Florida Adult and Technical Distance Education Consortium
General Membership Meeting
Captiva, FL
May 6, 2010
I.
President Marilyn Duclos-Balliet called the meeting to order at 5:05 p.m. and welcomed
attendees. President Duclos-Balliet asked each person to introduce him or herself.
Attending were:
Luci Mello – IRSC
Kim Gates – Broward County
Don Piduch – Brevard County
Barry Sams – Union County
Curis Gaus – Nassau County
Marilyn Duclos – FATDEC
Irina Zimmerman – Manatee County
Denise Moen – Hernando County
Karyn Gary – Charlotte County
Catherine Lester – FSCJ
William Kelly – Escambia
Brett Taylor – Pinellas County
Kristin Przelomiec – Lee County
Kevin Stokes – Orange County
Caroline McNair – Third Wave Learning
Tiffaney Barnes – Orange County
Judy Johnson – Citrus County
Joann Jefferson - IRSC
Ann Watts - Baker County
Cissy Shaw – Citrus County
Patricia Young – Nassau County
Jamie Eddleman – Orange County
Ann Dwyer – FCTC
Leslie Isley – Charlotte County
Kamlyn Ammons – FSCJ
Curtis Gaus – Nassau County
Stuart Mears – Palm Beach County
Claire Valier – Palm Beach County
Darlene Carrillo – Lee County
Geri Michelsen – Third Wave Learning
Charla Bauer – Citrus County
Zelda Rogers – FL DOE
Following the published agenda:
II.
Business Items
A. Minutes from the general meeting of January 29, 2010 were presented. A motion was
made by Barry Sams to accept the minutes as presented, seconded by Judy
Johnson, and passed unanimously.
B. Kim Gates reported membership news. The newest member is Hernando County.
They will be starting officially on October 1st. Other organizations currently interested
are Sarasota, Flagler, NWFSC (formerly Okaloosa-Walton CC), Baker, and Lee
Counties.
C. Course repurposing update: Upcoming courses for repurposing are Psychology and
Algebra 1-B. FATDEC currently has course files for Critical Thinking & Study Skills
and HOPE. Curtis Gaus stated that he had someone who could repurpose Driver’s
Ed, and Kim Gates stated that Art Appreciation had been requested from FLVS. Art
Appreciation, though, is an AP level course, so it may not work for FATDEC’s student
audience.
D. Non-profit status – President Duclos-Balliet reported that FATDEC was finally
approved for non-profit status. We now have 501 (c) (3) status.
III.
Discussion Items
A. Budget – At this current time, it appears that our budget for next year, although not
firm yet, will allow the base user fee to stay at $7,000 (this current year’s fee).
Three of our biggest vendors (Ucompass Educator, Desire 2 Learn, and
Elluminate) have submitted proposals that keep the cost of services the same as
the previous year.
B. Health Core – Jamie Eddleman gave an overview of the Health Core course, and
an update on CTE development. The Health Core is modifiable and does not
follow a master course setup. There was a conference call that took place to
discuss the course and some changes, including the addition of modules 12-16 to
focus on new “essential skills.” Polk County and others are sending Jamie
resources for this; Jamie will collect them, and then the group can look over
everything. They plan to meet again in 2 weeks. Anyone who would like to be
included should tell Kim Gates. Jamie stressed that CTE Curriculum and Adult
Curriculum needs to be served by separate committees. The suggestion was to
break up the curriculum committee into 2 groups (AGE and CTE).
C. Skills Tutor – Marilyn stated that we are within our seat allowance for Skills Tutor.
Kim told that Impact Education closed its Fort Myers office, so all tech support
requests need to go to the main Skills Tutor number. Marilyn suggested emailing
this information to all admins with users in Skills Tutor. Kim informed the group
that we are coming to the end of year 2 in a 3 year contract with Skills Tutor.
Marilyn reminded the group that they are still to follow the “naming convention”
when entering students into Skills Tutor.
D. FLVS Grant – Kim and Marilyn discussed the FLVS grant that’s targeting GED
enrollment in rural areas within the state. It’s a $12 million grant that FLVS has
applied for, and they have incorporated FATDEC into it to handle the GED part.
Money is included to cover mobile technologies (laptops, cell phones, etc.),
Internet service, and part-time teacher pay. There is no timeline as to when FLVS
will hear about approval of this grant application.
E. Certification – It was discussed that any teacher teaching an AHS course needs
the appropriate subject area certification. The certification needed for HOPE is
both health and PE. FATDEC does have HOPE, but it’s in a holding pattern
because it’s not funded for adults. Barry Sams mentioned that Personal Fitness is
funded for adults and does fit the requirement. Marilyn suggested a survey to see
who is interested in HOPE. Zelda Rogers said that there had been discussion at
DOE about whether HOPE was fundable for adults, but said she’d check on that
for accuracy. A suggestion was made by Ann Watts to look into other elective
courses (Career Blueprint for Success and Entrepreneur Success).
F. Sarasota – Marilyn discussed that Sarasota’s Mellissa Morrow had sent in a
revised resolution agreement as per their district’s attorney and that the
membership was asked to review it. The revised agreement was projected for all
to see, and the general consensus was that only minimal changes were made. A
motion was made by Judy Johnson to accept Sarasota’s proposed resolution as it
was submitted to Marilyn, with a second by Cissy Shaw. All members were
opposed, so the resolution failed to be approved.
G. English Discoveries – Kim informed the membership that multiple organizations
using English Discoveries had been experiencing problems with it. These
organizations included Brevard, Pinellas, IRSC, and Orange. Rudi Peseckas from
Pinellas had been developing online content in Moodle as based on the EASY
curriculum. Kim stated that Rudi would like to set up an online demonstration to
show everyone what he has done. Stuart Mears collected names & email
addresses for those in attendance who were interested in that. Suggestions were
also made to look into the Longman Interactive product (with a comment being
stated that the codes/seats are not reusable), as well as looking into EASY, and
Tell Me More. The membership agreed that whatever product is selected, it must
be able to serve low level ESOL learners. Luci Mello shared that the USA Learns
program is free and addresses low learners. A suggestion was made to look into
Ventures by Cambridge University Press, but then was later found to be set up for
only face-to-face curriculum.
IV.
Best Practices/ Q&A Time / Further Discussion – Kim Gates welcomed new members
in attendance from Charlotte and Hernando Counties. Kim reminded the membership
that Marilyn’s presidency ends on June 30th, and Mr. Kelly will move from presidentelect to president, which will leave a vacancy for president-elect. The membership
was asked to send nominations for president-elect to Kim. Jamie Eddleman gave an
update on the ABE course development. Marilyn asked that more information be
gathered on that & presented to the executive board for approval of continuation.
There being no further business, Kim Gates motioned and Jamie Eddleman seconded
adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 6:25 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by Kim Gates, consortium coordinator.