1. Call to Order - Members Present- Lana Sides-Banner County, Randy Butcher-Bridgeport, Tim Dodd-Chadron, Merrell Nelsen-Crawford, Lewis Gellett-Garden County, Ernie Griffiths & Julie Newman-Hay Springs, Casper Ningen-Hemingford, Chuck Bunner-Minatare, Kent Halley-Mitchell, Roy Ingram-Morrill, Kevin Thomas-Potter-Dix, Jim Copley & Craig Hicks-ESU #14, Dan Doherty & Deanna Trowbridge & Al Combs-WNCC, B.J. Peters-WNDLC

2. E-Rate Update/Technology Plans - Jim Copley and B.J. noted that many schools have completed their technology plans in the past couple of weeks. There are just a handful of schools that still need to get their tech plans completed and submitted to the state. The tech plans should be completed before starting e-rate applications for next year. The first step of the e-rate process is filing the 470 form and that should be done before Christmas. You must wait 28 days after filing the 470 before you can go to the next step and file the 471. The 471 window ends on Feb. 17 so if you wait until after the holidays to file the 470 you will be cutting it real close to get everything done in time. Contact Jim & B.J. if you have any questions.

3. Technology Grants - Craig Hicks and B.J. updated the group on the Title II-D grants that they wrote and were awarded in November. The first grant will ask school districts to put together a team to attend a two-day workshop on July 28 & 29, 2005 at ESU #13 to help in strengthening their schools technology plans in making sure they work closely with the school district's school improvement plan. Administrators should start thinking about who might best serve on this team (3 to 5 people). More details will be forthcoming in the spring. Stipends will be available to participants and possibly graduate credit. The second grant has two parts....the first part involves the academic search engine "netTrekker." netTrekker delivers educator-selected online resources aligned with each state’s academic standards to every desktop. Using netTrekker, educators have access to more than 18,000 lesson plans and learning exercises and can easily integrate technology and standards into their everyday curricula. The grant pays for a netTrekker license for every student in the panhandle. Craig and B.J. are available to come to your school to train and register your staff in the use of netTrekker. The presentation will take around a half hour. The other piece of the grant is to expand the use of Manila with our teachers. Manila is a program that allows a teacher to easily put together their own personalized web pages. These web pages can be useful resources for their students and parents. This training will take around a half of day and again Craig and B.J. are available to come to your school for training.

4. Statewide Distance Learning Update

5. Fall Schedule Update

6. WNCC Update

7. Chadron State Update

8. Principal's Dec. 1 Meeting

9. From the Group

10. Adjourn