BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING.
May 6, 2006
Embassy Suites, South San Francisco

The meeting was called to order at 9:05 A.M. by President Maureen Rippee. Other members in attendance included Member at Large Kathy Allen, Member at Large Michelle Berry, GSDCTE Representative Phil Bowles, California Department of Education Liaison Ellen Jensen, Member at Large Bob Chapman, Capitol Representative Angus Dunstan, Treasurer Anne Fristrom, Past President and Convention Consultant Punky Fristrom, Convention Coordinator Teisha Hase, Secretary Carleen Hemric, Southland Representative Lisa Hernandez, CATE 2008 Chair Nancy Himel, Kern Representative Greg Johnson, CALIFORNIA ENGLISH Editor Carol Jago, Member at Large Jaimi Kreilaart, Member at Large Liz McAninch, Member at Large and CATE 2006 Chair JoAnne Mitchell, Vice President Akiko Morimoto, FACET Representative Jeannie Oppliger, CATE 2007 Chair Pauline Sahakian, TUCATE Representative Carol Surabian, Membership Chair Joan Williams, and Four C’s Liaison Bill Younglove. Absent: Member at Large Charlene Delfino. Upper Representative Bonnie Enmark, Resolutions Chair Tish Griggs, CWP Liaison Jayne Marlink, CTA Representative Debra Martinez, and Member at Large Lee Prewitt.

Oppliger moved and Chapman seconded the approval of the February 2, 2005 minutes. MOTION PASSED.

Karpowicz moved and Berry seconded the adoption of the agenda. MOTION PASSED.

REPORTS OF OFFICERS

PRESIDENT - Rippee commended JoAnne Mitchell and all involved with CATE 2006 and reported that she had continuously received positive feedback from attendees, award winners, presenters, publishers, and others concerning quality staff development, programs, and opportunities for all who participate in CATE.

In March Rippee attended the Southland Victorian Tea for Achievement in Writing Award winners, a meeting with legislators in Washington, D.C. in April at the invitation of NWP Director Mary Ann Smith and sponsored by UCIWP director Carol Booth Olson, a meeting with Northern legislators and legislative analysts for Senator Feinstein and Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, and the Napa Conference in late April.

Many goals were achieved in 2005-2006: successful conventions in 2005 and 2006, decisions aligned with budget constraints, increased membership, a revised and published President’s Handbook, an extended archival system on CATEweb which received an NCTE award in 2004, continued thoughtful and meaningful conversations in CALIFORNIA ENGLISH (also the recipient of an NCTE Award in 2004) and on CATENet, a Meet and Greet the President session at the convention, creation of a power point presentation about CATE, a council representative from Kern, strengthened articulation with CWP, NWP, and CTA, on-line posting of annual report and on-line voting, issues and resolutions communicated to Sacramento and Washington, reinstatement of the New Teacher Reception, creation of attendee letters with links to information and letters to administsrators, and quality professional development offered across the state.
English On Line has requested to advertise a $25.00 discount for CATE members.

Mitchell moved and Hase seconded the appointment of Anne Fristrom as treasurer. MOTION PASSED.

P.Fristrom moved and Mitchell seconded the appointment of Eddie Hase as Convention Registrar. MOTION PASSED.

Dunstan moved and Morimoto seconded the approval of the resignation of Phil Bowles as GSDCTE representative. MOTION PASSED.

P. Fristrom moved and Morimoto seconded the approval of Carrie Danielson as GSDCTE representative. MOTION PASSED.

Oppliger moved and Bowles seconded the approval of the appointment of Bill Younglove as CCCC Representative. MOTION PASSED.

VICE PRESIDENT - Morimoto reported that the Advisory Report had been emailed to all Board members. The September 9-10 Board of Directors meeting will be held at the Hyatt Regency in Garden Grove, and the February meeting will be in Fresno February 8. The December 9-10 meeting will be in the North and the May 5-6 meeting will be in the South. McAninch moved and Dunstan seconded to accept the proposed meeting dates. MOTION PASSED.
P. Fristrom moved and Dunstan seconded the approval of the contract Hase presented from the Hyatt Regency, Garden Grove for the September Board meeting. MOTION PASSED.


PAST PRESIDENT -P. Fristrom moved and Berry seconded confirming that the 2006 CATE candidates elected are President: Michelle Berry; Vice President: Charleen Silva-Delfino; Member at Large Secondary - Susan Dillon; Member at Large Small Council - Bob Chapman; Member at Large Unspecified - Richard Hockensmith and Council Representatives Angus Dunstan (Capitol), Elizabeth McAninch (Central), Jeanne Oppliger (Fresno), Greg Johnson (Kern), Joan Williams (Redwood), Phil Bowles (San Diego), Lisa Hernandez (Southland), Carol Surabian (TUCATE), and Bonnie Enmark (Upper). MOTION PASSED.

Morimoto moved and Oppliger seconded that President Michelle Berry, Vice President Charlene Delfino, and Treasurer Anne Fristrom be the authorized signatures on all CATE accounts. MOTION PASSED.

