Vermont Council of Teacher Educators

Minutes of the May 15, 1998 Meeting

At Middlebury College

 

MAY
May, and among the miles of leafing,
blossoms storm out of the darkness-
windflowers and moccasin flowers. The bees
dive into them and I too, to gather
their spiritual honey. Mute and meek, yet theirs
is the deepest certainty that this existence too -
this sense of well-being, the flourishing
of the physical body - rides
near the hub of the miracle that everything
is a part of, is as good
as a poem or a prayer, can also make
luminous any dark place on earth.
Mary Oliver

Present: Joan Fingon, Heather McCollum, and Tom Mauhs-Pugh of Green Mountain; Connie Krosney and Aostre Johnson of St. Michael's; Marilyn Richardson of Trinity; Sally Sugarman of Bennington; Kevin Colling of the Department of Education; Alice Whiting of Johnson; Joyce Cunningham and Judy Miller of Castleton; Ken Bergstrom of Goddard; Harry Lawrence, Cindy Kaplan, and Betty Thurber of Middlebury; Mary O'Brien of VTC; Katherine Jelly of Norwich; Barry Hertz of Lyndon

The minutes of the 4/17/98 meeting were accepted. The treasurer reported a bank balance of $7135.16 (part of which is co-owned by the Standards Board).

1998-99 Officer Election: OfficeRs for next year were elected as follows:

President: Joan Fingon
Vice-President: Connie Krosney
Secretary: Kathy Jelly
Treasurer: Joyce Cunningham

[Policy Liaisons - to be elected in the fall when we have better definition, description, and clearer focus - nominated were Sally Sugarman, Heather McCoIlum, and Mary O'Brien]

ROPA Update: We spent time discussing what the small group (Joan, Joyce, Connie, Kathy, Charlie) would discuss with Scannell at the Higher Education Committee meeting with him on May 19, 1998. Kathy Jelly will distribute the final list of suggestions which were shared with him.

AACTE/ATE Membership: The limited information available was discussed. We are expecting to receive packets for individual institutional membership momentarily, and will distribute as soon as they arrive. VCTE would like to make a decision about joining one or both groups by the November 1998 meeting.

Fall Conference: We are still interested in a working conference on the Liberal Arts and Science major issue(s). Will Tim still spearhead? Alice will help. We decided to use the September 98 meeting to begin the conversation, to seed. Then, at the longer October meeting, we will use half the day to fertilize the conversation. Then, we thought we could harvest our ideas at a conference in winter or early spring. Folks with suggestions about readings on the topic should email them to this list.

Marge Petit has requested that she come to our meetings regularly. We all agreed that she be part of the agenda when she requests, and when there is a topic she would like to share with us. She is, of course, welcome at all of our meetings.

Mary O'Brien shared information about the CORD courses on applied academics and learning for secondary and post-secondary teachers this summer. For more information, contact Mary at VTC.

Kevin Colling talked with us about the new regulations for fingerprinting, H475 effective July 1, 1998. To find this on the legislative page, look under Martha Heath. The department will have a new application by Christmas. Kevin will send us a memo detailing procedures and timelines, and with more information.

FIRST MEETING FOR NEXT YEAR will be September 11, from 1:00 - 3:30, at Green Mountain College. We will set meeting dates for next year at this meeting. We will also affirm the goals for the year discussed at this meeting.

HAVE A GREAT SUMMER, EVERYONE!!!

 

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