Old Town Elementary School

 Attending: Janet Patterson, Nancy Grant, Betsy York, Eileen Broderick, Jeff Small, Cyndee Lutz, Marilyn Joyce, Gail Garthwait, Donna Chale, Teri Caouette, Gretchen Asam, Edna Comstock.

President Teri Caouette opened the meeting by inviting Board members and guests to introduce themselves..  She also thanked Lynn Lowell for agreeing to host the MASL meeting at her school.  Lynn reminded everyone that there were refreshments and agreed to give a tour of her facility at the conclusion of the meeting.

Secretary's Report - The minutes of the November meeting were approved as corrected and Gail Garthwait asked that MASL’s secretary, Joyce Lucas send her changes for the web pages if minutes are corrected. 

Treasurer's Report – Donna explained where the budget stands and asked several questions so that she could get lines straightened out further.  She expressed her continuing concern about cash flow. The group discussed several other related issues and Marilyn Joyce suggested during her comments about travel to AASL that MASL should be very proud of Sylvia’s work at the national level and try to find some way to show our appreciation……

Announcement of memorial service for Francie Aley –There was a discussion of the memorial service planned for Francie and several Board members are making plans to attend the service which is at 2pm at Boothbay Regional HS.    It was decided to make a contribution of $500 to Boothbay Regional HS in memory of Francie.  Donna Chale will call the school to see if there is anything specific that we could provide with our memorial gift.

Membership – Edna reported that we have crossed the 180 member mark and shared next steps which include a non-member campaign being organized to reach schools where there are no MASL members at present.  She asked for ideas and several suggestions were made. 

1. Include information about membership requirement for anyone being nominated for the WJT award to superintendents and principals.
2. Consider having a presence at Reading Round-Up.

IRS Status - Edna reported having spoken to Sally Jeanne Kappler about MASL's non-profit status.  According to Sally MASL is a 501 c(6) organization but no corroborating paperwork has been located to date.  Edna will continue to research this development including working with an accountant to verify and complete any other necessary paperwork.

NEEMA Representative - Nancy Grant shared a collaboration form from NEEMA and discussed other changes including the need to stay involved with Reading Associations.  Gail mentioned Information Commons and Marilyn spoke about the importance of the NEEMA connection, especially the cohesiveness NEEMA brings to AASL Affiliate Assembly.  Nancy also noted that NEEMA is planning to do a regional study similar to Colorado study.

Conference Committee - Jeff reported on the Conference Handbook and noted that more information would be shared at the Conference Committee meeting later in the day. Donna Chale asked that someone from the Conference Committee let her know when proceeds would be distributed.  Jeff then shared the new program form.

Mermaid Project - Nancy and Eileen reported on the Jefferson Davis Grant Foundation which is covering the cost of sharing videos produced by Jeff Dobbs with schools and libraries.  They talked about the training program and the creation of lesson plans for the videos. The guides developed will be provided to schools and libraries within the next year with all expenses being covered by the Foundation.  Sylvia and Peggy also participated in the training.  Marilyn suggested making an AASL Commendation for the program. There were also several suggestions about this project as a program for the Conference.  Jeff will follow up on this idea.

Audrey's papers – Gail shared that Ralph has more of Audrey’s papers and books that he would like MASL to take custody of because he is renting the farm. The group talked about the value of what might be in the collection and how to deal with evaluating and placement of the items.  Jeff and Edna will contact the tenant and collect the materials for evaluation at a later date.

The Audrey Conant scholarship - Gail updated the Board on this program noting that there is $5000 currently available in the fund.  She then shared with the Board that Ralph wants MASL to take over the selection, awarding and promotion of the scholarship because he feels MASL would be better able to advocate for the profession.  Ralph has pledged $1000 per year going forward and suggested sending a letter to former donors based on their requests to him for information on how they might make additional contributions.  Ralph sent three sets of labels for the original donors group and the Board discussed the feasibility of making an appeal every year to get money for the scholarship.   The group decided to send postcards noting the change of responsibility from Asgard to MASL with a suggestion that donors should feel free to make additional contributions at this time.  Edna will compose and send the letter after checking the addresses for currency.  The Board also noted that the work of promoting and awarding the scholarship would fall in the purview of MASL’s Scholarship Committee chaired by Barbara Hammond.

