 Area
6 Director Dana Smith Represents the Following School Districts:
Au Sable Valley, Beekmantown, Brasher Falls,
Brushton-Moira, Canton, Chazy, Clifton-Fine,
Clinton-Essex-Warren-Washington BOCES, Colton-Pierrepont, Crown Point,
Edwards-Knox, Elizabethtown-Lewis, Franklin-Essex-Hamilton BOCES,
Gouverneur, Hammond, Harrisville, Hermon-DeKalb, Heuvelton, Indian Lake,
Keene, Lake Placid, Lisbon, Long Lake, Madrid-Waddington, Malone, Massena,
Minerva, Moriah, Morristown, Newcomb, Northeastern Clinton, Northern
Adirondack, Norwood-Norfolk, Ogdensburg, Parishville-Hopkinton, Peru,
Plattsburgh, Potsdam, Putnam, Raquette Lake, Saint Lawrence-Lewis BOCES,
Saint Regis Falls, Salmon River, Saranac, Saranac Lake, Schroon Lake,
Ticonderoga, Tupper Lake, Westport and Willsboro
Area Director Electronic Newsletter
Welcome to the February 5, 2008 issue of the
Area 6 electronic newsletter. The electronic newsletter is designed
to facilitate communication between members of your NYSSBA Board of
Directors and the Areas they represent. The newsletter contains information
about Area 6 and NYSSBA. I hope you find it informative. I
would appreciate your sending comments and suggestions for future
newsletters to me at area06director@nyssba.org.
If any of your board colleagues do not have computer access, a copy will be
sent to the district office for distribution. If others with email did not
receive their own copy, please submit their e-mail address to NYSSBA at info@nyssba.org.
Make
your Voice Heard
The upcoming State Legislative Network Issues Conference is a great
opportunity for board members to get more involved in the issues that
affect districts around the state every day. Learn what’s in store
for 2008 from the experts - Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, Senator
Stephen Saland, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (invited), State
Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, along
with other top New York State leaders. For more information on the
conference, see the NYSSBA website, www.nyssba.org,
or contact the NYSSBA Governmental Relations Department at 800-342-3360.
Federal
Relations Network
NYSSBA’s Board of Directors and the Governmental Relations staff are in
Washington, D.C., attending the National School Boards Association’s
Federal Relations Network. While we normally have the largest
delegation at the conference, for the first time we have added 15 parent
advocates from New York City to help us build ties with our NYC
Congressional delegation.
State
Budget Testimony
NYSSBA Director of Governmental Relations David Little submitted written
testimony to the Joint Legislative Budget Hearing on Elementary and
Secondary Education. The testimony included several concerns NYSSBA
has in Governor Spitzer’s executive budget proposal, his call to cap local
property taxes, budget shifts many costs back to local taxpayers and it
would cut the minimum school aid increase from 3 percent to 2 percent.
NYSSBA agrees with the governor, however, that unfunded mandates should be
eliminated. For a full copy of NYSSBA's written testimony, please
contact David Albert, Director of Communications and Research, at david.albert@nyssba.org or
518-783-0200, or visit our website at www.nyssba.org.
Webinars
NYSSBA’s AdvisorySolutions will be hosting four free webinars this winter
and spring – The District Performance Scan is planned for February 6 and
March 3, both from 1-1:45 p.m. The service, offered by PLC Associates
Inc., is an electronic assessment of 12 areas of school district
operations, providing a database useful in any long range planning
process. To register for the February 6 webinar, go to https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/672814347.
To register for the March, 3 webinar, go to https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/687847090.
The Community Engagement Survey, a powerful tool to measure key areas of
community perception and satisfaction, will be described in free webinars
on April 2 from 1:30-2:45 p.m., and April 9 from 9:30-10:45 a.m.
Registration information will be provided soon.