Bonnie Enmark is looking for a replacement for her position as Upper Representative.

The NCTE Annual Convention will take place November 16-21, 2006, in Nashville, TN. The following NCTE Awards will be given in 2006: NCTE/SLATE Intellectual Freedom National Award, NCTE/SLATE Intellectual Freedom State Award, Secondary Section High School Teacher of Excellence Award, NCTE Affiliate Excellence Award, NCTE Teachers for the Dream Affiliate Award, Affiliate Multicultural Program Award, Affiliate Web Site Award, Affiliate Journal Award, NCTE Leadership Development Award.

The Board expressed its gratitude for their commitment and best wishes to members leaving the board including Phil Bowles, Carleen Hemric, Jaimi Kreilart, JoAnne Mitchell, and Akiko Morimoto.
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SECRETARY -Hemric reminded Board members to submit directory updates to her and to Jordan for inclusion in the secured area of CATEweb and give business card requests to her. Rippee reminded all committee chairs that their reports to the secretary should be clear and legible.

TREASURER - A. Fristrom reported a Checking Account balance of $68 484.42, a Memorial CD balance of $10,200.70, a Marilyn Kahl Memorial CD balance of $5,506.25, a Marilyn Kahl #2 CD balance of $10,480.75, a Vanguard GNMA Portfolio of $134,007.16, and a Vanguard Index Trust of $31,341,39. A profit of over $90,000 was realized at CATE 2006.

MEMBERSHIP CHAIR - Williams reported that current membership totals are Capitol - 137, Central - 499, Fresno - 70, Kern - 32, Redwood - 37, San Diego - 192, Southland - 900, TUCATE - 32, Upper - 39, Libraries - 24, Out of State - 27, and Comps 4 for a total of 1996. Membership increased from 1931 in 1/06 to 1996 in 5/06. Membership has increased 5%, a gain of 103 members this year. Since September, 2004, we have gained 586 members. Membership brochures with the 2007 convention information are available.

CONVENTION COORDINATOR - Hase expressed congratulations to JoAnne Mitchell and her committee for a successful convention. The Exhibits Managers, Jeff and Shauney Wilson, did a tremendous job selling all available booth space and manning the exhibit hall. They have already submitted ideas for CATE 2007. Jeff has worked with Jago with ideas to increase advertising sales in CALIFORNIA ENGLISH.

Registrar Eddie Hase did an exceptional job. The last CATE 2005 PO has been collected. The final registration count was 1,047.
A CATE 2008 meeting was held last evening.

CONVENTION CHAIR 2006 - Mitchell thanked all involved for making CATE 2006 an E-ticket adventure and shared comments and information requested on the evaluation form. One hundred twenty three people turned in evaluations.

CATEWeb - Jordan noted online that problems with Topica, CATE’s listserv have continued. Jordan is considering setting up our own system and will let the Board know if this is a desirable option.

CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
- Jensen reported that she is the administrator of SB472 (Alquist) which will focus on standards and framework and AB 466 which will include attendance at conventions as well as possibly work with subject matter projects as part of the 80 hours of followup training. The focus will be on teacher need.
The P-16 Council was convened a year ago and came up with recommendations addressing the problem of ninth graders entering high school unprepared to master essential content and skills: providing mandatory research-based state-funded bridge programs for exiting eighth graders below or far below basic on the CST in Language Arts and/or mathematics, structuring grade nine as a “transition year program” designed to promote personalization and the ability for teachers to know students well and a dedicated ninth grade counselor for each 250 of these students who is responsible for developing and monitoing interventions for these students, ensuring an opportunity for these students to enroll in small classes in the four core academic areas, and providing state funding to develop effective remedial programs for high school students not yet proficient in English/Language Arts or Algebra.

To increase relevance of all course offerings the council recommended creating linkages between academic coursework and career, community and engaged citizenship by expanding the number of California Partnership Academies (CPA) whose components would include integration of standards-based academic and career-focused curricula, common planning periods for teachers, students matched to mentors in eleventh grade, internship programs and job placement for seniors, involvement by business partners, and establishment of a statewide network to connect mathematics curriculum to the workplace requirements.

Recommendations for increasing the rigor of high school curricula included consistent courses grounded in the California Standards across the state, rigor in all high school courses, not just academic classes, many challenging pathways so that students may immediately pursue college or the workforce, preparing with multiple options, motivating, engaging, and supporting districts, schools, and teachers in providing challenging courses to prepare students for higher education and work.

The independent evaluator for CAHSEE, the Human Resources Research Organization, has estimated that as of January, 2006, 89% of students in the class of 2006 have passed both portions of the CAHSEE. This estimate does not include students with disabilities who were provided a one-year exemption by SB 517.

High School: A Best Practices Periodical is a periodical for educators which highlights issues, research, and resources pertinent to high school grades, focuses on best practices and strategies, and showcases schools that are working toward a goal of high performance.

