Term Limits - MACUL Board Votes Again to Remove Them - Vote NO

[Frank Miracola]

A few months ago the MACUL Board asked members to vote to remove the wording in the bylaws that limits Board members to four terms. You voted and the resolution did not get the necessary votes to have it removed. When the measure was presented last time 14 MACUL Past Presidents wrote a letter to the Board stating their disagreement. The Board stated last time one of the reasons for the measure was that it is hard to get people to serve. The Past Presidents disagreed with that statement and every other offered as reasons to repeal term limits. With this measure and with any other concern the Board posed the Past Presidents offered to help. As a result, the Board was given names of nine educators willing to serve. Every candidate has teaching experience, four are currently in the classroom, three are instructional technology professionals, one is a Milken National Educator, two are National Board Certified teachers, and one is a past Michigan Teacher of the Year.
MACUL moves forward with new thinking, fresh ideas and with a Board that truly represents membership. Everyone agrees that having practitioners in the trenches, where the rubber meets the road, are the people who should be serving as MACUL Board members. (As a side note, currently there are at least three Board members who have retired from the profession and are collecting a pension.) I encourage you to think about the measure, think about what is right for the organization and agree with a large number of MACUL Past Presidents and vote NO on the motion to get rid of term limits. Do so soon. The polls open on November 1 and will close on December 15. Look for a message from Tim Camps with directions on how to vote.

Frank Miracola
MACUL Past President

[Jim Seitz]

Frank, thanks for the information about recent recruiting candidates for the board. I was not aware of this. Two years ago, when I was on the MACUL board, I chaired the board nominations committee. I did not have ANY trouble finding good people to run and two of them were elected. Last year, the board had fewer candidates running and I do NOT know why that happen. Later some very capable members told me they were interested in running, but they were not approached. With over 3,000 members, with some effort, there should NOT be any trouble finding good educators to run for the board. In 2008, I did not run for another term as I had retired and STRONGLY feel the MACUL Board is best served by those who are actively working in the education field, especially when there is such great talent in the organization to recruit. I greatly enjoyed my time on the board and hated to leave, but sometimes you just have to let go for the good of the many. However, I found there is "still life" after the board as I am still a member and now assist with the Model Classroom logistics before and during the conference. I think former board member retirees can offer much in other ways to MACUL.

Jim Seitz
Board member 2005-08

[Michael Partridge]

Frank:
I really appreciate the efforts you are making to make this issue known for people. When I got the email urging me to vote on this issue, I wondered if there was any "conversation" happening out here. Good to see that you have posted an opinion, and good to see that it's not the only post. :-)
Finding good people to serve on the board is a very legitimate concern, but I agree with you - there are a lot of people in MACUL and they are very capable of serving the membership as board members.
As the director of SIG WEB I have had the opportunity to work with a number of outstanding people in the special interest groups who are incredibly dedicated to our organization, serving in a leadership role on a smaller scale. Some of our current board members have served as part of the special interest groups. It seems to me that these special interest groups are a great place to look for future board members.
But the reality is that I have no idea how the board selects and nominates candidates. I don't recall seeing a call for nominations anywhere. I know some great educators who I would love to see in a leadership role. How do I get them involved? Is it "by invitation only?" Granted, I don't read every post on MACUL Space, so perhaps I missed it, but it seems to me that if you really want to get the word out, there are a number of great outlets.
In the end, I agree with you, Frank.
Term limits can be a really healthy thing.
I'll be voting "No."
Thanks for the comments!
:-)

[Frank Miracola]

Mike, you should be on the list I sent to the Board. If prior Boards of which many are current Board members did their due diligence they would not be asking members to remove the wording. If you have more names that should be added to the list let me know. I will be happy to forward them along. I, along with so many other past presidents, only want the best for the organization. We all agree that it takes new fresh thinking from people in the trenches to really keep MACUL on the right track. It is unheard of for this kind of thinking. In the past it was unwritten that you did not stay on for more than 6-8 years. It was also unwritten that if you retired you left the Board. Once is started to turn the Board did the right thing and put the wording in so people would move on. The mistake they made was grandfathering in existing Board members at that time and here we are now. What is really astounding to me is that they only have to be off the Board for one year and then they can do it all over again.

