AASCA Directors’ Meeting

May 2008

 

La Antigua Guatemala

May 1, 2008

 

 

Members Present: 

Costa Rica

Marian Baker School                            Linda Niehaus ,VP/Treasurer

Lincoln School                                     Jack Bimrose

Pan-American School                          Alegria Lores

Country Day School                                      Gloria Doll

AIS                                                   Absent

El Salvador

Escuela Panamericana                         Eric Bosworth

Escuela Americana                              Patricia

Colegio Maya                                               Suzie Gonzalez

Colegio Internacional                          Absent

Guatemala

CAS                                                  Scott MacLauchlan, Secretary

Colegio Maya                                               Sherry Miller

CAG                                                  Ettie Zilber

Decroly Americano                              Martha Maristany

Colegio Interamericano                       Mike Farr (Day 1)

Honduras

Mazapán                                            Martha Counsil

Escuela Internacional Sampedrana        Ron Vair

American School of Tegucigalpa            Liliana Jenkins

Nicaragua

ANS                                                  Elsa Lamb

Lincoln International Academy             Adolfo Gonzales

Panama

Balboa Academy                                  Jean Lamb

CCA                                                  Jacqueline Wiese

ISP                                                    Linda Lapine (Days 2 and 3)

 

Mary Virginia Sanchez, Tri-Association

 

 

Guests:       José Oyanguren, St. Augustine Preparatory School , Nicaragua

                   Luis Chavez, Freedom High School , Honduras (Day 3)

 

1. Introduction and presentation of new members and guests and an ice-breaker activity.

 

2. Principals’ Report

Maribel Maldonado of Colegio Maya Guatemala presented the report.  (attached)  In addition to the points outlined in the report, Maribel added:

o       Thanks to the Mazapan School for hosting a productive meeting. 

o       The principals reviewed the AASCA mission and membership criteria.  They feel that it is unclear and ask the directors to review and clarify these procedures.

o       Many of the sportsmanship issues were dealt with successfully by the extraordinary AD meeting.

 

3. Treasurer’s Report

The Association is in sound financial condition with $83,000 in the bank. 

There were few expenses this year.

 

 

4. Website

There was a discussion of the importance of the website as a resource website was underutilized.

 

 

5. Minutes of 2007 Directors’ Meeting

 

 

6. Agenda

Ettie asked for the Middle School Choir event to be added to the agenda and the agenda was approved as amended.

 

7. Tri-Association Conference

Mary Virginia presented information about the 2008 tri-Association Conference, Leadership for the Success of All Students.  It will take place in San Jose this year.  Lincoln will be hosting with the help of CDS, Marian Baker and AIS.

 

8. Principals’ Recommendations

Action was taken on the following recommendations:

#1 – As the number of AASCA member schools has grown, an imbalance has been created among large and small schools.  The principals asked for a review of the definition of large and small schools.  Various options were discussed including changing the cutoff number between large and small schools and the creation of three divisions given the growing number of schools.

         Jack proposed three divisions with schools with up to 149 secondary students defined as small schools, 150-349 secondary students as medium schools, and schools with more than 350 secondary students would be defined as large schools.

 

 

# 3 – There was a discussion about the proposal for AD professional development.

 

#4 – After discussion, it was decided that this did not require action by the Directors and that the principals could make determinations about the terms of office of their officers.

 

# 5 – Knowledge Bowl.  The principals feel that this has been a very popular and worthwhile event but there is not sufficient time.  They request an additional day. There was discussion about the inclusion of JV teams and whether they should do smaller events in preparation before traveling to the AASCA Knowledge Bowl.  No consensus was reached.

There was consensus about recommending that a problem-solving strand be included for teams during frequent down times.  The host school will work on piloting a new component for the coming year.

 

 

# 6 – Translation of documents – The principals recommend the translation of documents developed by the AD’s. Consistent with the philosophy of AASCA, these documents should be available in English as well as Spanish.

 

 

# 7 – AD meetings – Because many AD’s are not fully bilingual, the principals ask that the host school provide an interpreter for the meetings to facilitate the participation of all AD’s.  There was a consensus that this was a good idea.

