Members Attending: Larry Ross-Alliance, Roy Ingram-Banner County, Rob Gregory-Bayard, Lew Shoff & Dan Hadden-Bridgeport, Dale Eberhart & Steve Osborn-Chadron, Paul Calvert-Chappell, Merrell Nelsen-Crawford, Lew Gellett-Garden County, Eldon Hubbard-Gering, Ed Hollinger-Hemingford, Jerry Williams-Kimball, Bill Pile-Leyton & Potter-Dix, Dennis O'Connor-Lodgepole, Allen Gross-Minatare, Kent Halley-Mitchell, Wayne Ferguson-Morrill, Chuck Squier-Rushville, John Cruzeiro-Sioux County

Members Absent: Gordon, Hay Springs, Scottsbuff, ESU #13, ESU #14

Meeting called to order by B.J. Peters, WNDLC Coordinator at 11:02 a.m. Public notice of the meeting agenda was on the WNDLC website since April 21, 2004.

2004 Fall DL Schedule -B.J. Peters shared the tentative WNDLC Fall 2004 schedule. He said it can be found on the WNDLC web site at http://dl.esu13.org/WNDLCFall2004.htm Also included in the packet was a listing and course description of the classes that Chadron State College will be offering this summer and next fall on our DL system. Peters noted that although sites are listed on the courses, they can be changed depending on registrations. He reminded them of the CSC minimum student requirements for graduate courses (2 per site, 6 total). Please post the courses in teacher lounges.
Teacher Compensation - At the urging of some of the newer members of the consortium, Peters raised the issue of teachers getting extra compensation for teaching over the DL system. There is not a lot of consensus statewide in the other DL consortiums. Some consortiums have each sending site determine if and what they will charge for a DL course. There are now three consortiums that have established a consortium fixed amount per receiving site. There was quite a bit of discussion on both sides of the issue. Some schools would like to continue as is where it is supposed to equal itself out...everybody offering and receiving classes. Some of the newer schools argued that it is difficult to entice teachers to teach over DL and increase their work load. There was a motion by Crawford and seconded by Sioux County to offer DL teachers a stipend of $300 a semester, this would be assessed equally against all consortium members at the end of the school year. The vote was 6-yes, 13-no; motion failed. There was a motion by Morrill, seconded by Kimball to offer DL teachers a stipend of $300 a semester, this would be divided equally among the individual schools taking each particular DL class. This would not apply to classes where districts are sharing a teacher's salary. The vote was 13-yes, 6-no; motion passed. This policy will begin for the 2004-2005 school year.
Membership Annual Assessment -Peters said that for the first time, with the merger of Chappell and Lodgepole this summer, our DL system will have one school district with two DL classrooms. The question was how to handle annual assessments. Should there be one assessment per district or one assessment per DL classroom? Discussion centered around the difference between coordination of the system and maintenance of the system. Hemingford made a motion and was seconded by Rushville to mandate one assessment per school district for coordination of WNDLC, and if a maintenance assessment is needed it would be assessed against every DL classroom. The vote was 17-yes, 1-no; motion passed.
Upgrade Assessment - The WNDLC contract with Qwest is scheduled to expire in the 2008-2009 school year. At this time we will probably be required to upgrade to new technology. A statewide plan is being developed to make sure that everyone upgrades to the same system in order to be compatible with each other. The direction that everyone is moving is towards an IP (Internet Protocol) based video system. With this upgrade we would be able to connect to anyone else with an IP based system in the state and for the most part in the nation. IP based systems have been available for some time but the quality was very poor. Improvements over the past year have made this a viable option. Peters noted that we as a consortium need to start planning now for this upgrade. Funding is being looked at on a statewide basis to fund the core of this upgrade which will run from $25,000 to $40,000 per site. Even if funding sources are secured it is estimated that each consortium will be required to come up with some level of matching funds. Our consortium currently has at its disposal around $34,000 in funds generated from one-time membership fees. At this time this money is being used for equipment maintenance. We also still have approximately $60,000 left in an account from money that Nebraska Educational Telecommunications gave our consortium as a grant five years ago. It is necessary to start building up a fund to help cover future upgrades. The original proposal was to ask for a extra $1,000 annually to help fund this account but it was noted that our bylaws do not allow for assessments beyond $4,000 annually per member. Rushville made a motion and seconded by Kimball to assess the maximum amount of $4,000 each WNDLC member for the 2004-2005 school year. Any excess funds beyond the coordination of the system will be placed in an upgrade fund. The vote was 18-yes, 0-no; motion passed.
2004-2005 WNDLC Budget- Moved by Morrill, seconded by Crawford to approve the WNDLC 2004-2005 budget as proposed ($77,510 total), to be divided equally among the 23 members. The vote was 18-yes, 0-no; motion passed.
Executive Council - Moved by Hemingford, seconded by Banner County to approve a new WNDLC Executive Council of Kent Halley of Mitchell-President, Don Hague of Gering-Vice President, Larry Ross of Alliance-Central Representative, Paul Calvert of Chappell-South Representative, Merrell Nelsen of Crawford-North Representative, Terry Miller of ESU #13-ESU Representative. The vote was 18-yes, 0-no; motion passed.
From the Group - none
Meeting adjourned at 12:30 p.m.