The Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators

A State Unit of the Association of Teacher Educators
and The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education

 

Minutes - April 2007
Minutes - September 2007
Minutes - October 2007
Minutes - January 2008
Minutes - April 2008
Minutes - September 2008
Minutes - October 2008
Minutes - January 2009
Minutes - April 2009
Minutes - June 2009
Minutes - September 2009

January 15, 2010
PAC-TE Board of Directors
Minutes

Call to Order – President Kathy Ruthkosky -- 9:15 a.m.

Approval of Minutes, October 28, 2010

Old Business – Teacher Education Assembly (TEA) 2010 Planning Committee
Sally Winterton, TEA 2010 Chair, reported on the decisions and recommendations to the Board of the TEA Planning Committee, which met at the TEA on October 29, 2009, and at Penn State University in State College on December 4, 2009, and whose report was provided to the Board in writing. Following the direction of the PAC-TE Board, the committee decided to direct proposers to submit their proposals focusing on one to three Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) Standards. The committee also recommended electronic submission of proposals. The Call for Proposals has since gone out to all members in e-mail and postcard format. The Executive Director will work with proposers having technical difficulties with submission. The cost of printing proposals for committee review was considered, but was not determined to be excessive. The committee recommends that electronic review of proposals be considered for future TEAs. If one or more of the ATE standards is not addressed in the proposals received PAC-TE may decide to address that standard in a strand at a future conference. The next step is identification of general session speakers. Board member input is welcomed. Those attending ATE in February are encouraged to identify speakers from among those presenting at the ATE conference. The committee meeting in December was lively and the committee members are excited to make the change to electronic submission. Fred Savitz and several others commended the committee’s work to date.

The Board discussed the PAC-TE continuing work with the Pennsylvania Educational Research Association (PERA) to offer the TEA and the PERA conferences collaboratively and charged the Executive Director to work with PERA to ensure a variety of presentations, efficient use of time slots, and PAC-TE’s ability to accept as many good presentations as possible.

Reports
All reports may be accessed by consulting the PAC-TE Web site at www.pac-te.org.

The President’s Report was offered by President Kathy Ruthkosky, with the additional report that PAC-TE has again received an ATE Unit Achievement Award and the Development Award in Membership/Management. The Executive Director will forward a thank you letter to Mary Dupuis for compiling the award application.

The Executive Director’s Report was offered by Executive Director Linda Cook.

Treasurer Rick Fuller presented the Treasurer’s Reports:

The Association Account was approved.

The Conference Account was approved.

Treasurer Fuller also provided a report on the certificate of deposit purchased, as approved by Board vote by e-mail, on November 23, 2009, from PNC Bank, with a 1.01% interest rate and a maturity date of December 23, 2010. The funds were rolled over from a CD that was with Community National Bank, which matured on November 11, 2009, which had earned 1.5%, $421.17 in interest. He recommended that no further funds be moved to CDs until the Board discusses any upcoming initiatives that may generate the need for expenses that are not currently budgeted, especially as current interest rates are so low.

Audit Committee Report -- Audit Committee Bob King presented the following report to the Board:

The financial records for the Association Account and the Conference Account for the fiscal years 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08, and 2008-09 were audited by the appointed committee members, Robert King (Chair), Terry Blue, Keith Dils, and Kevin Zook. The financial records were found to be accurate for each fiscal year for both accounts.

The committee commended Treasurer's Susan Criswell and Clythera Hornung for their diligence and accuracy in maintaining the financial records for PAC-TE.

The following recommendations were made for consideration by the Board of Directors and the Treasurer:

  1. Prepare a financial year end spread sheet showing all income and expenses from July 1 through June 30.
  2. The Board of Directors should investigate whether the Association is in compliance with IRS` Regulations for non-profit organizations.
  3. Move some of the money currently in the conference account into an interest bearing investment.
  4. An annual audit of the Association Account and the Conference Account should be completed.

President Ruthkosky thanked Susan Criswell and Cly Hornung for the diligent work and the accuracy of their work, for keeping PAC-TE financial records well maintained and categorized.

A motion was made to accept the recommendations of the Audit Committee with sincere thanks to Bob King and the members of the committee.

Discussion: John Butzow recommended that the Executive Committee and Treasurer develop procedures to meet the Audit Committee’s recommendations. Treasurer Rick Fuller provided further insight into and stated his agreement with the committee’s recommendations. President Ruthkosky suggested that the Executive Committee meet and bring policy and procedural details on implementation to the next Board meeting on April 15, 2010.

The motion was approved as presented.

Spring 2010 Conference Planning -- Spring 2010 Conference Planning Committee Chair Fred Savitz provided a report on conference planning. He thanked fellow committee members Kathy Ruthkosky, Tammy Feil, Marianne Hazel, and Linda Cook. The committee held a telephone conference on December 1, during which it agreed to structure the Friday, April 16 conference at Toftrees Golf Resort and Conference Center as follows:

Speakers and session facilitators:
Morning:

Afternoon:

The committee designed the program with the intent to provide participants the opportunity to attend two of the five afternoon breakout sessions. Each session will run twice in order to accommodate participants’ choices.

President Ruthkosky and others commended Fred and the committee.

Divisional Structure Membership Survey -- Ad-hoc Divisional Structure Committee Chair Kevin Zook reported that the committee will set a date to review his compilation of the results of the survey administered at the 2009 TEA and develop recommendations for action, to be brought to the April 15 Board meeting.

February ATE Conference Delegates -- President Ruthkosky, Board member Lew Strouse and two other members appointed by the President will represent PAC-TE as conference delegates at the February ATE Conference.

