NHSCA Board Meeting

The NHHEAF Campus, Concord

Thursday, January 13, 2011

4 – 6:30

 

Meeting Minutes

 

Stephanie Collins, Ashley Shuffleton, Adrienne Backer, Robin Hogan, Rebecca Davis, Susan Theberge, Kathryn Sheridan, Kim Lavoie, Holly Vieten, Lynn Merlone, Annette Blake, Annette Belanger, Mitch Taranow, Beth Harrington

 

Called to order at 4:15 by Holly Vieten

 

Secretary’s Minutes: Need to fix the spelling of Bill’s last name on the second page. Motion to accept them by Kathryn, seconded by Robin.

 

Treasurer’s Report, Annette Blake:  There was a huge profit of $7612.13 from the Fall conference, and all bills are paid. Holly wants to go over the budget for each region’s report. We need to set up budgets for each region in June, but we can override with any changes if needed. For now we can spend about $50 for refreshments because speakers are free. Bring receipts to the Treasurer. In June, we will adjust the budget to meet the needs of each region: how many meetings, and how much to spend each time. Something like $100 for each region per year. Holly will ask Mel if there are any outstanding bills or deposits for the ads.

Motion to approve the report: Kim

Seconded: Holly

 

President-Elect’s Report, Lynn Merlone: NAR follow up meeting on Jan. 28 in Concord to set a training date.. How can we start networking to advocate for ourselves? Can fit 70 people here at NHEAFF. Discussion followed  - we will offer a half day training with an afternoon meeting with the board to start planning on how to to increase our collaborating  with other service providers: NH CAN, school psychologists, mental health professionals, etc. Pinpointing days.

·         Fall Conference: Portsmouth? Overnight? She’s working with Sean Peschel for rooms and rates.  One idea for the conference is to invite Brian Law from ASCA, and other potential speakers from New England, with breakout sessions. Looking for volunteers to help Lynn. Beth, Robin, and Kim will help.  Susan will help with brainstorming by email.

 

 

Past Presidents, Kathryn Sheridan: Regarding the graduate class conference follow up: people who participated had trouble with practical information. So maybe the conference was idealistic, and hard to interpret for practicality.

·         Archives: Ready to buy better storage bins for proper, sealed storage. The bins are older and not sealed. Too many valuable records to be scanned so we need better storage. APPI, LDI, Minutes:  Beth will burn CD of all the minutes. Budgets to Mel. The goal is to move as much as possible to electronic media, and to properly store the remaining papers so they will not be exposed to moisture.

 

President’s Report, Holly Vieten: Gary has resigned and we will send him a gift card. Janet Thompson from UNH will be invited to replace him. Susan will find a student liaison. Do we need a job description for the student liaison? Capital, Merrimack, and Dartmouth/Sunapee are now vacant. We are glad to have two new White Mountain region representatives: Paula Frank and Alan Campbell. We need a new president-elect. It is a three year commitment.

·         Funds from the DOE are available for the fall conference. Mary Ann recommends asking for this money in June for the fall conference.

·         Memo of understanding: for one paid Admin. Assistant. Need to vote for an hourly rate for an above and beyond job. She requests $25 an hour?  We also need to reexamine this memo when the new president comes on board. The start date is July 1st of each year. Discussion of taxes: ask the auditors if there is a maximum hours for her to work for us? Robin motioned for $25 an hour, Mitch seconded. We need to meet with her before we set the budget to set the number of hours.

·         Friday March, 18 is the next meeting. Thursday, May 12 last meeting of the year.

·         Charles and Holly came and spoke to the Interns during the Intern training.

·         NHEAFF: NHEAF has a March 11 Middle School Training.

·         Sat. March 26 is Destination College. You will need to register.

 

Admin. Asst. Report: Membership details. Read her report sent by email.

Elementary VP, Celia Slason: not present

Middle VP, Melinda Avellino: not present

Charles Langille: hurt his back shoveling, not present

 

Post-Secondary Report, Susan Theberge: They came up with a survey for the different regions to find out what the obstacles were for making the meetings. They want to use Survey Monkey and want to know if it would be useful. Ten questions or less are free. Mitch will offer technology help. Mitch checked subscription costs with his phone: $200 a yearly fee or $20 per month. Stephanie Collins will help to keep track of the vacant regions.

·         Susan is concerned about the mental health issues that are coming up in the news. School mental health, center of mental health project links, or other links could be published on the website. This part used to fall under the research committee which we no longer have: She is also continually working on her Mindfulness course/curriculum at Keene State for next fall.

 

Committee Chair Reports:

Advocacy, Kim Lavoie: cannot attend the meeting on Jan. 28.

Bylaws, Kim Lavoie: double checking the wording.

Ethics – vacant

Membership, Ashley Shuffleton: No report, because Mel outlined it on her electronic report.

Professional Development, Melinda Avellino: not present

 

Professional Recognition: Ashley Shuffleton will take over since Robin has been nominated as NHSCA School Counselor in her district J. Robin will take over as Membership Chair. Ashley has sent out letters to the people nominated: 11 applications. The three grade levels are represented equally. She sent out a letter to make sure they were members because nominated people are invited to be members. We need to revisit the full time vs. part time criteria because so many counselors are working part time. Ashley will bring the criteria to the next meeting to look at for next year. We also need to find out who the contact person is for the UNH sponsorship funding.

 

Public Relations, Annette Belanger: Annette sent an email reminder to all NH superintendents regarding nominating school counselors of the year and that school counseling week is Feb. 7-11, 2011. Annette has sent ads out to the papers in the past, has tried photo opportunities with the governor, and other ways to promote school counseling. Robin has used the ASCA poster to promote things, book marks, and poster campaigns about what a school counselor does.

 

Scholarship, Lynn Merlone: There were five applicants and Rebecca Davis was selected. To advertise, Lynn emails school counselors, sends letters, and posts info. on the website. Some people still didn’t receive the application. Do we want to offer a free membership to the others who were not selected? Mitch asked what was the cost to maintaining a membership? They would receive a full 40 dollar membership, not a student membership. Holly pointed out that applicants for School Counselor of the year do not receive free memberships and their packets are detailed and involved. What would be fair? Some people have been nominated for three years and haven’t won. The committee changes each year so it isn’t the same people who are choosing the winners.

The consensus is that we will continue to encourage membership by giving out a complimentary membership. Lynn will check with Mel to find out how many people have turned in their voucher for a new membership so we can use that data to see if we are losing money by offering a free membership.

 

 

Technology, Mitch Taranow: Sent email link and info. Should we go with the new people, Wild Apricot? The cost would be higher: $100 a month, but membership drives it up and it would be more efficient. ASCA uses the Scene and Wild Apricot. We could have forums, discussions and places to upload. The new website would replace the old one, which was $40 a month, but we would have hands on control over postings. Mitch thinks this will take less time to maintain. Can we afford this program? May need to have some overlap time and postings – we need a webmaster. Move technology up on the agenda next time so we have time for further discussion. Will the Board approve the $50 month to month?

 

Newsletter, Beth Harrington: January 22 is the next due date. Please title and include your name on the article as well.

 

No liaisons were present.

 

Meeting adjourned at 6:45.