June Meeting

Massachusetts School Library Association
Executive Board meeting
June 13, 2018 4:00--5:00 PM
Westborough High School
(V) = Virtual attendance


View full meeting minutes here

Attending:
Alison Barker, Old Rochester Regional High School, Co-Director Southeast Region
Rachel Barrett, Foxborough High School, Co-Director Southeast Region
Lani Blechman, Fort River Elementary, Amherst, Co-Director West Region
Rachel Bouhanda, Billerica High School (V)
Anita Cellucci, Westborough High School, outgoing President
Karen Davidson-Heller, Malden Catholic High School, Boston Area Co-Director
Jennifer Dimmick, Newton South High School, Secretary
Patsy Divver, Millis Middle/High School, Co-Director Metrowest Region
Maria D’Orsi, Medford High School, Co-Director Metrowest Region
Sarah Forfa, South Hadley High School, Co-Director West Region (V)
Alida Hanson, Weston High School
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)
Theresa Neary, Henry Warren School, Ashland
Ann Perham, Awards (V)
Amy Short, Director for Library Media for Cambridge Public Schools, Awards Co-Chair (V)
Katherine Steiger, Newton South High School, Co-editor Forum Newsletter (V)
Carrie Tucker, East Bridgewater Junior Senior High School, President
Jen Varney, Dr. Martin Luther King Junior Elementary School, Cambridge, Treasurer
Claudia Palframan, Dupont Middle School, Chicopee, Co-Director West Region (V)
Welcome, call to order, and approve reports and minutes of May meeting  - Carrie Tucker
Minutes of the May meeting were approved.
Carrie Tucker welcomed new board members and thanked departing board members
Annual meeting
Each group and committee submitted a report - some highlights below:

• School library study report - very important work concluding that access to school libraries is not equitable in MA. The real work of addressing this will now begin.
  
• Awards committee report - Awards are an important means for advocating for school libraries and highlighting good programs and practices. We work with area directors and administrators to get nominations and try to keep it equitable, but we do not force awards by region.
  
• Reports for each region are included, highlighting events they hosted and communication and outreach from their regions, award winners and presentations made by regional members. Patsy Divver suggested more collaborative regional events next year.
  
• Forum report - A rich variety of articles are available there. Patsy reminds people that articles are a great way to gain recognition with your administrators during evaluations. Some articles were shared widely this year (e.g., town with no library) getting thousands of hits facilitated by Facebook sharing.
  
• Financial Long-Term Planning Sub-Committee Report - surveyed other state associations about financial policies and procedures. Reviewed results and made recommendations to the board which were accepted. Polled membership on subject of dues increase which were accepted. We will also maintain 10% of the budget in reserves and make a few travel policy changes.
  
• Annual conference - was in a new venue this year which worked reasonably well, but because of the expense we will not be going back. 367 attendees, 41 exhibitors and 150+ at dinner which is good.
  
• AASL released new national standards for school libraries. Each state organization has to roll this out to their members. This is really a challenge because they are long and complex, having taken 3 years to build. It is also incumbent on individual librarians to understand the standards and reflect on how well their practice adheres to the standards.
  
• Bookmark contest - we have periodically proposed to eliminate the program, but many libraries rely on it so we maintain it. This year it was hosted at Jeff Kinney’s bookstore, An Unlikely Story, and the event was highly successful.
  
• We lost a very committed member of MSLA this year, Char Sidell, and her passing is recognized in the annual report.
  

Central area directors for 2018-2019: Mike Caligiuri and Pam Vallee were approved
AASL concerns and commendations    -- Anita Cellucci
Our region’s move to commend the school library study commission will move forward.
AASL is currently working on 3 crosswalk documents to the new standards which will be released soon (one is with ISTE).
Massachusetts School Library Study and Advocacy Consultant   -- Carrie Tucker
May 30 meeting report - there will be a save the date for Saturday, September 8 for focus group for any and all interested parties (including those who responded to the interest survey, interested board members and others) to generate priorities with action plan and timetable for the coming year.
Job description for Advocacy Consultant was approved.
FY19 budget was accepted.
Professional learning update  -- Laura Luker

• Annual conference date and location - March 31-April 1, Sheraton Framingham.
  
• Media Literacy event with MassCUE/WGBH - Sept. 13, 4:30-7:30 at EDCO in Bedford  
  

News:
Amy Short K-5 3-month maternity leave position at Morse School in Cambridge, Sept - Nov
Westfield has an exciting position open, see Schoolspring - and join us in Western Mass - the other Massachusetts.
Tressa Santillo did a pilot program IDEAL with database, website and other technology training with several schools. Some are getting PDPs for it. Pausing it for the moment, but may be a possibility for future area programs.
Commonwealth Ebook Collection - lots going on with that.
Claudia Palframan worked with the ELA department to improve their summer reading list - it's updated, less girl centric, and included nonfiction and graphic novels. She also has funding for the MCBA - something she has been longing to do with her incoming 6th graders.
Rachel Bouhanda: Searching for presenters at Northeast Professional Educators Network annual conference for Librarians and Technology teachers on Election Day this year in Billerica https://goo.gl/forms/L9nQBBzCf26l92T93
The Board expressed best wishes for Judi Paradis’ ongoing recovery from a recent cancer diagnosis.
Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Dimmick