Members Present: Larry Ross & Stuart Simpson - Alliance, Daniel Schartz - Hay Springs, Steve Osborn & Tim Dodd - Chadron, Jim Calder - Bridgeport, Paul Calvert - Chappell, Lewis Gellett - Garden County, Bill Pile - Leyton & Potter-Dix, Dennis O'Connor - Lodgepole, Allen Gross - Minatare, Wayne Ferguson - Morrill, Glen Mitchell - Rushville, John Cruzeiro - Sioux County, Jerry Williams - Kimball, B.J. Peters - WNDLC, John Bays - ESU #13

Schools Absent: Banner County, Bayard, Crawford, Gering, Gordon, Hemingford, Mitchell, Scottsbluff, Sidney

AGENDA

1. Call to Order & Roll Call - Meeting called to order at 11:03 a.m. by WNDLC Coordinator B.J. Peters. Notice of this meeting was posted on the WNDLC website November 20, 2002.

2. Update on new members and connections - Peters said that they were now four months behind in getting Chappell, Leyton, Potter-Dix, & ESU #14 connected to the DL system. He noted that there have been a variety of problems affecting the delay, much of the problem centers around our insistence on using JPEG video technology and Qwest wanting us to upgrade to MPEG video. Peters said the new technology is two to three times more expensive and requires an expensive gateway for it to communicate with the JPEG schools. Peters believes that progress has been made in getting this project up and running and enlisted the help of our Public Service Commissioner and the Lt. Governor in trying to resolve this issue. B.J. said that he would supply e-mail addresses of the key people in this project to Bill Pile and Paul Calvert so they could voice their concerns from the school's point of view.

B.J. also said that the work has started on the final four schools affected by the LB833 grant (Alliance, Bayard, Lodgepole, & Sidney). It has been suggested that in light of the state's budget crisis that all schools left to be connected move into the second year of the grant program (2003) in order to ensure that they have funding to complete the project. Also because of the technology issues, Qwest is probably only going to honor adding JPEG sites for one more year.

3. Report from Roger Wess - Chadron State College - Dr. Roger Wess of CSC presented a report to the group based on his proposal of establishing a high-end Internet based computer network in western Nebraska that would connect K-12 schools, the ESU's and the higher education institutions in the region. This proposal would help all parties pool technical resources and invest in a central server system that would hold all the technical resources such as software and other digital tools that schools could access. Technology will be able to supply resource tracking, record keeping, communication, assessment, access to information, matching instructional materials with ability and learning style, etc. Dr. Wess was not asking for any action at this time but wanted to share this information. He will be putting together a planning committee in 2003 to determine needs and consider grant options for funding.

4. E-Rate Update - Peters said that e-rate applications are now moving into the second phase for Year 6 (starts July 1, 2003). He was just notified that the Form 471 filing deadline had been extended three weeks Feb. 6. Jim Copley will be setting up 471 workshops for schools to complete their applications on line. Peters noted that there were still a couple of schools that had not submitted a 470 application yet and would still have to wait the mandatory 28 days before their 471 application. Only 10 schools had made the necessary update their tech plan on the NDE web server (Alliance, Chappell, Crawford, Gordon, Leyton, Minatare, Potter-Dix, Rushville, Scottsbluff, and Sioux County). The others need to have the tech plan updated before they file their 471 application. Peters said the e-rate applications have been filed for the distance learning services including the applications for the four newest schools to be connected next year.

5. Internet Report - Peters briefed the group on efforts that Jim Copley has been pursuing to help speed up our Internet service. He said that it is a reality that at certain times of the day the speed of our Internet is considerably slower and it probably is not going to improve unless we can get more bandwidth to the Internet. Copley is negotiating with the University of Nebraska, Sprint, and Charter Cable to see if we can improve our service. Right now it looks like the best plan is to aggregate all K-12 Internet traffic in the Panhandle in Scottsbluff.

6. Higher Education Report - Peters showed the group the college class offerings from WNCC for the Spring 2003 semester. Schools are to notify B.J. ASAP if they have students for the spring offerings.

Randy Hayes of Chadron State College addressed the group. He said that they are increasing the number of short topic courses for the spring and summer semesters. Topics include teacher ethics, teacher mental health, assessing primary students, nurturing student resilience, depression identification, asthma, diabetes, autism, etc. Randy said he would send a full list of the course offerings to B.J. who will then send them out to the schools to assess interest.

7. Review of Policies and Procedures- Peters said that there had been few problems with the schools taking WNCC courses this semester. He reminded them that it was important that those students make every effort to be in class on time even though the college classes don't match up with our DL bell schedule. If not they receive an un-excused absence which could affect their grade. It is also important that the schools provide proctors for any exams given in the college courses and proper and timely handling of exams and handouts is given top priority.

8. Executive Board membership - Due to the untimely passing of Gary Fisher of Crawford, Peters said the WNDLC Executive Board needed a new President. It was moved by Sioux County and seconded by Morrill to move Vice President Jim Calder of Bridgeport up to the President position. The motion passed unanimously. There was discussion on how to fill the empty slot on the executive board. Peters felt that they position should be filled by a representative from our newest schools in ESU #14. It was moved by Leyton and seconded by Bridgeport to nominate Paul Calvert of Chappell to the WNDLC executive board. The motion passed unanimously. Peters said that at the next meeting of the WNDLC Governing Board he felt that it would be appropriate to amend the bylaws to expand membership of the executive board to include representatives from the North, Central, and South regions of the Panhandle.

9. Your Items - There being no further business before the board the meeting was adjourned at 12:25 p.m.