California Continuation Education Association

Council of District Representatives Minutes

Meeting Location: Los Angeles

Meeting Date: October 23, 1998

Approval Date: Not Approved

Call to Order: The fall meeting of the CDR was called to order on October 23, 1998, at 9:15 AM by President Bob Werner.

Seating of Representatives: The members were seated. The following changes/additions were made: District III - Dick Chadwick; District V - Linda Gregg; District VII - Bill Howard; District VIII - Myrtle Foster; District X - Lee Newman; District XI - Eric Spears; District XII - Bernie Vigallon also sat in representing this district.

At this time, Bob Werner made some corrections to the day’s agenda: Under Other Business, he stated that Gerry Catanzarite would provide information on the Directory Information Disk. He introduced individuals at the back of the room. These included Jim Caswell, Fuschia Ward, Kehalani Smith from the San Francisco Hyatt Hotel, and Dick Kuester.

Minutes: The minutes from the spring CDR Meeting, April 24, 1998, were presented. Bob Meier moved, seconded by Jim Sechelski that the minutes be approved as corrected. The motion carried.

Janet announced to the members that the minutes would be up on the CCEA website prior to the next CDR meeting and to look for them next spring.

At this time Bob Werner deferred to Fuschia Ward for a presentation by Kehalani Smith from the San Francisco Hyatt Hotel to make a presentation for a future conference site (2001). Ms. Smith spoke of the renovation that had been completed, gave us the Hyatt’s web address: www.sanfrancisco.hyatt.com, handed out three prizes to Janet Knoeppel, Karlene Dockery and Eric Spears for getting the answers right to her questions at the end of the presentation. She also handed out letters to all CDR members from the Hyatt’s General Manager, along with "stress airplanes" for all .

Bob Werner introduced Lee Newman from District X.

President’s Report: Bob gave us an overview of the year (both accomplishments and challenges):

• The Exemplary Program which was kicked off in 1998 and will continue this year. Janet Knoeppel will work on this with Bob. They will refine the forms, application process and the brochure in order to ensure we get the information we want.
• AB2274(Leach) was passed without any financial appropriation. This will require the California Department of Education to collect and summarize information from alternative programs and report to the Senate and Assembly Education Committees, the Governor, the Department of Finance and other interested groups. The Governor stated that the CDE should have been doing this all along, therefore, there would be no more money allocated. Data has not been collected since 1990 on such things as graduation rate, mobility, testing, etc.
• AB 1736 passed. This excludes pregnant and parenting teens from the existing 10% cap of Independent Study ADA for Continuation Schools. ACSA sponsored and worked with us on this.
• We have purchased new hardware and software to serve the membership. Vic Whitaker will report more on this in the Treasurer’s Report.
• We developed a brochure on Continuation Education which has been placed in all of your folders which Joe Stits worked on. Very representative of CCEA.
• The conference in San Diego was a huge success. There were over 600 attendees. All presentations were in-house.
• The website is no longer entitled "Under Construction." It is operating as a functioning website and has become our primary communication tool. All communications will be placed on the web. This includes Model Schools, Exemplary Programs, Research, Newsletters, CDR Minutes, School Links and a Discussion Forum, among other items.
• The Officer Training - Job Alike last year was very successful. It is planned to hold the same training again this year. The date will be Wednesday, December 2, 1998 from 9:30 AM - 2:30 PM. The State Association will pay for travel, training and lunch. If anyone wishes to stay over night, hotel costs will be at their own expense.
• There has been an increase in the number of individuals represented by our membership, because of the offering of the School Memberships. However, we still should be emphasizing Professional Membership.
• We are faced with some challenges this year: 1 - We were low key last year in Sacramento concerning legislation. We continue to work closely with Peter Birdsall’s office and are looking at a time line following the election in November. Once it becomes clear who we will need to work with following the election, we will plot a plan of action. 2 - We need to continue to increase our membership. 3 - Our goal is to increase service to our members. 4 - We need to increase our communication throughout the organization with the use of E-mail. 5 - Continue to develop the State Conference and continue to make it a better and better staff development opportunity. 6 - We will have to work together as a team to lobby our legislators for improvement of Continuation Education in California. This is the group who can make the difference.
• We are faced with some needs: 1 - The CDR membership needs to reflect accuracy. There will be a sheet sent around for each one to correct/add information. 2 - We need an accurate list of the new District Officers for next year. Please give us as much information as possible. Include schools, E-mail addresses, etc.

There was some discussion. Tom Jameson suggested we all invite our legislators to the District Conferences.