The Secondary Literacy Summit VI was held March 28-29.

The Intersegmental Reading Faculty Forum was held in Sacramento April 21.
Forty-seven per cent of English learners taking the CELDT test have scored at early advanced or advanced levels. CDE supports the recommendations of the five-year evaluation of Proposition 227 including focusing monitoring efforts to ensure that language status does not impede full, comprehensible access to core curriculum, limiting prolonged separation of English Learners from English-speaking students, specifying clear performance standards for key statewide measures of performance levels for the CELDT and CST, providing professional development for teachers, allocating resources to ensure success.

The goal for the 2008 Reading/Language Arts adoption is to ensure that the instructional materials for the next adoption can help to close the academic achievement gap.

SBE has approved a revision to the Reading/Language Arts Framework. The draft was approved with minor revisions. Print versions will be available in the fall.

The White Paper on Developing Highly Qualified Teachers and Administrators presented by Superintendent O’Connell in February was developed by the CDE to support the needs of teachers and administrators.

This is the first year for the School and Library Improvement Block Grant program which is directed from the district level and also by individual site councils. The California School Library Association is sponsoring AB 2065 (Liu) which authorizes the California State Board of Education to adopt school library content standards and AB 2540 (Hancock) which allocates funds for subscriptions to a core collection of safe high quality online magazines and databases.

Results That Matter: 21st Century Skills and High School Reform focuses on teaching students to be critical thinkers, problem solvers, and effective communicators, proficient in core subjects as well as new, 21st century content and skills.

School Libraries Work - brings together findings from a decade of research studies that cite the measurable impact school libraries and library media specialists have on student achievement.

The Canadian study that links school libraries and student achievement reports that data from more than 50,000 students and over 800 of Ontario’s publicly funded elementary schools indicates that Grade 3 and 6 students in schools with teacher-librarians are more likely to report that they enjoy reading, students with trained library staff are more likely to have higher reading test scores, and schools without trained library staff tend to have lower achievement on the grade 3 and 6 reading tests.

REPORTS OF LIAISONS

LEGISLATIVE ANALYST - Oppliger reported that we should check Zaragoza-Diaz’s report on line and highlighted the following: English Language Arts Framework & Evaluation Criteria: At its March 2006 meeting, at the request of President Glee Johnson, the State Board postponed action on the Draft K-12 Reading/Language Arts Framework & Evaluation Criteria to allow for ongoing discussions and negotiations regarding how to make the core basic program components and the supplemental instructional components contained in Programs 1 and 2 as called for in the evaluation criteria, more meaningful and integrated for use by teachers and students with little or no English skills (Beginning to Intermediate levels of English proficiency).

Legislators and education groups (such as the Californians Together Coalition, ACSA & CSBA) as well as CDE and State Board leadership were involved in several intense negotiations. A special Board meeting was called for and held on April 17, 2006 to take action on the proposed frameworks and evaluation criteria. Unfortunately, the State Board voted to approve the framework & evaluation criteria with minor revisions; 6-4. The Chairperson of the Commission and several members of the board contended that the proposed framework & evaluation criteria already addressed the literacy needs of English language learners. The approved framework & evaluation criteria are available on the State Board’s April meeting agenda (www.cde.ca.gov/ci/rl/cf) as well as the other information provided to the members.

Appointees to the State Board Confirmed On April 27, 2006, the Senate confirmed the appointments of Ken Noonan, Superintendent of Oceanside, Secretary of Education Alan Bersin and Yvonne Chan, Principal of Vaughn Learning Center/Charter School. As a result of Bonnie Reiss’ departure, there is one vacancy on the Board.

State Board of Education-Highlights of March 2006 Meeting The Board had a long and contentious meeting in March. Below are the significant Board actions. Please note these are not all of the actions taken at that time. You can refer to the minutes of the March 2006 for a full report on the Boards website, www.cde.ca.gov/be/ag/ag.

CAHSEE Examination of Alternatives: Education Code section 60856 requires an examination of alternatives after the “initial administrations” of the CASHSEE. The Board heard a presentation from CDE staff in which gathered information and evidence regarding best practices for exit exam were provided as well as a review of other states’ policies regarding their exit exams, including alternative assessments and other options. In spite of a tremendous amount of testimony from organizations and individuals requesting the Board to adopt an alternative, the State Superintendent recommended not to do so because “no criteria meet the specifications set forth in Education Code section 60856”. Because there is no other criteria that are appropriate and do not undermine the Legislature’s intent that all high school graduates demonstrate satisfactory academic proficiency as set by forth by Education Code section 60856, the Board will NOT recommend to the Legislature that they enact any alternatives to the CAHSEE for high school students regarded as highly proficient but unable to pass the high school exit exam. The motion was approved by a vote 9-0.