 

# 8- Flags.  In accordance with the principals’ recommendation,

 

# 10 Airfares – there was discussion about high costs of airfare within Central America and its negative impact on the ability of some schools to participate in all events.  Given the number of events and travelers, it was decided to approach Taca and Copa to evaluate the possibility of negotiating better fares for AASCA events.  Patricia will inquire with Taca and Jacqueline will inquire with Copa. Linda will compile data about the number of events and participants for Patricia and Jacqueline to present.

 

Calendar 2008 – 2009

 

The calendar as presented by the principals was reviewed.

 

Small school basketball has two pending options.  Linda will talk to ISP and advise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strategic Planning

Elsa Lamb led a discussion about the future of the Association. There was discussion about vision, mission, philosophy, core values and beliefs.

After an afternoon of discussion and activities, there was consensus about six core values. 

 

Work continued the morning of May 2.  Mike Farr from Colegio Interamericano left the meeting and Linda Lapine from ISP joined the group.

 

After a morning of continued work, the group arrived at a consensus on the following:

 

Core Values

AASCA is committed to:

1. principles of democracy
2. community service and service learning
3. providing English and host country instructional programs that empower learners to reach their full potential
4. educating for success in a diverse global economy
5. formal external accreditation as a standard for educational excellence
6. building community through a variety of activities and experiences

 

 

Mission

AASCA provides opportunities for school communities to participate in activities to develop their full potential, social responsibility, and global citizenship.

 

Vision

AASCA will be a model association that develops democratic leadership for today and tomorrow.

 

Goals

1. Provide professional development events and activities to enhance the teaching-learning process
2. Provide a broad range of activities for students with social, learning and performance objectives
3. Promote community service and service learning in all member schools
4. Strengthen AASCA’s organizational identity

 

 

 

It was decided that a task force should be formed to review the language of the values, mission, vision and goals and develop strategies to be presented at next year’s meeting.  Liliana Jenkins and Martha Counsil will work with the new officers.

 

 

9. Other events

Middle School choir will be held in the 2009-2010 school year and will alternate years with the Music Festival.

 

There was little interest in having a library media conference next year.  There will be no media conference or business managers’ meeting in 2008-2009.

 

10. Staff Development

There was a consensus about the importance of professional development activities.  There was a discussion of possible topics for the 2008-2009 year.

 

 

Liliana, Adolfo and Charlie will form a committee to organize the activity.

 

 

 

11. Elections of officers for 2008-2010

 

 

 

 

12. Website

 

There was continued discussion about the website and its potential use in staff development.  There was a consensus that the website should be used more extensively and more effectively.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the third day of meetings, Luis Chavez from Freedom High School in San Pedro Sula was in attendance as a guest.

 

 Ettie presented a video of the Middle School Choir event hosted by CAG.

 

 

13. Dues

 

14. New Members

Panamerican School of Costa Rica, the Colegio Maya El Salvador and Crossroads Chrisitan Academy of Panama had been accepted as non-voting members last year.  They have all been visited by AASCA and are all in the process of accreditation in the US .

 

Freedom High School of San Pedro Sula has applied for membership.

Ron and Martha Counsil will visit the school. They are beginning the accreditation procedure with NEASC this year.  Final action will be pending next year after the reports of these two visits.

 

St. Augustine Preparatory School in Managua has applied for membership.

Adolfo will visit the school and report next year.

 

Both Freedom and St. Augustine will be able to participate in the year’s events if they pay the dues.

There were recommendations for reviewing the applications of prospective members.  There should be a discussion of each member by the entire group of directors without the candidate present and more formal procedures should be established.  Linda, Ron and Adolfo will work on a proposal for next year.

 

There was also consensus that more schools should participate.  Scott, as hosting director of the Leadership Conference, will present the awards in September and talk to all the schools about the importance of community service.

 

Sherry Miller and Elsa Lamb, as retiring directors, were awarded bowls and thanked for their many years of service in education in Central America and particularly for their contributions and leadership in AASCA.

 

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