Paul Mills raised the issue of the loss of Staff Development Days having a dramatic impact on our activities. Eric Spears asked if CCEA could ask for a Master Waiver for a Staff Development Day for continuation schools only. Dick Chadwick added that because schools pay for the site membership when it is in conjunction with the Fall Conference, that this might reduce the membership and the Fall Conferences.

Jim Ingram from District IV was welcomed.

Vice President’s Report: Vic Whitaker stated that CCEA is now moving from a small professional organization to a mid-size effective organization and that our influence is starting to show in districts and in schools. Standard growing pains go along with this growth.

Because of our growth, upgraded the computer from a 286 to a Pentium II with Windows 98 and all the bells and whistles. Had a programmer rewrite the data base so it is in sync with Access. This will mean a much faster turnaround and greater accuracy.

We now accept Credit Cards: Master Card, Visa, Discover and American Express. We have clearance to accept payment over the Internet and telephone. This is because of the requests from districts during the last conference to pay by credit card. Also will be able to purchase awards electronically using a credit card. Vic told Janet that she would be able to accept credit cards for the conference next year if she chooses to do so.

We are continuing to work with Clara Chapala, our liaison in Sacramento on the Model Schools Program. Vic indicated that he has established a good relationship with her regarding the time lines, et.al. Bill MacDougall asked about some quirks in the standards. This will be discussed later in the agenda.

Good communication is the major goal in all areas. We have set up fields in our database for E-mail addresses and fax numbers. Please get this information to either Vic or Marion St. Amant. Our school directory is undergoing a major revision, thanks to Joe Stits and will be added to the web site as soon as possible.

The upcoming year promises to be exciting due to our numbers and our influence continuing to grow. Vic indicated he is always available by fax, phone or E-mail if anyone has any questions.

Discussion: Bob Meier asked about the cost of the credit card to us. Vic indicated we are paying 1.76% through Costco Executive Services. They are our processor.

Treasurer’s Report: Marion indicated the new computer has already made her job easier. As of today we have 132 members on our roster. She will mail out checks to districts monthly.

Marion asked to meet with representatives from District’s II, XI and IV sometime during the day.

Marion asked that we please use the forms when mailing in dues, so that the money and the individual are matched up.

CDR members will be reimbursed at the rate of $124.26 for their rooms plus $10.00 for lunch, $8.95 for parking and $.31/mile.

Discussion: Tom Jameson asked if we are still doing plaques for membership. Vic Whitaker responded that we are and that we will talk in the Membership Committee about this and discuss including some perks for professional members.

Secretary’s Report: Janet reminded the members to submit and/or correct their E-mail addresses on the list she will pass around. She also asked for information on everyone’s schools. She spoke of the spotlight on what is going on in Bernie Vigallon’s school on some peer counseling. The first newsletter is in the mail. There is a bright green Presenter Form included for the State Conference. We already have 9 people who have asked to present at the 1999 State Conference. Looking to have 1 or 2 programs that will be specifically for classified personnel. They are a part of our organization and need to be represented. Janet also asked for information on individual District’s Fall Conferences and or meetings. We want to include all that is going on about CCEA around the state. Deadline for information for next newsletter is January 10, 1999. Can E-mail, fax or whatever any articles. Question about sending photos. Joe Stits responded he would like them sent in EPS format. Gerry Catanzarite added that it would be good to send graphics in jpg or tif and to send the text in Word. Janet stated that she and Gerry would work together on this.

Past President’s Report: Joe Stits reported on the updating of the brochure which has now been completed. There are now 100 copies for every district. Joe thanked Bob Meier for suggesting that we have a Mission Statement, so Joe has put one together for the CDR’s approval. Districts can Xerox more if they need them. There is a space on the brochure for district individuals to add their own names as a contact. Can customize for your own district.

Joe spoke on the Assessment and Accountability issue. We need to be involved. He asked to be contacted in the discussion forum of our website if you have questions or suggestions. He has posted a letter regarding accountability and would like your ideas and responses.

Gerry Catanzarite stated that the brochure will be available in PDF format by next week so that individuals can access it in the exact form if they run out.

Prior to recessing for Committee Meetings, Bob announced there would be no Advisory/Liaison Committee meeting. He asked Bill Lincoln to go to the Membership Committee meeting. Marion St. Amant announced that she was sorry that she did not have all membership cards available for those members who have paid their dues.

The meeting was reconvened at 11:23 AM.

Marion St. Amant provided an update on room pricing: for Senior Citizens and Triple A Members, the rate is $109.00; for the rest of the CDR, the rate is $119.00 plus tax, for a total of $135.66.