Emergency Title 5 Regulations: The Board approved (9-0) to adopt the proposed emergency Title 5 regulations to add an additional administration of the CAHSEE for adult students and to implement immediate school district reporting requirements specific to students with disabilities pursuant to legislation and the Chapman Settlement. As a result, the regulations: 1) add a third opportunity for adult students to take the CAHSEE, 2) provide for a one year exemption of the CAHSEE for students with disabilities who meet specific requirements and 3) require the submission of specified data by LEA’s.
STAR Final Contract and Scope of Work: As you are aware, ETS is the designated STAR contract for the next 3 years. The final contract and scope of work was discussed and approved at this meeting. Modifications to the contract and scope of work include, but are not limited to the following: 1) inclusion of a research study on developing longitudinal assessment data, 2) greater assistance to schools and districts to analyze grade-level and course results, and 3) a new role for the 11 county office regions to assist with information distribution to LEA’s, and 4) shorten the test results turnaround time. A specific proposal to shorten the testing window will be presented at the May 2006 meeting. CDE proposes to reduce the testing window to two weeks (90% instructional time). The Board approved with a vote of 9-0.

Update on the CELDT: CDE staff provided an update on the CELDT. Performance of English learners on the CELDT was similar to that as last year. CDE staff proposed new performance levels for the CELDT. Several of the Board members as well as organizations, expressed concern that while the performance level changes are “technical,” they have significant implications at the local level. CDE staff assured the Board that assistance would be provided to LEA’s with training and communication. Per the CDE, the updated cut-points of the performance levels are required in order to respond to the NCLB requirement regarding the reporting of additional scores and required to provide Title III accountability. They project that the training materials on the cut points will be available to school districts in May 2006.

New Commissioners to the Advisory Commission on Charter Schools: The Board approved the recommendation of the Screening Committee of the Board and appointed the following members for new terms to the Advisory commission on Charter Schoos:
Ms. Beth Hunkapillar, representing governing boards;Mr. Tom Conroy, representing teachers; Mr. Steve Barr, representing charter schools; Mr. Greg McNair, representing school district superintendents (though he is not a superintendent).

NCLB-Proposed Changes to Accountability Workbook: CDE identified four additional LEA’s for Program Improvement as a result of data corrections. They are: Del Norte COE, Merced COE, San Joaquin COE, and Tulare Jt. Union High School District.These LEA’S will not advance to year 2. based on 2006 test results since they were identified so late in the school year. They will remain in Year 1 for the 2006-2007 school year. To date there are 154 Lea’s identified for program improvement.

CDE submitted the following changes to the NCLB Accountability Workbook
to USDOE. The changes are:
Safe Harbor: Clarifies whether or not a grade span met the AMO’s of the CDE.,counting 10th graders as “participating under NCLB” with modifications, extension of transitional flexibility with students with disabilities. California will end the distinction in program improvement identification of targeted schools. California is electing to exclude English language learner test scores for the first two years the student is enrolled in a United States school (up to 3 years is allowed).

- Graduation rate: USDOE is insisting all high schools must have a graduation
rate even if they don’t have a graduating class. CDE is proposing to accomplish this by computing a “proxy graduating rate” by using available drop-out rate data and CBEDS.
California Growth Model Proposal for Adequate Yearly Progress: The Board approved (10-0) moving forward to negotiate with USDOE to use the API system, with some modifications to determine the AYP. California can not submit an application to the USDOE for a “growth model” pilot project because California does not have the ability to track individual student growth until 2008 when CALPADs is fully implemented. Instead, California will apply under a section which allows states to apply for approval of performance indices based on cross sectional test results as a method for determining AYP. Therefore California will submit the API with three major changes:

- Separate API growth targets for each pupil subgroup within a school
demonstrating “gap closing” to reach the statewide API target.

- Districts as well as schools would receive API growth targets.

- The rate of growth required for schools and pupil subgroups would escalate
over time giving schools less time to meet the statewide performance goal of an API of 800.
Board representatives will be negotiating on the above points.

The legislature met its first deadline this week. Introduced bills with a fiscal impact had to move out of the first policy committee this week. Successful bills now have to pass out of fiscal committees. Now that the revenue outlook is a little better, we may see more bills move out of the fiscal committees and proceed through the second house. Outlined below are some of the bills that passed out of their respective policy committees Teacher Credentialing/Professional Development Bills: AB 1836 (Daucher) Teachers: Allows “industry” persons to teach in classrooms who in turn will be mentored by “master” teachers.

AB 1857 (Garcia) Teachers: This bill proposes to provide for one pedagogy test for all single subject credential types and requires pre-service training for single subject credential interns.
AB 2970 (Pavley) Teachers: Establishes the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Act of
2006. SB 472 (Alquist) Teachers: Reauthorizes the professional development program (AB 466).
SB 1190 (Alquist) Science, Math and Reading Teacher Development Program. This bill
is similar to SB 472 but will now include professional development for science teachers.
SB 1224 (Torlakson) Teachers: Among other provisions, allows fully retired credentialed
teachers to return to teaching without having to take the CBEST. SB 1290 (Scott) Out of State Credentialing. This is an omnibus bill sponsored by the administration and its intent is to streamline the credentialing process for out of state teachers.

