Wednesday, January 14, 2009

New Year, New Officers, New Opportunities for the Community

Last night the LCESC board had two back-to-back meetings; the first is the mandatory organizational meeting at which we elect officers for the year and set our meeting times. Our new officers are Joe Rutherford, President, and myself as Vice-President. Committee assignments for 2009 will be made at the February meeting. Our meeting times will remain the same: 5 PM on Tuesdays, except when we meet at the ALCC to give out awards - then, the meetings are at 5:30 PM. Our next meeting is Tuesday, February 10th at 5:30 PM at the Alternate Learning Center on Wrenwood. As always, the meetings are open to the public.
The second meeting followed immediately, and we accomplished the necessary business. The monthes and years ahead will be difficult for the LCESC and for all educational entities as we struggle to survive on greatly diminished funds. The LCESC has been "ahead of the curve," striving to be fiscally responsible and seeing the "writing on the wall" for funding cuts. Nonetheless, we have a budget of over 16 million dollars.
The rest of the business of the board was pro forma- approving resignations and replacements, accepting donations, congratulating our member districts on their accomplishments (Springfield High School JROTC drill team placed first in the competition at UT in December), and planning for upcoming events (we sponsor the Lucas County Spelling Bee to be held on Feb. 17, and plans are underway for the Foreign Language Institute to be held this summer).
I have been appointed to the Executive Committee of the Northwest Ohio Region for the OSBA. I plan to keep you updated on that - my first meeting is Feb. 8th!