October 26, 2005 ACE Board Meeting
9:00 A. M. @ Billings Hotel and Convention Center

ACE Board members present:  Mark Brajcich, Bob Barnes, Al Sipes, Andy Begger, Tim Dolphay, Les Cabot, Dave Huether, and director Jerry Scott. 
Guests present:  Don Bidwell, Liz Cunningham, Jennifer Hickok, Luke Enemy Hunter, Gail Richardson, Jerry Thompson, Jeff Bermes, Gary Scott, and Linda DeCock.

1. President Bob Barnes called the meeting to order at 9:05 A. M. Bob had everyone present introduce themselves.


2. Al Sipes made the motion to approve the August 31, 2005 minutes as printed. Andy Begger seconded the motion and all voted in favor, 6 - 0.


3. Jerry reported that all schools have now paid their dues. He went over the finance report with the board. Dave Huether made the motion to approve the finance report and Tim Dolphay seconded the motion which passed 6 – 0.


4. Jerry presented two items concerning Paraprofessional Training: One offered by MSU-Billings, a computer training opportunity, and an article on the MEA-MFT PASS training. Jerry asked if ACE should become involved by offering training this spring. The board felt ACE should send this information on to its members and let them decide for their staff. If there is enough interest, ACE could set up the PASS training after school is out.


5. Jerry went over the report on September 20, 2005 professional development survey results. 46 said they wanted ACE to offer a number of choices and 33 said they wanted ACE to continue to offer national speakers. A list of suggested presentations was reviewed. The board felt ACE should offer one national speaker this spring and in the fall of 2006 have a national speaker for half a day and a number of other workshops for the other half of day. The survey information will be used to help determine professional development in the future.


6. A report on national speakers contacted for ACE PIR days was given. The group brought up a number of names. Jerry reported that Dr. Levine said he did not wish to travel from home on a Sunday. Lavine did say he might come for a weekend and then do a Monday workshop sometime in the future. Information on Jerry Mills, an educator, singer, songwriter, and motivational speaker was passed out to the group. Jerry said he spoke to Jerry Mills and he is willing to come on March 6, 2006 to do a full day workshop. Jerry said this type of motivational presentation was something the members have been requesting. He said Laurel was willing to let ACE use its auditorium. Lunch could be on everyone’s own, catered, or a Laurel group could do lunch as a fund raising project. Jerry felt this would be the easiest to set up for the March 6, 2006 PIR day. Al Sipes made a motion for ACE to contract with Jerry Mills to do the March 6, 2006 PIR day in Laurel. Bob Barnes seconded the motion which it passed 7 – 0. (Mark arrived during this discussion thus the change in vote numbers)


7. Gail and Jerry reported on the October 4 Math curriculum review held in Laurel. Some of the teachers present said they would like a second day in order to continue to work on the middle school math curriculum looking at strands. Dave Huether moved to have Gail and Jerry set up another math review session making sure to let ACE schools know the date at least two weeks in advance. Les Cabot seconded the motion and it passed 7 – 0.


8. Don Bidwell and Gary Scott were in attendance to ask about the possibility of Busby and Lame Deer joining ACE. Don Bidwell said Busby desperately need curriculum because they were starting from scratch. Busby needs to get up to speed. They received zero on their AYP report. Busby has about 20 teachers and 180 K – 12 students. Don said Busby would participate fully in ACE activities if allowed to join. Gary Scott said Lame Deer has “a lot of money” and had a curriculum director who went to work for Lockwood. Lame Deer belonged to the Prairie View consortium but Gary felt ACE was the best curriculum consortium around. Gary also said Lame Deer has a grant writer who may be able to bring more grant opportunities for ACE. Lame Deer has a trained staff that would be willing to share with ACE members. Lame Deer has 68 teachers and 592 K – 12 students. Both Don Bidwell and Gary Scott were superintendents at an ACE school in the past. Discussion followed with the question as to how much Laurel paid last year to join. Jerry said it was about $7,000. He believed it to be $2,500 for dues, $2,000 for training, and $2,500 for materials. Both Don Bidwell and Gary Scott felt this amount of money was acceptable. Bob Barnes stated that ACE was formed to help schools and Busby and Lame Deer needed our help. Les Cabot mentioned that he agreed. Dave Huether made a motion to allow Busby and Lame Deer to join as members of ACE using the same contract as for Laurel last year. Al Sipes seconded the motion and it passed 7 – 0. Jerry said he would send both schools a contract and disks containing ACE curriculum so they could get started right away. He and Gail will work out training schedules with both schools as well as deliver the other materials to the schools in the next couple months.


9. Liz Cunningham visited with the group about the TEST / ACE Technology Grant. She went over the schedule of training and other parts of the grant and responded to questions. Those present who had taken some of the workshops spoke highly of the materials and the instruction that has been given. The grant runs through the 2006 – 2007 school year. Liz went over some possible spring and summer workshops that will be offered through the grant. Because the grant is based on poverty levels, not all ACE schools qualified for the grant. However, all ACE schools are invited to participate in the training with the non-qualified school paying their own expenses. Some of those present said they are already doing this.


10. A report on ACE October 20 – 21 workshops was reviewed. Jerry asked if ACE should continue to offer workshops during MEA days next year. If ACE was to do this he would start planning this winter for next year’s workshops. Stating that because both MEA and MCEL will be held in Billings next fall, Andy Begger made a motion ACE should not offer other workshops at that time. Les Cabot seconded the motion which passed 7 – 0.


11. Jerry showed a proposal for the ASCD 2006 annual conference to be held in Chicago, April 1 – 3 and asked the board’s pleasure about sending the ACE members to the conference. Jerry thought it would cost about $1,500 per participant to attend. Those who attended the ASCD conference last year all felt it was a very worthwhile event. Mark Brajcich made a motion to send any ACE board members, Jerry, and Gail to the conference with all expenses paid by ACE. He added that ACE would help member schools send staff to the conference by paying 2/3 of the expense. Al Sipes seconded the motion and it carried 7 – 0.


12. Luke Enemy Hunter informed the group about various Indian cultural activities that will take place this fall and invited everyone to attend.


13. Bob Barnes announced that the next meeting would be on November 30th at 9:00 AM at Billings Hotel and Convention Center. The meeting was adjourned at 10:30.