March 25, 2009 ACE Board Meeting
9:00 A. M. @ Billings Hotel and Convention Center

Present were ACE board members Al Sipes, Stephanie Long, Josh Middleton, Andy Begger, Tim Dolphay and Les Cabot.

Guest present were Brenda Koch, Dan Nelson and Tobin Novasio. Gail Richardson and Jerry Scott were also present.

1. Al Sipes called the meeting to order at 9:15.

2. Andy Begger moved for the approval of the February 25, 2009 minutes. Stephanie Long seconded the motion which passed 6 - 0.

3. The financial report was reviewed to the satisfaction of all present.

4. Correspondence: Three pieces of correspondence was shared: One from Kristy Savaria, MSCA president, thanking Gail Richardson for her dedicated work with the school counselor curriculum standards. The second was a thank you note from Janie Pollick, the main speaker at the March 2 ACE PIR day. The third was an announcement for a Para-Educators institute being held in Helena on August 3 – 4 was also distributed.

5. Stephanie Long distributed a letter of resignation from the ACE board to be effective March 25. Stephanie said she will be starting a new job as the director of the special education cooperative. The board asked if Stephanie would consider changing the date in order to continue as a board member through the April 29 meeting. Stephanie was agreeable to this date. Andy Begger moved to accept, with regrets, Stephanie’s letter of resignation as amended. Tim Dolphay seconded the motion which passed 5 – 1 with Al Sipes voting no. Jerry was asked to put out a notice calling for nominations for a board replacement.

6. An agreement with NWEA for MAP Testing was not received as of this date. Jerry was instructed to send a commitment letter to all of the ACE schools with a signature line for the superintendent and the school board chairman. It was suggest that a date in August be used for the MAP training. Josh Middleton said Laurel would be available to host the training in one of its computer labs. The group discussed various types of testing being done in their schools. The possibility of sending someone from ACE to become a MAP trainer was also discussed. The group concluded that it was very expensive for someone to become a MAP training and that once trained the person would have to be an employee for NWEA. Brenda Koch said that there is a trainer in the Billings area that she has used to help with evaluation of the MAP testing results at here school.

7. A handout on the sessions attended at the ASCD National Conference in Orlando was passed out. The summary showed a wide variety and a large number of sessions attended by the group. Jerry suggested that those attending do a presentation during the September 14 ACE PIR day. The board felt this was a good idea but the presentation should be short with the group basically telling the benefits of attending the national conference as well as how to apply for next conference. Jerry said he would like to put the summaries on the ACE web site including links to the sessions and photos. Gail and Jerry both said one of the highlights of the trip was being able to drive to the coast and watch the space shuttle take off.

8. A handout on the March 2 ACE PIR Day was distributed showing that the total cost was $13,694.68. This compared to the total cost of the September 8 PIR day of $17,704.36. The cost bringing in a national presenter as well as the cost of food and are the largest expenses. The summary showed that there were 281 people from 22 schools who signed in. Jerry said everything is set for the September 14 PIR day with Harry Wong. The plan includes an hour and a half for those attending to have lunch on their own.

9. Gail Richardson reported that the survey on RTI materials and models being used by ACE member schools would soon be placed on the ACE web site. She is working on updating the textbook survey but is having problems with the schools responding. Gail said the science standards and essential learning will be released by OPI in June. She will hold off on putting any new curriculum information onto the ACE web site until she is able to see the information from OPI. Gail said that as of this date, only 2 people have indicated that they will come to review the driver’s education curriculum on the 31st. Gail said there really is no curriculum being used for driver’s education other than the States. She suggested that ACE adopt the state curriculum and not do a review for driver’s education. Al Sipes moved that ACE adopt the state curriculum for driver’s education and Les Cabot seconded the motion. The motion carried 6 - 0. Gail said she would go ahead with the world languages curriculum (5 have signed up at this time) review but call the 2 driver’s education people and let schools know that ACE adopted the state’s curriculum. She will cancel the review on the 31st.


10. Discussion on the possibility of doing a follow up meeting with Jim Staab was discussed. Jim indicated that he has April 6, 7, and 20 through 24 open right now. The board said April 7 from 9 - 12 at the Laurel middle school would work best for them. During that meeting the board can visit about follow up sustainable work, perhaps by either Whelan or Pollock or someone else. Jerry will check with Jim in order to set up the board retreat follow-up session.


11. A proposal for a May 5 administrator’s workshop with Jeff Weldon and Todd Rowen was discussed. Those present said Todd Rowen did great presentations. However, the board did not feel his presentations did not really fit into the work ACE is doing. The board also felt that it was not necessary to bring Jeff Weldon in to do a presentation on school law and IDEA/504 because his firm is offering a workshop open to all area schools. It was suggested that CSPD or SMART might want to look into doing such presentations.


12. The board felt that ACE should continue to help sponsor summer workshops, especially those being offered by member schools. There continues to be a number of offerings throughout the state such as Dr. Larry Lezotte’s Using the Correlates of Effective Schools to Improve Student Learning workshop on April 27 & 28 in Billings, the Montana writing project, MBI and the summer educator’s institute in Helena to name a few. Jerry was instructed to see what member schools were offering and to see how ACE might help. Tobin said he would like to see ACE coordinate sessions that brought subject and/or grade level teachers together in order to share what works and what does not work in their classrooms. The board felt this would be a good idea for next year. The group agreed that such sessions would need a definite structure as well as a facilitator. Jerry reported that Ryegate has requested Ace help them set up a 6 trait training for their school before the end of the school year.


13. Next Ace board meeting April 29, 2009 at 9 AM at the Billings Hotel and Convention Center.