Present: Terry Miller - ESU #13, Dale Eberhart - Chadron, Gary Fisher - Crawford, Kent Halley - Mitchell, Jim Calder - Bridgeport, B.J. Peters - WNDLC
The public notice of the WNDLC Executive Board meeting was posted on the WNDLC web site, dl.esu13.org, on September 22, 1999.
Coordinator B.J. Peters reported that seven of the eight Phase One sites are up and running. The entire system went right down to the wire with US West technicians helping Sprint on the final weekend to bring Bridgeport, Gering, Scottsbluff, Mitchell, Morrill, and WNCC online. The Chadron State classroom was installed the week prior to Labor Day and was used for a WNDLC Principal's meeting on Sept. 23, 1999.
For the most part all of the rooms installed by Cytek have been working fine. The interface with the system at WNCC and Scottsbluff High School has not gone as smoothly and continues to bring some audio problems. WNCC is working on some solutions.
Kent Halley, the WNDLC Principal's rep reported on the principal's meeting the prior week. All schools reported a positive start to the distance learning system except Scottsbluff (because of their audio problems). All Phase One schools are using the system for at least one class except Gering. Gering plans to start using their room starting Oct. 4 when their faculty will start teaching and ACT Prep course. The principal's will meet again on November 4, 1999 from 9 to 11 a.m. The meeting will be used to lock down courses for the Spring Semester, as well as start discussion on course offerings for Fall 2000 with the Phase Two Schools.
The executive board discussed the need for foreign language instruction on the system when the Phase Two schools join next year. There is a challenge to add extra sections of a foreign language when student numbers are already very high in most of the schools. A suggestion of possibly having the ESU hire a foreign language teacher and being reimbursed was brought up. Terry Miller thought the idea has some merit and will be explored.
Teacher stipends were discussed. Scottsbluff is the only high school teaching on the DL system this fall and does not offer their teacher any extra compensation or planning time. General consensus is still that the issue is an individual school district decision.
All Phase One schools have been approved for E-Rate discounts on the distance learning line charges. Since the lottery grant already paid the upfront charges from the US West, most schools should have most, if not all monthly charges wiped out by the discounts. The application period for Year three of the E-Rate program is expected to begin sometime in November.
Most of the offerings this first semester have come from Western Nebraska Community College. We had two offerings from Chadron State College but did not have any students register. The principals indicated that cost was the major factor. WNCC is offering courses at $45.50 per credit hour (tuition & fees). Chadron State has a tuition rate of $62.50, but when you add in their DL fee of $20 an hour plus their other fees the charges come out to over $100 a credit hour. CSC did offer a $75 scholarship to all high school students but the offer came too late in the game to generate any signups. If we can get our own high school teachers qualified as CSC adjunct faculty we won't have to charge the DL fee. More effort is being done in that area.
B.J. indicated that he has had conversations with US West and Great Plains Telephone Companies about the Phase Two schools. It still looks like the phone companies plan on completing installation of the fiber to schools in the month of the July 2000. B.J. said that the schools need to have their classrooms ready by July 1, 2000. He has already visited some of the Phase Two schools and plans on getting to the rest in the next month. He will be sure to provide a check list for each school to follow to make sure that everything is taken care of.
The meeting was adjourned at 10 a.m.