There is much interest regarding the CAHSEE and several bills have been introduced to
address the problems associated with its administration or with assisting students in passing the CAHSEE: AB 2180 (Garcia) Commencing with 2008-2009 school year would allow school districts to offer the high school exit exam to students in grade 9 if the pupil has completed the courses required to pass the exam, AB 2255 (de la Torre), Commencing 2007-2008, the high school exit exam may be administered at least one time per year on a Saturday. AB 2937 (Pavley) would require the high school exit exam to be offered to students in 12th grade at least once during the summer months, prior to August 1,.SB 1592 (Romero) would allow students to receive a high school diploma with a specified insignia, if the student successfully passed the high school exit exam, SB 1773 (Escutia) Expresses legislative intent that pupils who have not passed the high school exit exam continue to receive a free public education until these pupils are able to obtain a diploma of graduation from high school.

AB 2248 (Coto) reauthorizes the Reading First Program.

AB 1782 (Mullin) authorizes the California State Lottery Commission to enter into a multistate lottery agreement and would specify amounts of the lottery revenue for purchase of instructional materials.

AB 2531 (Goldberg) proposes a new method of funding schools; A weight based method. it proposes to revise the funding formula for the Economic Impact Aid as well.
(Please refer to CATE’s Bill File for specific information on the bills.)

The State Budget Subcommittees on Education Finance in both houses have begun their
proceedings with respect to reviewing the Governor’s proposed 2006-2007 State Budget
specific to K-14 public education. The state is collecting record-breaking tax revenues this year, setting the stage for a contentious debate in the legislature with what to do with the “extra money.” The Franchise Tax Board stated it took in $11.3 billion in personal income tax payments this April, an amount larger than the $10.5 billion received in April 2001 at the height of the high tech stock market boom. It appears that no single factor, the stock market, real estate deals or business growth, explains the growth in tax revenues. As a result the Department of Finance officials say that the state could end up with about $4 billion more this year than predicted in January 2006. A revised budget will be released on May 12, 2006. It is projected that the governor will propose spending some of this money to pay down debt and enhance the state’s savings accounts. The biggest question is how much of the money will go to schools. Education advocates say the governor owes public education $3.2 billion dollars more under the provisions of Prop 98.

CALIFORNIA ENGLISH - Jago reported that the summer issue of CALIFORNIA ENGLISH will focus on research from the National Writing Project initiative on working with English learners. NWP will be purchasing 500 extra copies of the journal for their sites.
Future calls for manuscripts include: Fall 2006 (deadline August 1) - Mayhem in the Middle; Winter 2006 (deadline October 1, 2006) - Popular Culture in the Academy: A Home for Hip Hop?

CALIFORNIA WRITING PROJECT – Sahakian noted that the Korean translation of the California Writing Project sponsored by CATE is now available.

CALIFORNIA READING AND LITERATURE PROJECT - Jago shared a brochure from the Los Angeles site which includes progams that are available statewide. Southland people were asked to notify Jago of names of principals who might be able to use CRLP help.

CYRM - Morimoto noted that the CYRM Committee had met on April 8, 2006, at the California Reading Association Office in Costa Mesa. CATE representatives Audrey Fleming, chair, and Pat Lindsay also attended the meeting. All the sponsoring organizations were well represented. Almost half a million ballots were counted, and the winning books and authors were: PRIMARY - Miss Smith’s Incredible Storybook by Michael Garland, INTERMEDIATE - The Good Dog by Avi, JUNIOR HIGH/MIDDLE SCHOOL - 12 Again by Sue Corbett, YOUNG ADULT - After by Francine Prose, PICTURE BOOKS FOR OLDER READERS - Boxes for Katje by Candace Fleming, illustrated by Stacey Dressen-McQueen.

CATE will be presenting the Young Adult medal at the 2007 Convention in Fresno.
The group discussed updating the web site. A tentative reading list was distributed, and the official list will be available in June.

P. Fristrom moved and Chapman seconded the appointment of Robin Radlauer-Kramer as a CATE CYRM Committee member replacing Morimoto. MOTION PASSED.

AFFILIATE REPORTS

CAPITOL - Capitol will be working with the other northern councils on the Napa Conference.

