Western
Nebraska Distance Learning Consortium Governing Board
Wednesday,
September 27, 2000
9 a.m.
ESU #13,
Scottsbluff, Nebraska
Members Present: Gary Fisher-Crawford, John Cruzeiro-Sioux County,
Dale Eberhart-Chadron, Chuck Squier-Rushville, Rod Borders-Gordon, Jerry
Williams-Kimball, Allen Gross-Minatare, Don Wagner-Mitchell, Ed
Hollinger-Hemingford, Wayne Ferguson-Morrill, Jim Calder-Bridgeport, Diana
Doyle-WNCC, Steve Taylor, Terry Miller-ESU #13, Dan Schartz-Hay Springs, Joy
Mockelman-Gering.
Member Absent: Scottsbluff
Also Present: B.J. Peters, Jim Copley
B.J. Peters, WNDLC Coordinator opened the meeting stating
that the meeting notice and agenda was posted to WNDLC Web site on September 5,
2000.
Agenda
1.
Review of Phase II Installation - Peters
said that just like a year ago the final installations went right down to the
wire. Six schools (Hemingford, Gordon, Rushville, Hay Springs, Chadron, &
Crawford) were connected to the video switch on Wednesday, August 23, 2000,
missing just a few days of classes. Sioux County is still hopeful of connecting
by the start of second semester. Sioux County officially signed a contract with
Qwest on Friday, September 22, 2000. The fiber optic cable being run between
Crawford and Harrison is within a few miles of being completed. Jim Copley gave
an update on the cutover of the T1 data connections for the schools. He now has
four schools connected (Rushville, Hay Springs, Chadron, & Hemingford). He
was hopeful that Crawford and Gordon would be completed within the next couple
of weeks.
2.
Review Fall 2000 class schedule - Peters
included in the handouts a printout of the current class schedule on the WNDLC
system. He said that there are a total of 25 classes being delivered this fall
semester, well above what was offered a year ago. He said the principals would
be meeting in October to start working on 2001 Spring Semester schedule. Peters
noted that the fall schedule does not reflect many non-credit offerings. On
Sept. 21, Gering, Crawford, and Hay Springs connected with Hemingford for a
Q&A session with Gov. Johannes and on Sept. 26 B.J. did a presentation to
community leaders in Gordon. Penny Businga will be using the DL system to teach
the 9 Instructional Strategies series in the 330 to 530 p.m. time frame.
3.
Review 1999-2000 usage - Peters
distributed a report showing usage of the WNDLC system for the 1999-2000 school
year. It showed 39 activities, both credit and non-credit, that included over
500 participants. Peters expects those numbers to take a big jump in the second
year.
4.
Year Three E-rate update - Peters
indicated that he had filed the necessary forms for the schools that had been
approved for discounts in Year Three. That included all the phase one schools
and Chadron and Hay Springs in Phase Two. Rushville has had their appeal denied
for DS3 funding but was approved for their T1. We are still waiting on funding
decisions for Hemingford, Gordon, Crawford, and Sioux County. Peters polled the
group as to how they would like their discounts applied…all indicated they
wanted credits applied to their accounts except Mitchell who wants the cash.
Peters said that the Year Four application period has already started.
5.
Chadron State & WNCC concerns - Discussion
was held on the working relationships with our higher education partners,
Western Nebraska Community College and Chadron State College. Peters indicated
that Dan Doherty of WNCC, the Dean of Instruction has been extremely
cooperative in the types and numbers of courses offered to the high schools.
Dr. Diana Doyle, Vice President of WNCC said that they hope to continue to be a
player in the WNDLC system.
Discussion turned to Chadron
State. Steve Taylor, director of off-campus programs for CSC addressed the
group. Included in the handouts was a letter from Taylor over certain distance
learning policies that Chadron State operates under. This was brought about
because of the Intro to Teaching class that is being taught to Scottsbluff and
Gering by an adjunct professor. Chadron State operates under a minimum of 3 students
per site and 10 total student minimums. Taylor indicated that the reasons
behind these guidelines are two-fold, 1) budgetary reasons-CSC cannot afford to
lose money on outreach programs, and 2) pedagogical reasons that it is very
hard to learn when sitting all by yourself at a distant site. A number of
superintendents challenged Taylor saying that 3 students per site puts the
smaller schools at a disadvantage because they are limited in the number of
students ready to handle college level courses. Taylor offered to set up a
meeting between the WNDLC Governing Board and Chadron State President Tom
Krepel and VP Joyce Hardy to further discuss their concerns. Administrators
from WNCC will also be included in this meeting. The meeting will be held in
Hemingford, hopefully sometime in October.
6.
DL Teacher stipends - Nobody is
moving towards a compensation program at this time for distance learning
instructors. Ed Hollinger of Hemingford said he foresees this becoming an item
for negotiations and would prefer handling it outside of it but wants the group
(WNDLC board) in agreement of how it will be handled. No decisions were made.
7.
DL Teacher travel expenses - Peters
said this was discussed at the most recent WNDLC principal's meeting. The group
thought it was important for teachers to visit the remote sites periodically
and were in agreement that the remote sites should share in the costs involved
(mileage, meals, substitute teachers). The principals agreed to keep track of
costs this first year to see what kind of a financial burden it would be. There
was little time for discussion because of time constraints.
8.
Meeting was adjourned at 10 a.m. Next meeting will
be in Hemingford and will be set up by B.J. Peters and Steve Taylor. Peters
will send out an agenda and timeline when it is arranged.
