Massachusetts School Library Association
Executive Board meeting
February 28, 2017 4:00--5:00 PM
Westborough High School
View full meeting minutes here.
Attending (V=Virtual):
Alison Barker, Old Rochester Regional High School, Co-Director Southeast Region
Amy Bloom, Wilson Middle School, Natick, Co-Director, Metrowest Region
Rachel Bouhanda, Billerica High School, Legislation
Robin Cicchetti, Concord-Carlisle High School, Research Liaison
Anita Cellucci, Westborough High School, outgoing President
Jennifer Dimmick, Newton South High School, Secretary
Deeth Ellis, Boston Latin School, Co-Director Boston Region
Sarah Forfa, South Hadley High School, Co-Director West Region (V)
Laura Harrington, North Andover High School, Co-Director Northeast Region (V)
Kathy Lowe, Executive Director
Laura Luker, Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter, Hadley, Professional Learning (V)
Judi Paradis, Plympton Elementary School, Waltham, School Library Commission
Ann Perham, Awards Co-Chair
Claudia Palframan, Dupont MS, Chicopee, Co-Director West Region (V)
Paige Rowse, Needham High School, Awards Co-Chair
Amy Short, Director for Library Media for Cambridge Public Schools, Awards Co-Chair
Reba Tierney, Waltham High School, Forum Newsletter Co-Editor
Carrie Tucker, East Bridgewater Junior Senior High School, President
Jen Varney, Dr. Martin Luther King Junior Elementary School, Cambridge, Treasurer (V)
Welcome, call to order, and approve reports and minutes of January meeting - Carrie Tucker
Carrie opened the meeting with a moment of silence to mourn the passing of Char Sidell on February 24. Carrie shared a remembrance of Char and her many contributions to MSLA, to the school library profession, and to her students over many years. The full remembrance can be found in this post on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mslamembers/permalink/1636240579762664/
A memorial service for Char will be held on March 18 at 2:00 PM at the Holliston Congregational Church.
Reports and minutes from January were voted on and accepted.
MSLA conference planning update - Laura Luker and Kathy Lowe
There will be a final walk through on Monday with Melissa Lynch. Registrations are on par with last year (340 vs 354 last year). There are some last minute changes to programming, but all is working out well. The team is assessing viability of the maker space display idea because of limited number of vendors who have signed up for it thus far, although Eduporium has made some recent, encouraging inquiries.
MSLA website plea: if you have a professional learning event, please email it to Laura and she can easily and quickly update the MSLA site to include it.
Long-range budget plan update - Jen Varney, Carrie Tucker & Jen Dimmick
The genesis of this initiative stems from the fact that the MSLA has been running at a budget deficit in recent years and we wish to learn about best practices from other state school library associations before determining the best combination of trimming expenses, raising revenues and preservation of capital to pursue moving forward. To that end, the committee drafted a financial survey and sent it out to library association leadership in all 50 states via a combination of email and AASL listserv postings. We received 17 responses. The committee is analyzing response and will return to the board with concrete recommendations in the coming weeks.
2018 Massachusetts Library Legislative Day, March 6, 2018 - Kathy Lowe
Only one school library submitted a proposal for the library showcase this year: Kate Powers from Quinn Elementary School. Judi Paradis and Robin Cicchetti will do a presentation for legislators on the results of the Massachusetts School Library Study at 1pm.
Massachusetts School Library Study: Equity and Access for Students - Judi Paradis and Robin Cicchetti
Judi and Robin presented the hot-off the presses results of Library Legislative Commission, which they will be presenting to the legislature on Library Legislative Day. The report, entitled The Massachusetts School Library Study: Equity and Access for Students in the Commonwealth, can be found on the MBLC website:
https://mblc.state.ma.us/programs-and-support/youth-services/school-libraries-study.php
MSLA worked very hard over many years to get the Mass legislature to pass a bill in support of school libraries. In 2014 a bill was passed forming a commission to conduct a study of the status of mass school libraries, gather data, report findings, and make recommendations supported by data. This commission will make public the finished report at the state house Tuesday, March 6. The report’s primary researchers are Dr. Robin Cicchetti and Dr. Carol Gordon.
In order for this to not gather dust, it falls largely to MSLA to promote awareness among key groups. This is a very big deal for Mass school libraries. It’s also one of only a handful of meaningful school library research studies in US. MSLA must support this study and make every effort to launch this well.
Judi and Robin requested that the board form an ad hoc committee devoted to advocacy for this work. We agreed to recruit members for this committee at the conference during their presentation.
Next steps are to follow up directly with DESE and ask the legislature to consider putting forth legislation to act on these recommendations.
We need more advocacy materials to publicize these results. We discussed asking the MBLC to help in design of things like infographics, website, etc, perhaps leveraging their PR talent.
Kathy Lowe suggested the PTA as another place to reach out to for advocacy.
This project has been a huge focus for MSLA for many many years. This brilliant, important work that has been a decade in the making!
The meeting adjourned at 6:10 PM.
Upcoming meetings:
Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Dimmick
Executive Board meeting
February 28, 2017 4:00--5:00 PM
Westborough High School
View full meeting minutes here.
