Wednesday, November 9, 2011

New Day at Education COuncil

I am in the midst of the final day of the Fall Education Council.  I believe I have been here long enough to be able to make some valid observations of the differences that have taken place since the last council meeting in the spring.  The changes have been noticeable and positive.

The meetings this year seem to have moved at what seems a faster pace.  There is less lag time during the meetings and less fluff in content during the general sessions.  One major improvement is the fact the union colleges are no longer given a portion of the report time to give reports of what is happening at the university.  That alone has saved over an hour of time during the “report” portion of the meetings.  On the other hand, this year they sponsored the traditional Wednesday Ice Cream Fest after lunch.  It was truly a tasty treat.

Another major change is the move of the policy portion of the meetings to a time frame earlier in the program, thus more valuable discussion was made when the larger group was present and more energetic as they were previously had been in previous meetings, at the end of the session.  It was a great change.  Some pretty meaty items were discussed.

Two major issues that will have a direct impact on the Arizona Conference are related to task force workers and locally-funded employees.  These areas will require some creative thinking if we are going to honor the policy as it behooves us while protecting the viability of church schools that depend on one or both of these provisos in the policy to enrich, and at times, keep their local school open.  It will be our immediate challenge to find a way to bridge the gap.

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