The minutes of the December 18, 2000, meeting were approved. A motion to accept the minutes was made by Vida Story. The motion passed.

Officers' Reports

Treasurer's Report. The Treasurer was absent. President Curtis distributed the budget report for December. A motion to accept the report was made vy Viad Story. The motion passed.

Corresponding Secretary's Report. BCEA sent a letter to the Association informing members of a web site recently developed by BCEA. The name is www.bcea-njea.org. The site will be used to receive association information, to link onto other educational sites including NJEA and NEA, to communicate via E-Mail, and to register for conferences.
A notice was sent from NJEA/NEA Uniserve Office informing the Association of the ESP Inclusion Conference, which will be held on February 7, 2001, at the BCEA Office.
Notices have been sent to all schools concerning the HIPP Grant program. The application deadline is March 1, 2001.

Recording Secretary's Report. No report.

BCEA Represnetative's Report. Four (4) Charter Schools have been approved by the State.
The Legislative Dinner will be held on May 8, 2001, at Venetian.
The Human Rights Dinner/Conference will be held March 28, 2001, at the Hilton in Hasbrouck Heights.
The State recipient of the ESP Award is Gayle Horton.
NJEA continues its search for a new Disability Insurance carrier.
The Mayor of Jersey City is against education. He is raising funds for his campaign to be elected governor. BCEA is asking Locals to change registration to Republican in order to vote against him in the Primary Election.

Vice President's Report. No report.

President's Report. President Curtis reported that Graduate courses will count toward the 100 hours of education. No decision has been made yet concerning courses that are audited.
President Curtis encouraged members in the elememntary schools, who are concerned about compensation for coverage during prep time and lunch time, to develop a form and submit the form to the principal for approval.

School Reports

Fairmount. The office and cafeteria are now open. There was discussion about the need for training for inclusion teachers. Further, there was a discussion concerning the need for common planning time in addition to the regular duty free prep time.

Hillers. There is a problem with the building construction. There is a lot of pink dust and respiratory illness in the school.
Custodians have been asked to do industrial clean up.
Evan Goldman will be contacted about the problem with air quality.

Jackson Avenue School. The members of the Association have a TALC Box in which written concerns can be placed.

Parker. There is a problem with air quality. Testing has been done. Members are waiting for results of the testing.

Middle School. There is a concern about scheduling. Surveys were sent to staff members in order to involve staff in some of the decision making. There are 84 members of the staff. Twelve responded to the survey.
Additional staff has been added to the lunchroom in order to help alleviate the problem with understaffing.

High School. There are concerns about chronic student lateness, the new schedule, and planning time for inclusion teachers.

Committee Reports

Membership Committee. The Membership Chair was absent. President Curtis reported that four new teachers have sent in applications for membership in HEA.

Election Committee. President Curtis thanked members of the committee for counting ballots and submitting the results of the voting.

Social Committee. No report.

Negotiations Committee. President Curtis thanked the committee for the time and effort involved in the negotiation of the contract.

Legislative Committee. The Chair reported that there was a discussion at the Legislative meeting concerning the prepayment of health benefits for retirees.
The Assistant Director of Government Relations is Wayne Debobsky. His telephone number is (609) 599-4561.

Professional Rights and Responsibilities. No report.

Teacher Education Committee. No report.

TALC. No report.

Old Business. There was no old business.

New Business. There was no new business.

With no further discussion, the meeting was adjoined at 4:20 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Betty Meeks-Manning
Recording Secretary