SW MESPA Summer Meeting Minutes

Thursday, February 4, 2010 - click to download

Thursday, June 18th, 2009 - click to download

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - click to download

SW MESPA Winter Meeting Minutes| Thursday, February 4, 2010

The Elementary Principals of Southwest Minnesota met on Thursday, February 4, 2010 in the Bloomington Room at the Sheraton Hotel.  Following a group picture taken by Lifetouch, the winter meeting of SW MESPA was called to order.

Agenda Items
The meeting was called to order at 4:15 PM.  Approximately 31 members were present.  Following a welcome by President Todd Holthaus and member introductions, the following agenda items were presented.

A.  October Meeting Minutes:  After members reviewed the October meeting minutes, a motion was made by Rick Lund and seconded by ? to approve the minutes.  Motion carried. 

B.  SW MESPA Bylaws Discussion
Discussion was held regarding the need to adopt new bylaws, utilizing a Bylaw Template provided by MESPA.  A motion was made by  CONTACT _Con-408D781F2C \c \s \l Mari Lu Martens and seconded by Deanne Rengstorf to accept the new bylaws as written.  Motion carried.

C.  Yearly SW MESPA Dues:  Due to a healthy fund balance, a decision was made to
not assess yearly due for the year 2010.
 
D.  National Distinguished Principal Candidate
President Holthaus announced that Nancy Kluck is moving forward as the Southwest Division candidate for NDP.  Nancy will be interview by the NDP committee in April.  Good luck Nancy!!!

E.  Southwest MESPA Division Leadership Award
Todd Holthaus nominated Mary Hanson, Principal at Madelia, as the 2010 recipient of the Southwest Division Leadership Award.  Mary is receiving this award for all her hard work on behalf of the students she serves, as well as her dedication in her role as a member of SW MESPA and the MESPA Education Advisory Board that oversees the development of our spring MESPA conference.  Congratulations Mary Hanson!!!

F.  SW Division Retirements
President Holthaus inquired of the group if any member is retiring at the end of the 09-10 school year.  Two distinguished members announced that they are indeed retiring.  We wish Richard Truman of Fairmont, and Connie Finnern of St. James, the very best life has to offer as they come to an end of their great careers in education.

G. MESPA NAESP State Representative Candidates Mark French and Steven Geis
President Holthaus indicated both candidates for this office were invited to speak to our membership.  Steven Geis presented his story and platform to our group and asked for member support in his quest to become the MESPA NAESP State Representative.
Electronic ballots will be e-mailed to MESPA members on Feb. 19.

H.  Election of Officers/Committee Members for 2010
A motion was made by Jim Davison, and seconded by Rick Lund, to cast a unanimous ballot for the following officers:
President:  Karen Coblentz (Replacing Todd Holthaus effective June)       
President Elect:  Paul Besel   
EPAC:  Rick Lund           
Membership:  Deanne Rengstorf
Negotiations:  Jim Davison       
Education Advisory:  Mary Hanson
Legislative Resolutions:  Mari Lu Martins (Replacing Stacy Gillette)
Minnesota School of Excellence:  Sharon Schindle
Retirement Committee:  Sally Berg (Replacing Richard Truman)
SW MESPA Treasurer:  Les Koppendrayer
SW MESPA Secretary:  Russ Lofthus
Special Note:  President Holthaus encouraged officer and committee members to attend the leadership conference in September.  In addition, thank you Todd, Stacy and Richard for your work as SW MESPA leaders!!!

I.  Upcoming Division Meeting
The summer meeting date and time will be announced on the SW MESPA Website as well as by email notification.
 
SW MESPA Website Address:  http://www.swmespa.com/index.html

J.  SW Division Committee Reports
a.  Treasures Report – Les Koppendrayer:  Les had a prepared report showing a fund balance of $3259.17
b.  Communications – Karen Coblentz:  Karen discussed the communications brochure her group has developed.
c.  Ed. Advisory: No Report
d.  Retirement – Dick Truman:  Dick provided a detailed report outlining the current plan going to the legislature to help improve the long-term health of TRA.  All the players have signed on as supporters of this solution except for Ed. Minnesota.  It was noted that any increase in contribution by employees is essentially our money going towards our retirement.
e.  EPAC – Rick Lund:  Rick encouraged everyone to donate to EPAC to support the candidacy of legislatures that understand our goals as principals.
f.  Legislative Resolutions – Stacy Gillette:  No report.
g.  Schools of Excellence – Sharon Schindle:  Sharon provided an overview of the School of Excellence process and encouraged principals to go through this process.  The mission statement for the Schools of Excellence was presented.
h.  Negotiations – Jim Davison:  Jim stressed the importance of not negotiating away language, and informed the group that for current principals negotiating, 0% increases is the norm.
i.  Membership – Deanne Rengstorf:  Deanne reported due to the large increase in membership in the SW Division, she won a prize of an overnight stay at a posh resort.  SW membership went from 53 last year to 59 this year.

K.  Adjournment:  With no additional business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at approximately 5:04.