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 19, 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.

State Legislative Network Conference

SLN is coming soon.  Be sure our legislators are aware of our concerns.  Communicate to those who are going to SLN and will be talking to them, call their offices with your concerns and/or write letters and e-mails to them.  They respond most directly to the written word and to a sizeable audience.  
 
I look forward to seeing as many as possible at SLN.  Appointments have already been set up with our legislators.  All we need to do is get together in Albany to strategize.  See you there.

FRN Recap

By now, all members of the Board of Directors and assorted staff have returned from Washington, D.C., where NYSSBA’s presence was well known.  From NSBA Board meetings attended by Anne Byrne and Jay Worona, to Council of School Attorneys meetings chaired by Jay, to the NSBA Leadership Conference attended by NYSSBA’s Board Officers and senior staff, and where Tim Kremer made a presentation, to the Federal Relations Network Conference where New York hosted the nation’s largest delegation, NYSSBA was everywhere!  Of course, our biggest splash occurred on Sunday evening when NYSSBA, along with Coca Cola, hosted a Super Bowl party that could not have ended any better.  By the end of the game, the New York party was the ONLY place to be as seemingly everyone in the hotel became an instant Giants fan.

Speaking of NSBA’s Federal Relations Network Conference, February 3-5 in Washington, DC, staff organized a New York State breakfast where attendees heard from US Deputy Secretary of Education Ray Simon, SED Deputy Commissioner for Innovation David Miller and Senator Schumer’s Education Analyst Meghan Taira.  School board members met with their Congressional representatives and legislative staff to discuss federal education issues and for the first time, parent advocates from New York City joined NYSSBA members in their lobby efforts.

NYSSBA Testifies

Governmental Relations Director David Little testified before the Property Tax Relief Commission and the Joint Legislative Hearings on the Budget.  Dave’s testimony can be found on NYSSBA’s website, www.nyssba.org.

BOCES Workshop Survey

An online survey was launched on February 6th to all BOCES CTE and Special Education Directors in preparation for the 2008 Joint BOCES Workshop.  The purpose of the survey is to outline specific challenges BOCES faces when serving its student population.  The survey is less than ten questions and should take only a few minutes to complete.  The data will be used to define specific focus areas within the two general topics presented at the 2008 Joint BOCES Workshop, which will be held on May 2-3 in Albany.  If you are a member of a BOCES, please be sure your CTE and/or Special Education Director fills out the survey.

NYSSBA Convention Update

You are invited to submit a proposal to share your knowledge and experience with New York State's education leadership at NYSSBA's 89th Annual Convention and Educational Trade Show at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, New York City, October 17 and 18, 2008.   For more information, check the NYSSBA website at www.nyssba.org.

NYSSBA staff are currently working with several New York City hotels for overflow rooms for the 89th Annual Convention, and hope to secure additional rooms in the next few weeks.

Awards of Distinction

Awards of Distinction for districts to offer their outgoing school board members will be available for order in March.  For some items that remain popular, districts can visit the NYSSBA website at www.nyssba.org and click on “NYSSBA store.”

Membership Update

To date, 664 boards of education have paid their 2008 NYSSBA dues. This number represents 96% of NYSSBA’s Year 2007 membership. 663 dues payments were received last year at this time.

NYSSBA President’s Reception at NSBA Convention

Three companies, Guercio & Guercio Law, JCJ Architecture, and HSBC Bank will be sponsoring the NYSSBA President’s Reception at the National School Boards Associations’ conference in Orlando. 

Upcoming Events
 
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)

National School Boards Association Annual Convention
  March 29-April 1, Orlando FL

Fiscal Oversight Workshop
  April 12, Plainview (Residence Inn by Marriott)
  April 12, Latham, NYSSBA headquarters
  July 18-20, Buffalo (Adams Mark Hotel) (during the New and Veteran Academies)
  August 11-12, Suffern High School Hilburn
  August 13-14, Onondaga-Cortland-Madison BOCES
  August 18-19, Eastern Suffolk BOCES
  August 23, Rochester (Marriott Airport Hotel)
  September 5 & 7, Albany Desmond (New and Veteran Academies)
  October 16 & 19, New York City (Sheraton New York Hotel)
  November 15, Fairport (Woodcliff Hotel)
  November 15 - Ronkonkoma (Cortland by Marriott Long Island)
  November 11, Newburgh (Hilton Garden Inn Newburgh)

Joint BOCES Workshop
  May 2 & 3, Albany (Holiday Inn Turf)

Internal and External Audit Process
  May 9, New Hartford (Oneida-Herkimer-Madison BOCES)
  May 9, Eastern Suffolk BOCES, Holbrook
  May 16, White Plains (Crowne Plaza)
  
Special Education Law Conference
  May 22, Albany
  May 29, Rochester
  June 12, Long Island
 
Value-Added Conference
  May 28, Albany (Holiday Inn)
 
New School Board Member One-Day Academy
  July 11, Latham (NYSSBA Headquarters)
  July 11, Garden City
  August 8, Garden City (Nassau BOCES Admin Center)
  August 22, Rochester (Marriott Airport Hotel)
  August 22, White Plains

New and Veteran School Board Member Academies
  July 18-20, Buffalo (Adams Mark Hotel)
  September 5-7, Albany (Desmond Hotel)

School Board Institute Courses
  July 18 & 20, Buffalo (Adams Mark Hotel)
  September 5 & 7, Albany (Desmond Hotel)
  October 16 & 19, New York City (Sheraton New York Hotel

School Law Conference
  July 18, Albany
  July 25, Long Island
 
Board Officers Academy
  August 9, Buffalo (Hyatt Regency)
  August 16, Ronkonkoma (Courtyard by Marriott Long Island)
  September 20, Latham (NYSSBA Headquarters)
  September 27, Binghamton (Broome-Tioga BOCES)

Pre-Convention School Law Seminar
  October 16, New York City
 
89th Annual Convention
  October 16-19, New York City (Sheraton Hotel and Towers)
 
School Law Conference
  December 10, Albany