At a Glance
The Lancaster County Career and Technical Center (LCCTC) recently revised Occupational Advisory Committee (OAC) agenda and meeting minutes templates to ensure meetings provide evidence of committee approvals and the institution of Robert’s Rules of Order, an in-depth guide to parliamentary procedures, to clearly indicate when items are recommended by the OAC.
Description
Garnering feedback and suggestions from OACs assures that all career and technical programs operate at high levels and are aligned to industry standards. The decision to improve how OAC meetings are conducted and recorded provides LCCTC staff and administration with a foundation to ensure OAC meetings are effective and feedback that captures OAC members recommendations and responses is documented.
Career and Technical Distinguished School Leaders (CTDSL), Dr. James Kraft and LCCTC Supervisor of Curriculum and Special Projects, Mr. Michael Moeller, teamed up to present the revised OAC meeting format at the October 2021 In-service Day which was delivered online to the faculty of LCCTC. In order to ease into the topic of Robert’s Rules, they chose to use video clips of actor Robert De Niro to drive home the points and to create some levity into what may be considered a dry topic. Robert’s Rules of Order is a component of facilitating an OAC meeting that can be daunting and uncomfortable to many career and technical educators. The key is to accurately capture the industry member’s dialog, motions and votes within the meeting minutes. The OAC template was designed to take the guessing out of the process by indicating the items within the sections of the agenda that require more detail and motions and votes. The agenda template aligns with Robert’s Rules as a way to ensure motions and approvals are captured in the minutes. Teachers were informed that the template was not a requirement for the upcoming fall OAC meeting; however the training that was provided was designed to prepare the faculty for facilitating a meeting and the training was received quite well.
LCCTC piloted the revised process for recording minutes during Spring 2022 OAC meetings for several programs and received feedback from instructors. Feedback indicated that the new templates for OAC agendas and minutes were well received and seen as valuable tools to improve and enhance OAC meetings. As a result, in the Fall of 2022, all programs used the revised agenda and meeting minutes templates. The goal was to provide administration and faculty with the requirements for running, documenting, and responding to OAC minutes. This was to support new staff and reinforce the requirements with veteran staff members., LCCTC plans to include the OAC template training in the revised teacher induction plan.
Impact
The agenda helped to ensure that OAC committees receive administrator responses as part of the minutes. A separate area in the minutes is dedicated to an administrative response, so that all recommendations are addressed in one section and do not need to be looked for within different areas of the minutes. This will result in more efficient program revisions for task changes, certifications, classroom and lab upgrades, and equipment.
Contact
Lancaster County Career and Technology Center
Michael Moeller, Supervisor of Curriculum & Special Projects
Email: mmoeller@lancasterctc.edu
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