CENTRAL - McAninch reported that Gabrielle Rico, Harry Noden, Carol Booth Olson, and poet Joshua McKinney who presented at the Napa Conference April 28-29 were received enthusiastically. At its June meeting the Central Council Board will review strategies and discuss new ideas for future conferences. All CATE and NCTE writing award winners will be honored at a reception and reading on May 20. New ways discussed for recruiting membership included offering group discounts to schools in which the entire English department joins. Board members will split the task of correcting addresses, phone numbers and email addresses and creating an email directory of the membership. One large task is to devise opportunities to meet and educate more of its members, including those in outlying areas.
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FACET - Oppliger reported that FACET continues to work on CATE 2007, planning activities and events that might increase involvement of current members and encourage others to join, continuing the book club, recruiting student teachers and new teachers for CATE membership and to work at CATE 2007, honoring four young writers, sponsoring two focus groups, Writing on Demand and Multicultural Literature, with the writing project, and finishing a project studying ways to help EL students pass proficiency requirements.
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GREATER SAN DIEGO - Bowles reported that GSDCTE hosted the Spring Promising Practices on Saturday, March 4, at the Marina Village Conference Center, featuring Nikki Grimes and Carol Jago. Next year’s conferences will be on Saturdays, October 28 with Jeff Anderson, author of Mechanicallyy Inclined: Building Grammar, Usage, and Style into Writer’s Workshop and March 28 with Cris Tovani, author of Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? The CATE Creative Writing Contest winners were recognized on Friday, February 24, at the San Diego County Office of Education with special speaker Sam Turner, a master storyteller, retired college professor, and former GSDCTE president. The annual Arrowhead Retreat was held April 21-23 at the UCLA Conference Center. The annual Awards Dinner will be Wednesday, May 31, at the University of San Diego.

REDWOOD - Chapman and Williams reported that Redwood would be meeting later this month to elect officers and discuss opportunities for combining efforts with the local writing project.

SOUTHLAND - Hernandez reported that a tea had been held on March 12 to honor approximately 40 high school Achievement in Writing award winners who received $40 each. SCTE’s Spring Fling was held at the Nethercutt Collection on April 8. Next year’s Fall Conference will be held at the Whittier Radisson October 14 with Ralph Angel, poet and translator of works by Federico Lara. Kelly Gallagher has also offered to speak. Nancy Himel is busy with CATE 2008.

TUCATE - Surabian reported that Tucate has been busy with CATE 2007 and an ice cream social for the writing award winners. A cowboy poet night is being planned in Visalia.

UPPER - no report

The group adjourned for lunch and to honor the retiring members at 12:30 P.M and returned at 1:30 P.M. for committee meetings.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

CONVENTION COORDINATING - (Hase, chair; Berry, A. Fristrom, P. Fristrom, Himel, McAninch, Mitchell, Rippee, Sahakian,and Williams). The successes and pitfalls of CATE 2006 including the late delivery of flyers, resulting in some not being included in bags was discussed. Sahakian noted she was already thinking about delivery of items for CATE 2007. She thanked Carole Le Cren and Larry Jordan for getting the conventioninformation posted on the website. She noted that the Friday Night Event options were a wine tour in Madera and an Armenian dinner/church tour.

Hase moved and Berry seconded the following fee schedule: Package A (Members) $395 (Non-members) $425; Package B (Members) $305 (Non-members) $345; Package C (Members) $270 (Non-Members) $310; A La Carte - Friday lunch - $30, Friday night event - $45, Saturday lunch - $30, Saturday Banquet - $40, and Sunday brunch - $30, Registration (Members) $150 (Non-Member) $190, Preconvention (Members) $100 (Non Members) $140, On-site Registration (Members) $190 and (Non-members) $230. MOTION PASSED.

Hase moved and P. Fristrom seconded that Carole Le Cren be paid $200 for design of the program and $150 as a late penalty for missing the July 15 or December l5 deadline. MOTION PASSED.

Hase moved and McAninch seconded that $2000 be allocated in the budget for a computer and printer for the registrar. MOTION CARRIED.

Hase moved and Berry seconded that convention meals be paid for the convention coordinator, convention consultant, and the CATE president. MOTION PASSED.

Hase will ask that the registrar’s email address be removed from the cart server as the only person to contact with questions.

The committee discussed 2011 sites including Fresno, San Jose Fairmont, Santa Clara, Oakland and Sacramento. Hase moved and Williams seconded that Sacramento be named as the location for CATE 2011. MOTION PASSED.

Hase moved and Berry seconded that P. Fristrom be appointed as Convention Consultant. MOTION PASSED.

POLICY/CENSORSHIP (Oppliger, chair; Chapman, Hernandez, Jago, Jensen, and McAninch) SB472 was discussed including flexibility in how the 80 follow-up hours are fulfilled. The committtee suggests increased collaboration between CATE and CDE.

Oppliger moved and Berry seconded that David Eggers be awarded the NCTE/SLATE State Award for Intellectual Freedom and be nominated for the National Award. MOTION PASSED.

Oppliger moved and Berry seconded that Eggers be granted $500 for travel to Nashville to accept the NCTE/SLATE Intellectual Freedom Award. MOTION DEFEATED.

Oppliger moved and Karpowicz seconded that $600 be allocated for three visits for two people to Sacramento to promote CATE issues. MOTION PASSED.

The committee felt the year’s goals had been achieved. Suggestions included using Zaragoza-Diaz as a convention presenter or a panel discussion leader and having her visit council caucus breakfasts. An “Ask Martha” link on CATEweb was also suggested.

Oppliger moved and Chapman suggested that the Board direct President Rippee to write letters to legislators in support of AB 2065 and AB2540. MOTION PASSED.

