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Middle Level Board of Control
Minutes from meeting of 3/23/2004
CAEA-CAMSPMinutes
March 23, 2004
In attendance were: Tom Dzicek, Monita Leavitt, Norma Posocco, Carole Alvaro, Tomas Heffernan, Richard Huelsmann, Carol Janssen, Preston Shaw and Earle Bidwell
1.0 Carol Janssen, Principal of Catherine McGee Middle School in Berlin was congratulated on being selected as CAS Middle School Principal of the Year for 2004-2005. She will be officially installed at a celebration in Berlin in the fall.
2.0 Norma Posocco reported that Mandy Ryan from East Lyme Middle School has submitted her resignation from the CAMSP Board citing increasing family commitments. The boards reluctantly accepted her resignation. A discussion regarding the filling of vacancies on that board ensued. It was recommended that the board look to individual educators and teachers from schools that have been recently honored by CAS for their contributions to the profession. In order for candidates to carefully consider serving, a description of expectations needs to be drawn up. Earle Bidwell will create this document using the CAS constitution and the Center bylaws as sources. Subsequent to this, the current and soon to be honored teachers of the year will be invited to serve on the board. Furthermore, principals from schools of the year will be invited to recommend candidates. Finally, Norma Posocco and/or Preston Shaw will solicit prospective members at the Connecticut reception at NELMS.
3.0 Review of Board of Director’s/ Middle Level Goals
3.1 Certification: Mr. Huelsmann and Mr. Shaw reported on their visit with Certification Bureau Chief Nancy Pugliese where the CAS middle level proposals for relieving the growing middle level teacher shortage were presented. Subsequent to her feed back, a modification was made to the second proposal. A Bulletin article has been written by Earle Bidwell to encourage member principals and teachers to share the proposal with decision makers in their communities.
3.2 Expanded Programs and Services: Mrs. Posocco reported on new initiatives with NELMS designed to bring four new programs to CAS next year designed to provide training for meeting AYP. The high intensity two day programs address: Examining Student Work, Understanding Data, Standards Based Teaching and Teacher as Assessor. Monita Leavitt suggested that we should also consider Differentiated Instruction and offered to lead a session.
3.3 Earle Bidwell reported that all CAS middle level communication, including meeting notices and minutes, conference and banquet registration, is now handled on-line. This provides a savings in both time and money.
3.4 CAS visibility has been enhanced with the legislature and with the media through the creation and dissemination of CD-ROMs that highlight the mission and vision of CAS and link to the CAS website.
3.5 Mrs. Posocco reported that advocacy work for middle level education has been ongoing, especially through the writing and presenting of Assistant Executive Director Earle Bidwell. He has written several articles that have appeared in the CAS Bulletin and in other New England publications. In addition, he has done advocacy presentation at the NMSA and NASSP conventions. Another initiative was the MOYA celebration held at CAS in the fall. Next year’s celebration will be held at a school site and schools will be encouraged to do advocacy programs throughout the school year.
4.0 Earle Bidwell is a candidate for East Region Trustee of NMSA. Ballots will be sent to NMSA members along with the April issue of “Middle Ground.”
5.0 Tom Heffernan reported on a very successful leadership conference at Quinnipiac University attended by over 400 students from 54 middle schools across the state. Keynote speaker Judith Patnode presented on a unique program called “Junkanoo” which captures the history of the Bahamas. Her session was followed by over 20 breakout sessions led by Connecticut Association of Student Council student leaders, counselors, school resource officers and teachers. Additionally, there were two large group presentation led by student groups from Avon Middle School and Canton Jr./Sr. High School
6.0 Assistant Executive Director, Earl Bidwell encouraged schools to apply for CAS awards, especially the Exemplary Programs certification for “Teaming.”
The next meeting is scheduled for April 27, 2004