Constitution and Bylaws: Bob Werner

The agenda says no report. There really is a report. Two things: First: the last CDR meeting discussion about the advisory liaison standing committee. It appears this committee no longer has a function. The function was to have members of CDR meet in consultation with the CDE. It was the intention of the Committee to recommend at the October CDR to terminate this committee with the provision that it can be re-established if needed. Paul Mills moved that we terminate this committee at the present time. Tom Jameson 2nd the motion. The motion carried. Second: Discussion about a possible change in by-laws. Joe has been volunteer keeper of the constitution and we are up-to-date. We have a new program in place - the Exemplary Program/Project. There has been some discussion among the executive board and it was felt it should be placed in the State Vice President’s area of responsibility. The Bylaws Committee agreed. The Committee will bring back a recommendation at the April CDR for some language to encompass this change in responsibility.

The second presentation of the day for hotel meeting sites was made at this time by Gina Reid from the Costa Mesa Doubletree for 2002. She showed a video on the hotel and a discussion of the location, rates and reservations ensued. Gina also provided us with several plates of the Doubletree’s Chocolate Cookies!

Legislative Committee: Dennis King/Peter Birdsall/Nancy Robinson

This committee passed at this time.

State Conference Committee: Fuschia Ward/Vic Whitaker/Janet Knoeppel

Janet was asked to talk about the 1999 Conference. Inside the newsletter is information relating to the conference costs. She asked for Vendor suggestions. Plan to have a Legislative Round Table rather than a visit to a school. We will work with Nancy Robinson and Peter Birdsall to get several legislators or their aides to speak about their position in terms of alternative education and the issues we face. There will be portable mics available for questions and answers. Workshops will begin Friday afternoon. Saturday luncheon will be a little different: Looking toward a salad and dessert bar. Some discussion about the use of credit cards and the use of purchase order deadlines. Janet suggested that individuals make their hotel reservations now. They are taking reservations now and the cutoff deadline is March 29, 1999 for the conference rate of $82.00 plus 12% tax. The registration forms are on the website.

Fuschia said that the conference in 2000 is scheduled at the Red Lion in Glendale. It is going to be put on by a statewide conference committee. Bob Werner will be the Chair. She stated that the 2001 conference dates are April 26 - 29. (Easter is April 15 that year.)

Vic reported on the 1998 conference in San Diego. There were 671 attendees. Ninety people joined CCEA at the conference. The room usage was as follows: 16 - Tuesday; 23 - Wednesday; 143/75 - Thursday; 296/350 - Friday; 230/275 - Saturday. There were 100 people who were placed at surrounding hotels after the block expired. The conference made a profit of $68,282.14!

Legislative Committee: Dennis King

Dennis deferred to Nancy Robinson from Peter Birdsall’s office. She passed out some information to all of the members. She spoke about the article relating to the dropout rate. The State Board of Education are trying to get a more realistic picture of the dropout rate.

AB 2274 (Leach): There is no information on what they may do at present to implement this measure. The CDE has indicated that there is no staff to conduct the study or to collect the data on this bill. It is in a "wait-and-see" mode until after the election. Delaine’s Tri-Agency Group is not meeting on a regular basis. They have been discussing the implementation of this bill. They hope to have something at the beginning of the 1999 session. Once study is competed, we will want to consider how and in what form we will want to consider a funding bill in 1999. Gerry Catanzarite is looking to a formula where we’d get paid a revenue limit for every 3 hours we teach, not just one three hour day, i.e., if teach for 3 hours, get 1 revenue limit; if teach 6 hours, get paid for 2 revenue limits, etc.

School Site Block Grants: There is $10,000 currently being allocated as a minimum, or $30.00 per ADA, whichever is larger. There are also Science and Digital High School Grants which Nancy recommended we all try to take advantage of and make application. There was some discussion relating to the allocation of School Site Block Grants per CDS# vs. one grant for two schools on same site, even though each has a separate CDS#. Different schools do different things. Nancy will follow up on this and see what she can find out to clarify.

Other legislation was mentioned: Talked about 10% cap on pregnant and parenting teens. AB 1845 - the Community Day School Bill: The funding increased from $1,500 to $4,000 per ADA. $20,000,000 appropriation was signed by the Governor. SB1064 (Johnson) is a new Cal SAFE Program which replaces PMP (Pregnant Minors Program), SAPID and PALS programs. If you have been approved for one of these programs previously, your funding will be transferred to the Cal SAFE program, as the others will be eliminated. Look for a new bill next session relating to School Accountability since the legislation was not signed by the Governor.

The Tri Agency is not working very hard currently. Hope they will get in gear in 1999.

