Boothbay Regional High School

Present: Suzan Nelson, Nancy Grant, Francie Aley, Gretchen Asam, Sylvia Norton, Shelly Swazey, Linda Gustafson, Roger Brainerd, Linda Hazard, Tamara Blesh, Abigail Garthwait, Margaret McNamee

THE SECRETARY'S REPORT was accepted.

THE TREASURER'S REPORT was accepted: $0 income and $621.11 expenses for February, 2000. Balance in the checking account 15,534.94; $1000+ in the savings account. A mailing was done for the SIRS Intellectual Freedom Award; the webpage was renewed; expenses were paid for the books mailed to Morocco and for the child labor guide project.

PRESIDENT'S REPORT: Suzan welcomed Roger Brainerd to the Board. He spoke about changes in school technology positions, especially in regards to balancing the needs of the system with the needs of staff and students. He also noted that there are major issues of security that generate much insecurity.

Suzan distributed additional copies of the copyright article, "The Educator's Lean No Fat Guide to Fair," from Technology and Learning, September, 1999. Discussion followed about uncovering plagiarism through the Internet and encouraging teachers to redesign assignments from requiring only cut and paste to using higher order thinking skills.

Lengthy discussion concerned Governor King's laptops initiative. The consensus of the Board was that the statement "a library in a student's backpack" should be accompanied by "a librarian to teach them how to use it." Suzan will draft a response to Gov. King, Duke Albanese, the Maine Library Commission, MSLN, and the Press. The Board would like to support any increased literacy efforts, but counter the misconception that access to the Internet automatically makes a student information literate. She will check Information Power for appropriate references and submit to Board members by e-mail for review and feed-back.

Suzan passed information to Linda Hazard and Edna Comstock about submitting articles form our state publications to the AASL's "Best Practices" Electronic Library CD.

Maine Reads performances will be given at Portland High School March 24, 2000.

Information about the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards can be found at www.nbpts.org. There was discussion about the value of mentors and internships for School Librarian certification.

Suzan has been attending professional development meetings with presidents of related affiliates.

1ST VICE PRESIDENT'S REPORT: Nancy Grant distributed the current program list for conference. Vegetarian choices will be offered on the menu. A combined MASL and MLA conference meeting will be held at MMA in Augusta March 10 from 12-2. The Attorney General will attend conference and will answer presubmitted questions regarding privacy and copyright issues. Questions may include the legality of posting students' names, pictures, honor rolls, etc. with/without permission; staff releasing e-mail addresses outside school districts; and downloading "anything suggestive." (Sylvia Norton will contact Maine School Management concerning recent legislation about these issues).

INFORMATION SKILLS COMMITTEE: Connie Manter was not able to attend the meeting, but Pam Fisher and Susan Hackett from USM's CISE (Center of Inquiry on Secondary Education) will facilitate a discussion at the next MASL meeting. Nancy distributed Research Process Overview sheets and asked the committee to submit ideas for the documentation piece before the next meeting.

2ND VICE PRESIDENT'S REPORT: Gretchen asked for advice on how many of Abraham Schecter's new books to order for conference. If they can be returned to the publisher, 50 will be ordered.

OLD BUSINESS: A joint MASL fall conference with the New England Reading Association Oct. 5-7, 2000 will not be possible as their registration information has already been printed and distributed. It was suggested that we inquire about the possibility of a conference rate for MASL since we are all potential members for them.

Shelly Swazey's post conference workshop will be on school facilities only. Several possible architects were suggested as participants.

NEW BUSINESS: Gail Garthwait will follow up on Bell Atlantic grants for purchase and distribution of books at kindergarten registrations.

The deadline for Maine Entry is April 1.

Thanks to Francie Aley for having the meeting at Boothbay. She distributed "party favors" from Epylon and explained their business of consolidating orders from library suppliers with the goal of setting up competitive bidding among suppliers.

Sylvia and Suzan will join Walter on the nominating committee to bring a name to the Board for Second Vice President. Suggestions should be forwarded to Sylvia.

Sylvia spoke about Board support for the AASL affiliate training and/or support for delegates to the ALA conference.

NEXT MEETING: The next meeting is now scheduled for April 1, 2000 at the Maine State Library with a conference meeting to follow.

Margaret McNamee margaretmc@lamere.net