1. New Member Applications - WNDLC Coordinator B.J. Peters informed the group that Kimball, Minatare, Banner County, and Garden County schools had made formal application to join WNDLC. They had all sent in a letter requesting membership, all had their respective school boards pass the WNDLC interlocal agreement, and all four are aware that they will have to pay a $2,500 membership fee. After short discussion a motion was made by Chadron and seconded by Gering to combine the roll call vote to include all four applications, motion carried. A roll call vote ensued with ten yes votes recorded reaching the mandatory 2/3 majority needed for approval. Membership will be granted to all four. ESU #13 will send out statements requesting payment of the membership fee. Peters proposed using the fees to establish a fund for repair and replacement of distance learning equipment. He will research and write an amendment that will be looked at the next consortium meeting so the fund can be added to the bylaws.

2. LB336 - Peters informed the group that most of the ESU #14 schools have been added to a legislative proposal currently before the Nebraska legislature. The proposal, if approved, would provide start-up funds for distance learning. Bayard, Big Springs, and Alliance are the only schools currently not interested in distance learning in the Panhandle.

3. Spanish Teacher Needs - Peters shared with the group the results of his recent survey of Minatare, Hay Springs, Crawford, Banner County, and Sioux County. These five schools have 79 students needing Spanish I next fall and another 79 schools needing Spanish II. Peters said that there is no way that the existing members can help meet this need. The group had general consensus that the ESU should pursue hiring a foreign language teacher that would be used to teach to these five schools. Peters said he would discuss with Terry Miller.

4. Chadron State response - Peters informed the group that he had received a letter from Chadron State College President Tom Krepel in response to the e-mail he had sent the end of January. The e-mail was sent at the request of the WNDLC executive council on Chadron State's distance learning policies, especially their distance learning fees and minimum student numbers. Krepel indicated that for the most part he wanted to be left out of these discussions that dialogue should be with Steve Taylor, Assistant Vice President for Extended Campus Programs. Peters said that he has visited with Mr. Taylor and he has drawn up a response to the consortium's concerns but was unable to attend this meeting and wanted to be present to answer any questions the group might have.

5. Community Ed classes - Peters shared with the group the WNCC community ed classes that still have openings for spring. He urged the schools to promote the classes in their respective communities and let him know if they would like to reserve spots in any of the remaining classes.

6. Graduate classes from CSC - Peters said that the first part of February he had sent an e-mail message to most of the teachers in the Panhandle asking for input on the kinds of graduate courses they would like to see from Chadron State over the WNDLC system. Peters said that he received well over 50 responses. After sharing those with Steve Taylor of CSC, Taylor put together a schedule of 3 summer courses and 3 more courses for the Fall 2001 semester. The summer classes will be School Law, Supervision of Instructors, and Elementary School Administration. The fall offerings are Fundamentals of School Administration, Reading in Middle Schools & Secondary Schools, and Intro to Vocational Education/Special Needs. A number of receive sites have already been designated based on the results of the survey but most all of them still have openings on a first come-first serve basis. Each site must have a minimum of two students participating.

7. Fall 2001 schedule - Peters showed the group the latest Fall 2001 schedule. He said that it is changing almost daily with many of the schools in the midst of registration. He noted for the new schools coming in that if they have students interested in DL classes that the principal or counselor should call him ASAP to make sure that they have a slot reserved. Peters said that in all likelihood ESU #13 will move forward in hiring a Spanish teacher for next school year based on the needs of several schools in the consortium (Sioux County, Crawford, Hay Springs, Minatare, & Banner County). Peters would pass that message along to ESU #13 administrator Terry Miller. In regards to the fall schedule, Peters asked each district to let him know when they will be starting school. He will than share those dates with the rest of the group.

8. DL Teacher Training - Peters said he has set June 11 & 12, 2001 for a Distance Learning Teacher Training workshop. He has invited Shirley Schall, coordinator of the Southwest Nebraska Distance Learning Consortium to present on the first day of the workshop, Peters said that he will handle the presentation on the second day. The workshop will be presented over the DL system with locations in both the North and South regions. A stipend of $100 per day will be offered to all participants.

9. From the Group - Peters commended Gering High School for putting together an ACT Prep training session for students taking the ACT test in April. The session is broke into 3 different one-week topics (Math, English, & Science). It will be offered live from 7:10 to 7:50 a.m. and in a taped version during the noon hour and after school. The morning (Gering, Scottsbluff, Hemingford, & Rushville) and noon (ESU #13, Bridgeport, Gordon, & Chadron) sessions are already full but a couple more openings still exist in the after school session (ESU #13, Mitchell).

Meeting was adjourned at 12:00 p.m.