[Michael Champion]

When this discussion came up before I said that I would like to see at least three MACUL Board seats be filled by an elementary, middle, and high school “content area teacher”. This would be a classroom teacher who is not a Technology or Technology Lab teacher. Currently the MACUL board has two members who are classroom tech teachers. Ben’s holds that position in Mattawan. Another board member in a similar position is Gail Aldridge. She was a former middle school math teacher. Gail is now a technology integration specialist in the Delton Kellogg School system. Both are outstanding contributors and fine board members.
I stepped down from the MACUL Board in May. I was a 4th grade classroom teacher for almost ten years. Currently, I teach 7th grade science, a position I have occupied for the past five years. So in addition to a couple of seats occupied by Technology or Technology Lab teachers, I would love to see more seats occupied by regular classroom teachers who integrate technology tools into their content areas. I believe our membership will benefit from having more practicing teachers who have to juggle the day-to-day classroom curriculum content with the integration of technology that the MACUL organization promotes. I would like to see more Board members who have current experience with student classroom management and technology tools. My wish is for the MACUL organization to recruit teachers to become board members. We need more practitioners who try technology but have experience with figuring out ways to work with network restrictions, who cover GLCS, METS, and who have to deal with parents on a day-to-day basis.

How this will happen, I am unsure. Term limits could force a change. Maybe, the Board of Directors could create three more board seats? These seats would be classroom teachers. Frank Miracola and his group of MACUL Past Presidents have offered names of several possible candidates. Each person suggested has teaching experience, four are currently in the classroom, three are instructional technology professionals, one is a Milken National Educator, two are National Board Certified teachers, and one is a past Michigan Teacher of the Year. These suggestions seem like a good start to me. I have the upmost respect for Frank and I listen to his opinions. Frank used to be a 4th or 5th grade teacher. He worked in a regular classroom when he served as the President of MACUL.

[Andy Mann]

Frank, as a past Board member who stayed active after leaving the Board, I agree with your recommendation to vote "no" and keep the 4 term (8 year) term limit. I appreciate the work and dedication from those Board members leaving at the end of their term. After 8 years on the Board they can take their leadership and be even better change agents in their district.

New members have a difficult time being elected when incumbents run. This is the value of term limits. New Board members keep the organization fresh, with new ideas. I know some of the nominees who have expressed an interest in running for the Board. They would represent you well. Please vote No on the proposal to modify the MACUL Bylaws and eliminate term limits. And regardless of your opinion, it’s important that you vote and let your voice be heard.

[Jim Seitz]

All very good contributions by all of you to the discussion of this very important issue.

To maintain and improve its success, an organization's leadership has to look OUTWARD and not INWARD. This is paramount in the fast changing world of technology and why MACUL's history has been so exceptional. If this change is approved and organization continues to look inward and NOT outward, I fear as the rest of you seem to for MACUL's future.

[Frank Miracola]

Jim, you are so right, look outward not inward. Just think if this passes, instead of getting this great fresh blood on the Board you will have the same people running again. Makes no sense.

[Kevin J. Galbraith]

It is generally easier for incumbents to be reelected, so the possibility of someone being a Board Member "for life" is greater than one might think. I agree that our organization's leadership needs new members from time to time, for a variety of reasons.

If our bylaws need to be changed with regard to the Board's composition, I think something along the lines of how ISTE's Board is organized (balanced to reflect the membership) would be worth considering.

1. PK–12 Schools Representatives
2. Computer Science Representative
3. Teacher Education Representative
4. State Technology Director Representative
5. At-Large Representatives
6. International Representative
7. Special Interest Group Representative
8. Affiliate Representatives
9. Corporate Representatives
10. School District Administration Representative
11. Ex Officio Members

Until then, I cast my NO vote and encourage others to consider doing the same.

With apologies to Ben Franklin, "When we're finished changing, we're finished."

-Kevin
MACUL Board ('96-'01),
Past President, '00-'01.

[Frank Miracola]

You and Mike are thinking alike on this issue. I agree with both of you.

[Melinda Kolk]

This conversation represents what we LOVE about MACUL - selfless dedication to affecting positive change in education. It is pretty common for us to work with organizations that have had the same leadership for the past 15 years, resulting in conference sessions from the same people and a vision that was in line with education technology a long time ago, but not necessarily today. The leaders in these organizations are great, passionate educators, but it leads me to wonder how many more leaders are out there that we aren't grooming for the future.

I love looking at the MACUL board and leadership and seeing familiar faces, but it excites me even more when I look and see new faces that I don't yet know. I look forward to learning more from their perspectives and expanding my network of friends and mentors so that I do my job even better. I would assume new leadership would be smart enough to look to past leaders for insights and ideas and then implement new ideas and changes based on this knowledge, but in their own form.

Now for the hard part of figuring out how to promote a transition and new members, but I can see from your conversations you are already well on the way.

[Tim Kamps]

Hi Melinda,

What's interesting when you look at the actual numbers and people is that MACUL has had at least 31 different board members since 2002 and the current board is over 50% new in the last 4 election cycles. We are actively pursuing good candidates regardless of the voting results.

Looking forward to seeing you in March!