June 8, 2009 ACE Board Meeting
9:00 A. M. @ Owl Café in Laurel

Present were board members Tim Dolphay, Josh Middleton, Brenda Koch, Mark Brajcich, and Al Sipes.

Guests present were Jim Staab, Jennifer Hickok, Chad Johnson, and Andrea Fisher. Gail Richardson and Jerry Scott were also present.

1. Chairman Al Siped called the meeting to order at 8:45 A.M.

2. Mark Brajcich moved for the approval of April 29, 2009 minutes. Josh Middleton seconded the motion which passed 5 – 0.

3. After review, Tim Dolphay moved to approve the financial report. Mark Brajcich seconded the motion which passed 5 – 0.

4. Al called for the election of ACE officers for 2009 – 2010. Josh Middleton nominated Al Sipes as the chairman. Brenda Koch seconded the motion. No other nominations were made and the nomination passed 4 – 1. Al stated that he would continue with the position but felt that the chair should be rotated to other board members so more could enjoy the prestige of the position.

5. Jennifer Hickok was present to visit with the board with a request that New Day Inc. from Billings, MT become a new ACE member. Jerry referred those present to a copy of the letter, contract, and dues check he received from New Day, Inc. Jennifer explained that New Day, Inc. has a similar role as Yellowstone Academy and has 60 – 90 students at the present time (the variation due to summer school). New Day, Inc. has been in existence since 1993, has 4 teachers (called behavior specialists) plus paraprofessionals and therapists. Most of the students are from group homes and there is a partnership with the Lockwood and Billings school districts. At the present time New Day, Inc. has a provisional accreditation from the state. Jennifer explained that Northwest Accreditation recommended New Day, Inc. develop a set of curriculum and assessment tools. Jennifer felt it would be a positive step if New Day, Inc. joined ACE in order to get materials and training. She felt their staff could also help ACE with future training in several areas. After discussion Mark Brajcich moved to allow New Day, Inc. to join ACE. Josh Middleton seconded the motion which passed 5 – 0. Jerry and Gail will work with Jennifer to set up an introduction and materials workshop.

6. Jerry proposed that the 2009 – 2010 budget and his contract with ACE remain the same as the 2008 – 2009 budget. After review, Mark Brajcich moved to accept the recommendation. Tim Dolphay seconded the motion which carried 5 – 0.

7. Gail Richardson reported that the world languages curriculum review was now complete and posted on the ACE web site along with the updated textbook survey. Gail asked for clarification on how the subject areas and dates of the ACE curriculum reviews should be posted on the web site. The board directed Gail to work with Deani to make the posting easier to find and to list the subject areas and dates that reviews have been done as well as future schedules. Gail and Jerry presented the board with a proposed calendar of events for the 2009 – 2010 school year. ACE will check and see how many plan to attend the proposed new member workshops as scheduled. The suggested August administrator’s workshop was dropped because of the busy schedules at that time. The curriculum review dates were approved with Gail stating that sometimes she has to schedule a second date for a subject area if they are not able to complete the work in one day. Andrea said she would be glad to work with ACE on the format for the science curriculum review because of the state’s new essential learning skills that have been released. Jerry said he would work on other calendar dates that would include member school visits as well as training opportunities utilizing member school’s staff and ACE trainers.

8. There are 8 ACE schools signed up to do MAP Testing in 2009 – 2010. Jerry sent the forms to Patrick Dugan at Northwest and is waiting for them to set an August date for training. During discussion it was pointed out that there is no advantage for ACE members who are already doing MAP testing to be a part of this new contract. There will be a limit of about 5 from each of the 8 schools to take the training and expenses will be divided up according to the number attending. Josh said Laurel could be used for the training.

9. ACE PIR Days: Jerry reported that he had received an email from Harry Wong stating that he agreed to do a 3-hour morning presentation on September 14 and has scheduled a flight out of Billings at 1:00 that afternoon. Jerry said he reviewed the file finding a note he sent Harry asking for a full day splitting the group into k – 6 and 7 – 12 grade levels. He originally thought ACE had Harry for the full day at the contracted price of $5,500 plus expenses. The board felt this was a lot of money for a 3-hour presentation but to try to work with Harry on a plan to work with administrators for an hour and then do a 2 hour presentation for the whole group. In that way the rest of the day could be spent on small groups working on how to implement what Harry Wong presented. Faith Chapel would no longer be needed if this plan can be put into place. Josh said Laurel’s auditorium holds 800 and ACE could once again hold the September PIR day there. Jerry was instructed to find out how many are coming and to work out the details and report back to the board.
   
   A list of suggestions for future PIR days was discussed. Josh suggested John Antonetti’s name be added to the list. John presented to ACE a couple years back. More discussion followed concerning how ACE can best serves its members during the PIR days and how members can implement what is presented. Brenda mentioned that her teachers did not like having to take time in March because that is the date the State CRT is given. This led to discussion on how schools can best use the data gathered to serve their students. The board decided that the March 1, 2010 ACE PIR day should be used to help schools become prepared for giving the CRT, how to access their data, and how to best use released items and data for their students and to improve instruction. Mark suggested that the board look at changing the date of the first Monday in March at the next board meeting.


10. Any summer workshops that have been sent to ACE have been posted on the mtace.org web site as they have been received. Jerry mentioned that the only ACE workshop that he approved was a full day kindergarten workshop to be held in Columbus this week. Brenda suggested that a rss feed be used to let members know whenever there is a change in a posting on the ACE web site.


11. The next ACE board meeting was set for August 19th.


12. From 10:30 to noon the board worked with Jim Staab on mission statements and goal setting.