and Jerry will contact Billings for more information. Al said the system was aligned to 47 different state standards, but not Montana because our state standards are not specific enough. There are over 2,700 different on line courses that can be offered and a school can choose which ones they wish to use. Classes are rigorous and take an average of 45 hours to complete for one half of a credit. They are mastery-based courses with a pre-test and post-test. There is a fee of around $1,500 for a license, which includes 4 sites or portals that are available 24 hours a day for a year. The cost goes down with up to 110 portals being possible. Parents could be charged a fee if their son or daughter had to retake a class in this manner. The courses appear to be at a high school level. Josh Middleton visited about Laurel belonging to the MtSBA / MREA on line courses. He said there are now about 500 classes available. He added that the fee for NovaNet was a lot less with more courses available. Josh answered questions on the system Laurel is now using. Others present visited about their on line class experiences. Al and Jerry will bring additional information to next months meeting.
   
   Jerry asked if anyone present had received a call from Charlie Mel representing InfoSource, Inc. Charlie wanted to have ACE use InfoSourse for professional development stating that ACE could set any fee it wished. Most of the courses appear to be computer classes, such as Microsoft courses. The board instructed Jerry to say we are not interested at this time.


10. Jerry reported on the last coursework for the ACE technology grant being managed by TEST. He presented a copy of the web page (http://ace.explore-ed.com) being set up for the Intel teachers to post their lessons. More Intel courses will be offered this spring as well as next year. He also reported that TEST is now the national site for TAGLET. Jerry suggested that the April 26th ACE board meeting be held at the ACE Technology grant showcase. The showcase will be from 9 – 2 at the Sheridan Hotel in Billings. Jerry felt the South Central Administrator group would also use the showcase in place of its April 26 meeting. The showcase will be open to anyone who would like to come. More information will be sent by TEST. Andy Begger moved to have the ACE board attend the showcase on April 26th in place of its regular meeting. Tim Dolphay seconded the motion which passed 7 – 0.


11. The minutes of the February 10th MASCD board meeting and A – Z curriculum meeting in Helena were passed out. Jerry said the majority of the meeting dealt with Indian Education for all. He gave the board packets of information from the two presentations from the meeting stating that perhaps one or both of the groups could do a workshop at the September 11, 2006 ACE PIR day. Jerry will repeat this information at the March 2 steering committee meeting to be held at 12:30 at DJ’s in Laurel. Bob asked Jerry if there had been a good response for that meeting. Jerry reported that thus far he has less than 5 names. Bob asked Jerry to send the information out to member schools one more time.


12. Jerry reported that he attended the February 17 CSPD regional meeting at MSU-Billings. Northwest Regional Labs did a presentation on the lesson study process being used in Japan and some U.S. schools. Jerry felt the presentation was very interesting, but had some doubts about it being used in a small rural school setting. He give those present a handout on the process. Jerry said he would wait and see what CSPD does.


13. Tom Thayer would like to attend the next board meeting in order to present his latest publications in social studies and Montana history. Al Sipes said he met with Tom and felt the publications might have some use as references material. Jerry said he was scheduled to meet with Tom on Thursday. The board instructed Jerry to tell Tom Thayer they have a very full agenda for next month’s meeting and he should continue to contact individual schools on his own.


14. Gail Richardson reviewed material from the CRT workshops she has been doing. Andy Begger mentioned that he had Gail do a presentation at his schools and the staff felt it was very useful. They said that wished they had the information sooner. Jerry said both he and Gail will continue to do workshops for OPI next year. They both can also offer the workshops at anytime for ACE members. He added that the information in the trainer manual sent with the CRT exams was very good and quite helpful.


15. The next ACE board meeting was set for Wednesday, March 29 at 9:00 AM in the Billings Hotel and Convention Center. President Bob Barnes adjourned the meeting at 10:45 A.M.