LEADERSHIP - (Karpowicz, chair; Allen, Bowles, Dunstan, Hemric, and Surabian)
Candidates for CATE Board offices should be continually recruited in local councils. To encourage the development of new leaders budget priorities should include funding for local council members to attend CATE Board meetings in their areas and funding to supplement the Prentice Hall Leadership Award winner at NCTE. Board members are again encouraged to sit at different tables at convention meals to talk about CATE and encourage involvement with attendees. Local council officers are asked to follow through with the information cards returned to the Membership Booth as a means for finding and encouraging new leaders and to continue working with local teacher education programs to recruit membership and to continue personal recruitment at local events and in the workplace.

Karpowicz moved and Morimoto seconded that $500 be added to the Leadership budget line and $500 to the NCTE budget line to provide funding for leadership attendance at Board meetings and funding for attendance at NCTE for the Leadership Award winner and the Secondary Section High School Teacher of Excellence. MOTION PASSED.

The committee congratulates those involved with the successful completion of the President’s Handbook. The Small Council Convention Handbook is not available, and the committee suggests that it become an addendum to the President’s Handbook.
The committee referred dicussion of candidates for the NCTE Leadership Award, the Award for Excellence in Secondary Teaching, and the Multicultural Teacher for the Dream Award to the Presidents’ Council for recommendations.

The problem of replacing board members with excessive absences should be referred to the incoming president who will contact members in the Upper area soliciting membership and leadership. The committtee felt that it had met its goals.

Committees met until 5:30 P.M.

Sunday, May 7

Committees met from 8:00 until 9:15 A.M. and returned for Committee reports.
Rippee noted that Jan Ewell had reported that the UC system was willing to make some accommodation to get journalism counted in the A-G requirements for high school graduaion.

Jago reported that her student who had won the CATE Creative Writing Contest had been awarded a $10,000 scholarship and flown to Chicago for the Oprah show.

PRESIDENT OF PRESIDENTS REPORT - (Oppliger - FACET, Bowles - GSDCTE, McAninch - Central, Dunstan - Capitol, Hernandez - Southland, Chapman - Redwood, Surabian - TUCATE, Johnson - Kern). Bowles noted that the presidents had met for dinner Saturday evening and toasted new president McAninch, retiring president Bowles, past president Oppliger, and Hernandez’s son Carlos on his birthday.

Bowles moved and Dunstan seconded that the Board approve Liz McAninch’s election as President of Presidents. MOTION PASSED.

The group looked over the new Presidents’ Handbook and in the fall will add suggestions for planning small conferences which Hernandez suggested be taken from the NCTE website.

An attempt was made to draft a nominee for the Member at Large College position to be vacated by Charlene Delfino. Oppliger, Johnson, and Chapman will suggest nominees in the fall.

Bowles moved and McAninch seconded the approval of Heather Lighston of Southland for the NCTE Leadership Development Award. MOTION PASSED. Hernandez will be responsible for getting the necessary documents to the NCTE Division Director of Communications and Affiliate Services by May 15.

Bowles moved and Dunstan seconded raising the mileage amount to $ .40 per mile. MOTION PASSED (11-6).

The presidents would like to see the Friday evening presidents’ meetings reinstated. They have reached most of their goals for 05-06 but will continue to encourage local council board members and other members to attend breakfast caucus meetings and annual business meetings at conventions.

The presidents are glad to receive the electronic printouts of new members from the convention and will contact the new members by July 1 via email, phone, or U.S. mail to welcome them to the membership and programs for the coming year. Bowles will share his letter with the other presidents.

PUBLICATIONS (Chapman, chair; Berry, Bowles, Dunstan, Himel, Jago, Jensen, McAninch, Younglove, Krielaart,) Younglove will contact Kokino to see how things are going for the Professional Writing Contest.

Next year’s Creative Writing Contest dates are local deadline - November 1, 2006 and CATE deadline - December 1, 2006. Carole Le Cren will be asked to do the flyer. The prompt for the 2006 CATE Creative Writing Contest has been created. All of us have querencia, a place where we feel most at home, most comfortable, most ourselves. Sometimes it's not a place. Sometimes it's a time of day or a favorite shirt, a certain kind of weather or music.

Write about your querencia. You may do this as a poem, a story, or a memoir.
Jago will inform the Board at least five years in advance before she retires. Committee suggestions for future issue themes include “Bring Back the Books,” non-fiction research papers, new teachers.

Chapman moved and Berry seconded to award Ryan Hagen of Paso Robles High School the Marilyn Kahl award. MOTION PASSED. Rippee will notify Keri Kimble of this action.
Chapman will contact Al and Cista Leonard to see if they are willing to continue as NCTE Literary Magazine coordinators.

McAninch as received over 200 entries in the Achievement in Writing program. Judges are needed, and all members of the Publications Committee agreed to judge.

CATENET is quiet but good.

