August 19, 2009 ACE Board Meeting
9:00 A. M. @ Billings Hotel and Convention Center

Present were ACE board members Al Sipes, Les Cabot, Josh Middleton, and Brenda Koch.
Guests present were Alisa Sipes and Jennifer Hickok. Gail Richardson and Jerry Scott were also present.

1. Chairman Al Sipes called the meeting to order at 9:15 with the introduction of all present.


2. Brenda Koch moved to approve the June 8, 2009 minutes. Les Cabot seconded the motion which carried 4 – 0.


3. The financial report was reviewed and is on record at the ACE office.


4. A list of the membership and dues was reviewed. ACE will continue to bill those who are delinquent in paying their dues. ACE requested all members’ complete the survey in order to obtain a profile including contact, enrollment, salary and substitute payment information. The profiles will be placed on the mtace.org web site when completed. A set of hardcopies will be mailed to all member schools. The question as to why some member schools choose not to participate was brought up. It was felt that some schools choose to do their own PIR days on the same dates as ACE PIR days. Some schools choose not to participate in any or very few of the activities. Jerry said he plans to visit all of the ACE member schools before the Christmas break in order to see what their needs are and how ACE can help. Gail will accompany whenever she can. A report to the board on the results of his visits will be presented at the regular scheduled meetings.


5. A preliminary training for New Day, Inc. is scheduled for 1:30 pm on August 20th. Gail and Jerry will do the training and deliver ACE materials. There was some discussion as to how valuable the 10 Sigma books are at this time. Some of those present said their staff still use the rubric and performance assessment books. The general feeling was to continue to distribute the book at for new members this year and to continue the discussion in the future.


6. The August 20 New Member workshop was canceled because only 3 responded. The September 24 New Member workshop is still scheduled for anyone who has not been involved in an ACE member school.


7. A proposed on going training schedule by ACE was reviewed and the board felt ACE should schedule the dates and see what kind of interest there is. The Calendar of events included a July 16th ACE superintendent and spouse bar-b-q at Al Sipes home, the two New Member workshops mentioned in item 6, the ACE PIR day with Harry Wong on September 14th , a October 1st K – 8 science curriculum review, a October 8th 9 – 12 science curriculum review, November 5th K – 4 workplace competencies curriculum review, December 3rd 5 – 8 workplace competencies curriculum review, January 14th 9 – 12 workplace competencies curriculum review and the March 1st ACE PIR day. Training opportunities suggested were as follows:
   
   None to be held in October because MEA and the reading conferences are in Billings, a 6 + 1 trait writing workshop in November, a DIBLES workshop in December, an Indian Education for All level 1 training in January, the State Science Standards roll out in February, none in March because of the ACE PIR day, and a technology training in May. Jerry will work out details and a schedule and inform the members.


8. Gail Richardson reported that the changes for the curriculum reviews have been completed and posted on the mtace.org web site. She emphasized that leadership is needed for the curriculum reviews, especially for the science reviews because ACE will be working on incorporating the OPI science learning expectations into the ACE format.


9. A MAP Testing update was presented indicating that 8 schools signed up to do MAP testing through ACE. 31 people from 7 schools attended the August 12 training by NWEA in Laurel. Lodge Grass did not participate in the training due to a funeral that was being held at the school and Victoria Falls Down was not able to find anyone to come on that date. ACE will help set up a training at Lodge Grass whenever they indicate they are ready to do so. Jerry did report that Victoria asked if they still had to pay for MAP testing and he responded that ACE had to pay NWEA according to the numbers all 8 schools committed and that included Lodge Grass.


10. The September 14th PIR day with Harry Wong was discussed. Handouts on how to incorporate the information will be emailed to all ACE members and rooms for those who choose to stay in Laurel and work will be arranged. Al Sipes moved to charge a $15 registration fee in order to cover the expenses of snacks and lunch. Les Cabot seconded the motion which carried 4 – 0. Maxine Mougeot from OPI is scheduling the bus driver training to be held in the Laurel Middle School at the same time. There will be about 700 attending the Harry Wong presentation and about 100 attending the bus driver workshop.


11. The March 1, 2010 ACE PIR Day was discussed with a consensus being that the day should center around assessment and how to implement it into the classroom. Suggestions on presentations included the U.S. Department of Education, Montana OPI, Andrea Fisher, Linda Filpula, Ron Osborne, and Jim Staab. It was mentioned that at the present time the ACE PIR days are set for the first Monday following Labor Day and the first Monday in March. Because March is the CRT testing month the board felt they should consider a new date in the future, perhaps in February.


12. Jerry reviewed the summer workshops ACE issued renewal units for: 31 attending the MAP testing training, 22 attending the Reading the Stories of the Land: Community Studies in the Classroom and 10 attending the all day kindergarten workshop. Other opportunities were also posted on the ACE web site.
    


13. The next ACE board meeting will be held on September 30th at 9 AM in the Billings Hotel and Convention Center.