On ballot: Prop 1A - $9.2 million school bond issue. Other is Prop 8, the Governor’s issue. This latter would create havoc within education in the state. Would create a czar of public education and create about 1200 school site districts and councils. Polls indicate it lacks strong support.

Discussion followed: Dennis King recommended that we post on our website the list of our school sites who have received Digital High School grants. The discussion that revolved around the integration with a traditional school and some confusions which existed. Gerry asked if someone would collect a list of all the continuation high schools who have received DHS grants and put it together for him. Then, he will post on the website.

Lee Newman commented on new monies available under 1064. If schools had not previously qualified, could they now qualify. Yes!

Discussion ensued relating to why we would be better off with Delaine as State Superintendent over Gloria. Nancy clarified that her political persuasion was more in sync with the needs of education, especially continuation education. She also indicated that we would be better off with Gray Davis as Governor, for the same reasons.

Audit Committee: Jim Ingram

The treasurer has done an excellent job of reporting. The books look better and better each year. Marion was commended for an excellent job.

Awards Committee: Lee Newman

Mail Teacher of Year nominations to Lee this year. She will have Gerry put order forms for awards up on the website. Bob thanked Dick Kuester for all his contributions. He received an ovation from the group.

Membership Committee: Bob Meier

The goal is to get every state in the school to join CCEA. Within districts we need to go out to non-participating schools and "bribe" them to join. Suggested we put together a CCEA poster that could be placed in every school. Bob recommended we offer perks for membership such as group rates from California Casualty and would like to have a member come to the next CDR to make a presentation on group rates for our membership. Bob will facilitate this presentation for the April CDR. He also proposed a CCEA Credit Card. Vic will look into a CCEA Credit Card for our members. It is suggested that we have a Membership Table at the Conference for the following year’s dues as was done at San Diego. Dick Chadwick from Sem Yeto will produce a poster to be used.

Patsy Hood made a motion that the District which shows the greatest percentage of growth in Professional Membership will receive a $500 scholarship to give to a student in a member school. The dates will be from September 1, 1998 through April 1, 1999. Tom Jameson seconded. There was discussion and the motion carried. Bob asked to make sure that each District be sure to send their Vice President to the Job-Alike Training (membership responsibility). A question was raised on the possibility of having student memberships. Have we ever had them and would it be a possibility. Janet indicated that there were student memberships in 1968 - 1971.

Nominations/Elections: Bill Lincoln

Bill asked if the current State Board Members will run again next year for an office. He also asked if anyone else was interested. He indicated that Janet will have an article in the February newsletter asking for names for nominations.

State Department: Vic Whitaker, substituting for Clara Chapala

Vic passed out some materials which Clara had forwarded. This included names, E-mails, phone numbers of all members of the CDE. Clara sent her regrets.

Other Business:

Membership Disks: Gerry Catanzarite reported on the membership disks which had been mailed to all schools for an electronic state school directory for continuation schools. It is a data entry form and directions accompany the disk to fill it out. He urged everyone to get it back quickly.

The District Pages on the website are old and possibly outdated or blank. Please send new, updated information to Gerry, ASAP.

Quality Indicators Revisited for Model Schools: Patsy Hood/Bill Lincoln reported on concerns which exist in two specific areas:

A - 10 School management (graduation requirements/district minimum competencies)

C - 10 Instructional management (teacher/pupil ration of 15:1)

Joe Stits gave a history of how we arrived at the current quality indicators. There was a lengthy discussion. Bob appointed a committee to study the issues further and report back to the CDR in April. Members of the committee are Eric Spears, Janet Knoeppel, Myrtle Foster, Bill Lincoln, Bill Spencer and Patsy Hood. The State Association will fund the process to meet. Fuschia Ward will arrange hotel meeting space and the group will report back in April.

Birdsall Contract Renewal: Bob stated that it is time to renew Peter Birdsall’s contract and the State Board is recommending it be increased from $1,000 to $1,100 for this year. Joe Stits moved, seconded by Tom Jameson that we approve this increase. The motion carried.

District Reports:

Dick Chadwick moved that the District Reports be suspended and information turned into Janet, since many members needed to leave to catch early flights. Jim Sechelski seconded the motion. It was approved.

Bob asked both members of each district to stand if they brought their written report to distribute. It they brought their fiscal report, they could remain standing. Third if they have distributed a newsletter in their local district could continue to stand. Next month and day of birthday because there was a tie. Closest to Halloween is grand prize winner. Bob gave an award to the two districts who had done all three of these. The two districts were District II and District XII. The prizes were cuddly Halloween creatures and wine.

Adjournment: Bob Meier moved we adjourn, seconded by Tom Jameson that the meeting be adjourned at 3:19 PM. The motion carried.