It is with mixed feelings that I write my last report as your president. You have been a fabulous group of professionals and I enjoyed getting to know you from this perspective. I am proud to have been able to serve you in this capacity and to have the opportunity to visit so many of you on your home turf. I am ready to step aside and work along side our President-Elect, Maureen Rippee.

This spring found me in Tulare County where I presented a workshop in the TUCATE teachers’ afternoon institute and then visited Lindsay High School and Mt. Whitney High School. The Greater San Diego Council invited me to present at their Arrowhead Conference in March. Both venues gave me an opportunity to give and to take. Each time I visit with you I have confirmed that talented teachers grace the classrooms of California schools.

Though unable to attend the memorial service, I did send greetings and flowers to Chiyo Masuda’s family expressing our condolences following her death. We shall miss her greatly. Now that she is gone, we also have the important task of selecting her successor. Be thinking of the person you’d like to nominate for this position.

We have several other positions to fill. Bill Younglove is stepping down as co-ordinator for the NCTE Writing Achievement contest. Jim Kliegl is relinquishing the chair of the Resolutions Committee. When Lorraine Tracey resigned, Peggy Clifford completed that three year term as CATE representative to CYRM. Since she served only two years in the capacity, Peggy has offered to keep the position one more year to give our junior reps another year to gain experience to take over when it’s CATE turn to serve as President of that collaborative organization.

Of course, we also must make serious and deep cuts to our budget in order to sustain our service to the membership in a responsible way. We seeking an across the board cut of at least 10% in every category, and also seeking to reduce expenditures in several others. See suggestions on page 2. Come with your sterilized bandages. With surgical deftness, we can perform liposuction on the budget without harming the muscle of the programs vital to the health of our profession.

Let’s turn over to Maureen and her newly elected board members, a budget sufficient for to continue to fine work CATE does, but also one that will be able to sustain the organization through the next few years.