The committee does not feel that CATE exhibits and CATEweb have to match. Local sites don’t match CATEweb, and CATEweb does not match the NCTE website. As we work on the design and function of CATEweb, we will expect CATE exhibits to look at color, design elements, logo, and fonts to see how it can compliment the website. We have chosen two models - Ohio (OCTELA) and Minnesota (MCTE) websites, recent NCTE awardees and affiliates of CATE.

Chapman moved and Williams seconded the approval of a $1500 from the CATEweb line for a subcommittee (Chapman, Jago, Jordan, and Richard Hockensmith) meeting and design fees at the Garden Grove Hyatt on Friday prior to the September Board meeting. MOTION PASSED. Two features will be added to CATEweb: an analysis column by Zaragoza-Diaz on a monthly or bimonthly basis. CDE Liaison Ellen Jensen has offered to write an analysis column that will appear monthly or bimonthly. Ellen will also investigate getting a link between the CDE website and CATE.

The committee supports an additional issue of CALIFORNIA ENGLISH.

MEMBERSHIP (Williams, chair; Allen, Hemric, Hernandez, Johnson, Karpowicz, Oppliger, and Surabian) One of our goals is to build membership so that conventions at sites without a huge population base do not result in huge membership dips. Williams will email those Board members who signed up to contact subject matter projects to determine the number of membership brochures needed.

The committee felt that the membership booth should be placed in an area where people will stop; adjacent to the author signing table is desirable. Council presidents should be in the membership booth to greet and welcome their constituents. A display with a California map divided into councils and a list of councils and the counties they include will be added to the booth. Posters noting that leadership cards should be turned in for gifts and that membership gifts are available will also be included. Williams will continue to work on the power point display and include text describing the benefits of CATE membership.

We discussed the CATE 2007 membership gift and suggested clipboards with a donor’s logo as well as CATE’s and seed or bulb packets representing the theme. We will use up the leadership pencils and candy bars with our logos and stickers were a possibility. All membership gifts remaining after the convention will be distributed to council representatives for use in their activities.

Karpowicz, Jago, and Williams will attend the CRA Convention in November.
In addition to contacting the subject matter projects the committee recommends that local councils contact and perhaps have liaisons on their boards with the BTSA leadership in their counties, local CTA leadership, local teacher education programs, Reading Institute for Academic Preparation (RIAP), and Early Assessment Program (EAP). An EAP meeting will be held in Sacramento June 23 at which Johnson will present and promote CATE and on June 28 at LAX where Johnson will present and Allen promote CATE. (Allen will contact the director of EAP and RIAP to see how we can advertise CATE through these groups.) CALIFORNIA ENGLISH copies, membership brochures, and luggage tags are possible promotional items.

Our goal of a 25% increase in membership was ambitious, but we made 5%. Williams has been able to provide electronic lists for all councils, but accurate information is still a problem. Williams requests a duplicate of all new memberships and renewals following any state or local CATE event.

CATEweb needs a membership hot button.

EXECUTIVE/FINANCE (Morimoto, chair; P. Fristrom, A. Fristrom, Hase, Mitchell, Rippee, and Sahakian) The Executive/Finance Committee recommends raising the mileage to $.30 for an estimated cost of $300, to increase meal reimbursement to $15.00 for a cost of $750, and to reinstate the Friday night President’s meeting for a cost of $500. A. Fristrom noted that the 800 number is eliminated from the budget and everywhere else mentioned and that the Board had raised the amount to ten cents per name on the membership list. The policy needs to be changed in December.

Morimoto moved and McAninch seconded that Treasurer A. Fristrom deposit extra money from the checking account into a GNMA account until needed. MOTION PASSED.

Morimoto moved and P. Fristrom seconded to send a $1000 gift card to an elementary school, a middle school, and a high school in Mississippi or Louisiana. MOTION PASSED. Rippee will make the arrangements.

Sahakian reported that plans were well underway for CATE 2007 and encouraged previous
convention committee members to contact CATE 2007 members with advice. Presentations will be 90 minutes or three hours in length. The Armenian church dinner may include a visual presentation on Saroyan and the planned Saroyan town. Meetings will be held June 5, 6, and 8 with committee, convention coordinator, hotel and convention center representatives and pre-convention planners.

Younglove provided written copies of his report from the California Curriculum Correlating Council Tenth Annual Education Summit attended by Younglove and Mitchell. Four themes were addressed: the teacher credentialing process, plus post induction training; increased accountability; Career Technical Education exemplary programs, state and federal funding, and state funding for Proposition 98 and its relationship to Proposition 49 funding via the maintenance factor.

The Commission on No Child Left Behind met at Cal Poly Pomona’s Kellog Center on April 11 where the concepts of highly qualified teachers and high quality teaching were discussed.

The budget was reviewed and amended. A. Fristrom moved and Mitchell seconded the approval of the attached budget. MOTION PASSED.

Chapman moved and Johnson seconded adjournment at 11:27 A.M. MOTION PASSED.

Respectfully submitted,
Carleen Hemric, Secretary