MASL website - Gail discussed her current plan for the pages and stated that she is will be revamping in the new year with hopes to have the work completed or at least started again in March.  Board members were encouraged to send Gail ideas, changes and corrections.  She hopes to focus on the professional development pieces and more promotion of MASL.  Nancy suggested using the Evidence Based Practice Grants and soliciting on MELIBS and other places for new ideas.   There was also a suggestion to use digital camera shots.  The group then worked on identifying items to be revamped, indexing, additions and a better protocol for including drafts.  There was also a mention of the School Library Handbook and the need to bring it back.  Getting lists of Ed Techs and Media Specialists etc. from the  State.  Creation of an Info Literacy page,  Library Links.   Revising groups.

Edna was asked to send the revised Board list to Gail.   Gail asked about continuing Maine School Library Sites and asked the group to send suggestions. 

Affiliate Assembly – Commendations and concerns are due by May.  There was a discussion of what to send and what worked or didn’t work in the last round.  Marilyn also announced that Info Power is being completely rewritten.  Marilyn will be posting the new Learning Standards with links to MELIBS.  There was a suggestion that all of us take drafts to our content area people and ask oif they can use them, are they right, etc.  (CAN someone make sense of this area, my notes are a little vague??? Thanks Edna)  Advisors & consultants to teachers…..  Role of ed techs not having teaching background.   Info Skills Workshop in the Summer ….. NEEMA link check for more info.  ISDE standards?????  Literacy Mentors?????? Discussed Reading Recovery more intense.   Reading First controversy???  Literacy Learder or Coach. Can we be these coaches in certain areas.  Jeff mentioned Augusta’s Literacy audit.

Teri asked for anyone interested in going to Seattle. 

Teir thanked Jeff for attending Joint Legislative Committee and he reported on activity there.  Jeff noted that the legislative funding will go to the ARRCs, Minerva and Solar and that there are questions about how to divide the money up including using MLA's standards to do the dividing.  There was then a discussion of school/public library issues and the request coming from the Joint Legislative Committee for money for a lobbyist.  After discussion it was agreed that we should contribute to hiring a lobbyist but that we need to settle some legal issues before making that contribution. 

Teri shared Jennifer Lewis’s report on her participation on the InfoNet Board and announced that Liz Reisz has agreed to serve on the InfoNet Board on a continuing basis.  Jennifer will be her back-up.  Teri will also inform Liz that she should ask for mileage reimbursement which will be taken from the Travel/President account.

Other business –

Someone asked about the new Library Mascot and it was reported that the unveiling will be held January 11 at the Maine Library Week event at the State Capitol.  There will be a contest to name the mascot and the winner will get a visit to their library from the mascot.  Bonnie Dwyer is the contact.  Gail will publish PR about it on the web page.

Teri spoke about the need for MASL to continue to have a presence at SMLD meetings and how this collaboration might be expanded to the other library districts.

Gail mentioned as an FYI that the College of Education now requires laptops.  She also noted that NCATE gave UM a conditional certification because of lack of diversity in student and faculty populations after giving many kudos during their visit.

Spring Fling – There was discussion of what we should do for our Spring Fling meeting given that both our chosen location and presenter have become iffy.  There was a suggestion that we see if we could piggy-back with SMLD which is doing their spring Council meeting on technology.  There was additional reference to expanding this concept to include the other districts. Teri will inquire and report back to the group on the feasibility of doing this. Teri will also follow up with Kelley regarding her IFC program.  Another suggestion was something to do with cost effective web-based catalogs. 

Meeting adjourned at 12:15pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Edna M. Comstock, Secretary Pro tem