Attending (V=Virtual):
Alison Barker, Old Rochester Regional High School, Co-Director Southeast Region
Amy Bloom, Wilson Middle School, Natick, Co-Director, Metrowest Region
Rachel Bouhanda, Billerica High School, Legislation
Robin Cicchetti, Concord-Carlisle High School, Research Liaison
Anita Cellucci, Westborough High School, outgoing President
Jennifer Dimmick, Newton South High School, Secretary
Deeth Ellis, Boston Latin School, Co-Director Boston Region
Sarah Forfa, South Hadley High School, Co-Director West Region (V)
Laura Harrington, North Andover High School, Co-Director Northeast Region (V)
Kathy Lowe, Executive Director
Laura Luker, Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter, Hadley, Professional Learning (V)
Judi Paradis, Plympton Elementary School, Waltham, School Library Commission
Ann Perham, Awards Co-Chair
Claudia Palframan, Dupont MS, Chicopee, Co-Director West Region (V)
Paige Rowse, Needham High School, Awards Co-Chair
Amy Short, Director for Library Media for Cambridge Public Schools, Awards Co-Chair
Reba Tierney, Waltham High School, Forum Newsletter Co-Editor
Carrie Tucker, East Bridgewater Junior Senior High School, President
Jen Varney, Dr. Martin Luther King Junior Elementary School, Cambridge, Treasurer (V)
Welcome, call to order, and approve reports and minutes of January meeting - Carrie Tucker
Carrie opened the meeting with a moment of silence to mourn the passing of Char Sidell on February 24. Carrie shared a remembrance of Char and her many contributions to MSLA, to the school library profession, and to her students over many years. The full remembrance can be found in this post on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mslamembers/permalink/1636240579762664/
A memorial service for Char will be held on March 18 at 2:00 PM at the Holliston Congregational Church.
Reports and minutes from January were voted on and accepted.
MSLA conference planning update - Laura Luker and Kathy Lowe
There will be a final walk through on Monday with Melissa Lynch. Registrations are on par with last year (340 vs 354 last year). There are some last minute changes to programming, but all is working out well. The team is assessing viability of the maker space display idea because of limited number of vendors who have signed up for it thus far, although Eduporium has made some recent, encouraging inquiries.
MSLA website plea: if you have a professional learning event, please email it to Laura and she can easily and quickly update the MSLA site to include it.
Long-range budget plan update - Jen Varney, Carrie Tucker & Jen Dimmick
The genesis of this initiative stems from the fact that the MSLA has been running at a budget deficit in recent years and we wish to learn about best practices from other state school library associations before determining the best combination of trimming expenses, raising revenues and preservation of capital to pursue moving forward. To that end, the committee drafted a financial survey and sent it out to library association leadership in all 50 states via a combination of email and AASL listserv postings. We received 17 responses. The committee is analyzing response and will return to the board with concrete recommendations in the coming weeks.
2018 Massachusetts Library Legislative Day, March 6, 2018 - Kathy Lowe
Only one school library submitted a proposal for the library showcase this year: Kate Powers from Quinn Elementary School. Judi Paradis and Robin Cicchetti will do a presentation for legislators on the results of the Massachusetts School Library Study at 1pm.
Massachusetts School Library Study: Equity and Access for Students - Judi Paradis and Robin Cicchetti
Judi and Robin presented the hot-off the presses results of Library Legislative Commission, which they will be presenting to the legislature on Library Legislative Day. The report, entitled The Massachusetts School Library Study: Equity and Access for Students in the Commonwealth, can be found on the MBLC website:
https://mblc.state.ma.us/programs-and-support/youth-services/school-libraries-study.php
MSLA worked very hard over many years to get the Mass legislature to pass a bill in support of school libraries. In 2014 a bill was passed forming a commission to conduct a study of the status of mass school libraries, gather data, report findings, and make recommendations supported by data. This commission will make public the finished report at the state house Tuesday, March 6. The report’s primary researchers are Dr. Robin Cicchetti and Dr. Carol Gordon.
In order for this to not gather dust, it falls largely to MSLA to promote awareness among key groups. This is a very big deal for Mass school libraries. It’s also one of only a handful of meaningful school library research studies in US. MSLA must support this study and make every effort to launch this well.
Judi and Robin requested that the board form an ad hoc committee devoted to advocacy for this work. We agreed to recruit members for this committee at the conference during their presentation.
Next steps are to follow up directly with DESE and ask the legislature to consider putting forth legislation to act on these recommendations.
We need more advocacy materials to publicize these results. We discussed asking the MBLC to help in design of things like infographics, website, etc, perhaps leveraging their PR talent.
Kathy Lowe suggested the PTA as another place to reach out to for advocacy.
This project has been a huge focus for MSLA for many many years. This brilliant, important work that has been a decade in the making!
The meeting adjourned at 6:10 PM.
Upcoming meetings:
- Wednesday, March 21, 2018 4:00--6:00 Virtual
- Wednesday, April 11, 2018 4:00--6:00, Westborough High School
Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Dimmick
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