NHMA Meetings
JULY 26, 2012 OFFICERS' MEETINGNotes from New Hampshire Montessori Association
Submitted by Chris Brown
Board meeting
Thursday July 26th at Southern New Hampshire Montessori Academy
Hosted and presented by Deb Hogan
Should we Join Facebook
This meets our stated mission of connecting with and educating interested parents, other teachers and the general population that may want to know more about Montessori.
It is being used by many different groups and already 50% of small and mid-size businesses have a facebook page
People use it to connect, but also to share information. There is also an increasing trend in using it to search for new information
We can develop a network for teachers, and add a blog that exchanges questions and answers to classroom issues. We list job openings and training opportunities, much like on the website. We can provide links to areas of interest and organizations.
This is very similar to the website, but people are already on and using Facebook and they would have to actively search for the website. This becomes a second string to the bow, one that is up and coming in popularity. The newest users are in the 55+ age group (that's us!!!)
How it Works:
The owner of the page needs to contact people that “like” the page. The page is rather like a bulletin board..a quick synopsis of activities and information. (not loads of pictures, but would still need permission from parents to put any up). Couple of pictures with blurb underneath.
There is a balance of how much content should be added and when. The more activity there is on a page, the higher up the search engine it goes, but too much activity just makes people start to skip or hide your page.
Anyone that visits the page, can “like” it, or post a “comment”. These need to be monitored and removed if needed. Only allowed people can post. This should only be the officers right now. Can “message” others. This is private, like email. Limited to 144 characters.
A blog is more extensive. Often 2/3 paragraphs. Can either be done as a link from the page, or “live”. Teachers could subscribe to a feed, which would either give them an alert that they needed to check in, or give them the full text in the email.
A good way to begin the process is to set up the page and then have the launch as an “event”. Could send an email to parents (if for your own school) asking them to “like” the new page.
Deb has set up a page for NHMA.. She will provide a new email address, that she can monitor. The board can send her content. She will set it up and provide content for now until August 20th when we can review how it is looking and then take on specific responsibilities.
JUNE 2, 2012 ANNUAL MEETING
NHMA Annual Meeting
Saturday, June 2nd 2012 1.30 PM
Minutes
1. Attendance:
Laura Mammarelli (president), Gail Bannon (membership secretary), Deb Hogan (IT
specialist), Chris Brown (recording secretary). Apologies from Erin Woo (treasurer) and Juliet
Fleisher (Vice President)
2. Minutes:
Review and acceptance of minutes from last meeting.
3. Reports from committees and officers:
a) Laura will forward updated Treasurer's report to all attendees this week.
b) Membership secretary reports approx. 30 members in good standing.
c) IT reports that Constant Contact working well. A paragraph with photos about today's
workshop will be circulated, after approval by President.
4. Old Business:
Officers are not due for re-election until Spring of 2013.
Teachers' blog. Laura will contact website coordinator to set up. Teachers will need to
subscribe. Board members will then post at least one short entry each month to initiate use.
5. New Business:
a) Bylaws will be left as standing for now. Annual meeting will be continue to held in
Spring, without a workshop. Plans for the complete upcoming year will be made at these
meetings.
b) Next meeting will hopefully be held at Bedford Montessori on August 20th, if MissE
Carolan is available on that date to run her Math update workshop. A meeting will be held
afterwards.
c) A request for notes on today's workshop was discussed. Gail agreed to forward her
document and will refine the workshop. She may then possibly repeat at a later date.
Workshop paragraph will also be added to website.
d) The Board is exploring plans to move away from quarterly workshops to one all-day
session in mid-August each year. Board members will come to the August 20th meeting with
questions and ideas for this format. If approved, Gail Bannon volunteered to begin the work
of approaching good presenters.
e) Deb Hogan volunteered to set up a NHMA facebook page, as an added way for us to
expand our mission to raise awareness of Montessori around the state and to connect to
other Montessori teachers and schools. Members will have to have their own personal
facebook accounts to access this page and to post to it.
6. Meeting adjourned at 3.00 PM
Submitted by Christine Brown
NHMA Board Meeting 2011 Notes
Monday, June 13th 2011
Present: Laura Mammarelli (President), Erin Woo (Treasurer), Chris Brown (Secretary), Gail Bannon (Membership Secretary), Deb Hogan (IT guru!).
Principal agenda item: Website, uses and regular servicing.
A wide ranging discussion ensued on how we use the various current technologies to provide for the needs of the organization.
Principle items that were agreed on:
a) Website should provide a link between member schools and possible parents/employees.
c) There is a need for authentic Montessori communication between teachers, and possibly between school administrators. Deb will set up a Constant Contact account for NHMA. We will also make sure that communication from NHMA is tailored to our Montessori membership.
d) The possibility of a teachers' blog that was discussed. Also a monthly newsletter is being considered that would be posted on the website, again just once a month, with all relevant information in it, to avoid overloading members' in-boxes too much.
Administrators may set up a "linked-in" account to communicate between each other. and once some of these changes are in place, we may use Survey Monkey to get feedback from members.
submitted by Chris Brown
======================================================================
March 2011 Meeting Notes
Meet NHMA
March 25, 2011
Newport Montessori School
Annual Meeting
Present: Janice Nichipor, Sher Loomis, Juliet Fleischer, Erin Woo, Jordan McDaniel, Christy Whipple, Laura Mammarelli
1. We accepted the minutes from the last meeting.
2. We proposed that we have one person manage certain areas, with others contributing.
Membership-Gail Bannon
Website-Laura Mammarelli will work on bringing someone in on maintaining the website.
Workshop planning.
NHMA organization events.
3. Erin presented the financial information and the list of current members.
4. For Gail, Laura presented the new brochures Gail has designed and printed, costing the organization nothing. They will be shared at meetings and mailed to schools to encourage members. Gail will work on building membership in the summer.
5. Laura will work on compiling school information in an excel spread sheet during the summer. (Thank you to Carol Dodge at Newport Montessori for sharing her document that we can use). We will work on updating the website.
6. We will discuss whether we want to continue with quarterly workshops, or try a larger, annual event, incorporating the annual meeting.
7. Members will vote by email for officers this month:
President-Laura Mammarelli
Vice president-Juliet Fleischer
Treasurer-Erin Woo
Secretary-Chris Brown
Membership coordinator-Gail Bannon.
8. The officers will meet in June to plan for the next year.
9. Those present felt that the statewide open house has not been as effective as expected-mostly because the scheduling is not convenient for different programs.
10. We would like to continue with participating in the International Day of Peace in September, which schools promote in their own communities.
11. When the next meeting is planned the announcement will be sent to the email list.
Submitted by Laura Mammarelli