Amicus
Brief
NYSSBA staff filed a request for leave to file a friend-of-the-court brief
in the case entitled, Board of Education of the New Paltz Central School
District v. Donaldson, before the New York Court of Appeals. This
case involves the issue of whether an employee who was denied tenure by the
school system can successfully claim that his denial of tenure was based
upon an act of retaliation by the school district for his complaints about
alleged sexual discrimination when said allegations of sexual
discrimination were determined to be unfounded.
Ready,
Set, Grow
As reported in the last Area Director Newsletter, NYSSBA and the Capital
Region BOCES want to share what has been learned during a three-year pilot
project about student academic growth models and value-added assessment
systems. A one-day statewide conference has been scheduled for
Wednesday, May 28 at the Holiday Inn on Wolf Road in Albany. Watch
for registration information coming soon.
New
NYSSBA Staff
Marc Humbert, a seasoned, award-winning reporter, will fill the senior
writer’s position in the NYSSBA Communications Department. Humbert,
who retired as a bureau chief from The Associated Press after covering New
York State government and politics for more than 25 years, will join the
staff on February 11.
In
the News
The Buffalo Law Journal has reprinted “Parents not entitled to be present
when students questioned” from the December 10 On Board and written by a
Buffalo attorney. NYSSBA Editor-in-Chief Eric Randall reports the Law
Journal’s managing editor praised On Board's overall legal coverage.
It has also been reported that a number of BOCES communications
specialists, who met recently, value NYSSBA’s publications, particularly On
Board and our website, as good research tools.
Fiscal
Oversight Training
NYSSBA Executive Director Tim Kremer, NYSSBA Director of Leadership
Development Barry Entwistle and NYSSBA Leadership Development Manager John
Carroll spoke to representatives of the Alberta (Canada) School Boards
Association about our mandatory fiscal oversight training. According
to our Canadian neighbors, we are viewed as THE model.
Upcoming
Events
Internal and External Audit Process
February 8, Latham NYSSBA Headquarters
February 8, Niagara Falls Crowne Plaza
May 9, Oneida-Herkimer-Madison BOCES, New Hartford
May 9, Eastern Suffolk BOCES, Holbrook
May 16, White Plains Crowne Plaza
Fiscal Oversight Online course schedule
February 20 thru April 2
April 16 thru May 28
April 30 thru June 11
May 14 thru June 25
June 11 thru July 23
June 18 thru August 6
September 3 thru October 15
September 17 thru October 29
October 8 thru November 19
State Legislative Network Conference
March 2-4, Albany Marriott
Fiscal Oversight Workshop
April 12, Garden City
April 12, Latham
July 18 & 20, Buffalo
August 11 & 12, Suffern
August 13 & 14, Syracuse
August 18 & 19, Islandia
August 23, Rochester
September 5 & 7, Albany
October 16 & 19, New York City
November 15, Rochester
November 15, Long Island
November 22, Newburgh
November 22, Elmira
December 13, Watertown
December 13, Oneonta
National School Boards Association Annual Convention
March 29-April 1, Orlando FL
Joint BOCES Workshop
May 2 & 3, Albany
Special Education Law Conference
May 22, Albany
May 29, Rochester
June 12, Long Island
Value-Added Conference
May 28, Holiday Inn, Albany
New School Board Member One-Day Academy
July 11, Garden City
July 11, Latham (NYSSBA)
July 25, White Plains
August 22, Rochester
August 22, Saranac Lake
New and Veteran School Board Member Academies
July 18-20, Buffalo
September 5-7, Albany
School Board Institute Courses
July 18 & 20, Buffalo
September 5 & 7, Albany
October 16 & 19, New York City
School Law Conference
July 18, Albany
July 25, Long Island
Board Officers Academy
August 9, Buffalo Area
August 16, Long Island Area
September 20, Latham
September 27, Southern Tier
Pre-Convention School Law Seminar
October 16, New York City
89th Annual Convention
October 16-19, New York City
School Law Conference
December 10, Albany |