Government Relations Committee -- As directed by the Board at its October 28, 2009, meeting President Ruthkosky presented to the Board the following proposal on the purpose, goal, membership, and responsibilities of a new Government Relations Committee:

Purpose -- to monitor legislative activity and to represent PAC-TE and its members’ interests to local, state and national government entities

Goal -- to provide relevant information on teacher education to policy makers at the local, state, and national level

Membership -- Members of the Government Relations Committee are appointed by the President and serve for a two-year term with the option for reappointment for a second term. Committee members must be members of PAC-TE.

Responsibilities –

Because of PAC-TE’s nonprofit status, the work of the committee must be in providing information to various constituencies, rather than lobbying. The President or a Presidential designee will continue to represent PAC-TE at State Board of Education and other governmental meetings.

The first task of the committee is to update PAC-TE’s informational flyers and generate talking points, in order to put teacher education in front of those running in upcoming elections.

Kevin Zook spoke positively of moving in this direction, speaking to a need to cultivate relationships with governmental representatives and entities other than PDE. As follow-up to Kevin’s questions and recommendations, President Ruthkosky stated that the President will nominate and the Board approve committee members, including the Chair, and that the committee be no more than 8 individuals from across the state and types of institutions.

In response to Bob King’s suggestion that the committee may generate expenses, President Ruthkosky stated the Board will have to look at a reimbursement policy, copying through the Executive Director’s office, and other financial issues.

President Ruthkosky will provide the Board with a list of proposed Committee members, after which she will begin to work with them.

June 2010 Board Meeting Date -- The June Board meeting/retreat date will be set at the April 15 Board meeting, after which the Executive Director will book the Sleep Inn for the meeting.

New Business

  1. PDE Membership
    As a result of a clarification request by PDE as to the purpose of a payment made to PAC-TE and correspondence from two vendors and the Board’s consensus that PAC-TE would welcome both as non-voting members, President Ruthkosky and Executive Director Cook will bring a proposal on policies and fees for associate and corporate membership to the April 15 Board meeting. Past President Hornung spoke positively to this collaboration with PDE.

  2. Tidbits
    Executive Director Cook reported that John Johnson has resigned as PAC-TE Tidbits editor. She has been sending Tidbits e-mails and will continue to do so. She will also send a thank you note to John Johnson for his service to the organization.

  3. April 15 Board and TEA Planning Committee
    The April 15 Board meeting will be held from 11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., at the Sleep Inn in State College. The TEA 2010 Planning Committee meeting to review proposals will then be held from 3:00 p.m. – no later than 6:30 p.m., after which both groups will go to dinner together. The Executive Director has reserved a block of rooms at the Sleep Inn and at Toftrees, where the Spring Conference is being held the next day, and will send that information to Board members.

  4. University of Southern California Application to Provide Master of Arts in Teaching in Pennsylvania
    On January 5, 2010, the PDE announced a Notice of Opportunity for Hearing and Invitation to Protest the application of the University of Southern California to operate in Pennsylvania. The application is to provide its program of teaching leading to a Master of Arts in Teaching degree online with the guided practice portion conducted in specific cities in the Commonwealth. The announcement has been sent by the Executive Director to all PAC-TE members via Tidbits. President Ruthkosky reviewed the documentation at PDE on January 13. She provided the Board with detail on the application and asked or Board input as to PAC-TE’s action, which must be taken by January 25.

    The application is to offer two programs. The first, a Master of Arts in Teaching with no credential attached, the target audience for which is credentialed teachers looking to build on their knowledge base The second program, to which PAC-TE might wish to object, is a MAT with credential.

    President Ruthkosky’s major concern is that the proposed program does not meet the Chapter 49 program requirements that Pennsylvania institutions must meet. It includes an elementary credential, includes limited amount of full-time teaching, includes one course in special education, and is weak in literacy.

    Extensive discussion ensued around the following issues related to PAC-TE’s response to the application:

    • concern as to this program competing with Pennsylvania institutions of higher education
    • whether PDE, which probably has the same concerns as PAC-TE, is empowered to deny this application, or if others, such as PAC-TE and individual institutions must take action by requesting a hearing or filing a protest
    • whether PAC-TE should protest and/or request a hearing
    • the need for individual institutions to also become involved in responding to this issue
    • whether PAC-TE would need a lawyer if requesting a hearing, and if a member institution lawyer may be used
    • PSEA’s concern with the quality of teachers prepared and teaching in Pennsylvania and PSEA may need to address this issue also -- Carla Claycomb will take this issue back to PSEA for discussion.

    A motion that President Ruthkosky write to PDE with PAC-TE’s concerns was made. President Ruthkosky asked that this charge include her further investigation into and decision on the best type of response from PAC-TE – protest or hearing request. The motion was approved as amended.

    President Ruthkosky will find out what is the best method of protest and will copy her response on behalf of PAC-TE to the Board.

    Fred Savitz asked if PAC-TE’s response could be forwarded to PAC-TE institution presidents. Kathy Ruthkosky agreed to do so, with the understanding that institutions responses should be personalized.

  5. Professional Standards and Practices Commission Revision of Educator Discipline Code
    Executive Director Cook reported that PAC-TE has been invited to provide input to the Professional Standards and Practices Commission revision of the Educator Discipline Act. The Commission has proposed amendments and held its first meeting for their review on January 12. Three PAC-TE institutions are represented on the Commission. The Board directed Linda to contact Jane Bray, Millersville University, to ask if she will keep PAC-TE informed of the process and any need for PAC-TE input.

Additional Agenda Items – None

Adjournment – A motion to adjourn was approved.