Together

Your ECOO Board of Directors met on Monday, November 9th for the regular ECOO business meeting.  The meeting commenced with the reading of the ECOO’s Human Rights Statement.

Highlights from the November 9th  meeting include include:  

Nominations Committee Report: The Board received the report from Lisa Noble, Chair of the Nominations Committee, 2020.  The Call for Nominations for the ECOO Board went live on September 16th, and closed November 7th. Nominations were received for all vacant positions, including President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, two 2-year Director-At-Large positions, and one Year 2 of 2 Director-at-Large (one year backfill) position. No vacancies received multiple nominations, and therefore nominees will be acclaimed and announced by Lisa at the 2020 Annual General Meeting on December 16th, 2020.

ECOOcampON 2020 and Fall Support Series:  Mary Walker Hope, ECOOcampON Chair, provided a final report on the summer’s virtual conference, and gave an update on the recently announced Support Series – Fall 2020. Registered participants from ECOOcampON can attend the new events in November-December at no cost. New registrants can join the Support Series at a reduced fee of $15 and will also receive access to the 100+ recordings and 80+ slide decks/resources from the August ECOOcampON virtual conference. Plans are underway for a follow-on Winter Support Series for January and February. 

BIT/OASBO Conference Update: David Carruthers, Conference Chair, provided an update on the work undertaken over the term of the 2019-20 Board. The conference Admin team negotiated a new Memorandum of Understanding with OASBO-ICT which was approved in principle by both parties. The Admin team then developed and approved the budget for the Bring IT, Together! #BIT20 event, but the arrival of the COVID pandemic then led to the subsequent cancellation of the face-to-face event. Additional discussions took place through the intervening months with regards to the potential timing for a return to a face-to-face event. Given the current ongoing disruptions to normal School Board operations within this school year, no plans will be made to undertake an in-person event under the current conditions. 

Outreach:  The ECOO Board discussed a number of recent contacts with other organizations. News has arrived from TVOntario about the pending decommissioning of their Teach Ontario platform this December. We will work with TVO over the next couple of weeks to transfer ECOO resources from their site and incorporate them into the ECOO web presence. 

Membership, Sponsorships, and Partnerships: Plans continue to evolve surrounding expansion of the membership, sponsorship, and partnership initiatives. The Board will meet again in November to sort out a number of interrelated developments in this area. Members should watch for an email later this month related to membership and member features. 

Revision to ECOO Bylaw: Draft revisions to the corporate bylaw were reviewed. The Board hopes to consolidate a number of final changes so that a Notice of Motion can be provided to the membership in early December and then the revised Bylaw can be confirmed by the membership at the AGM. 

Board Transition Procedures;  The Board is reviewing a number of documents to streamline the transition process between the outgoing 2019-20 Board and the incoming 2020-21 Board in December. 

Fiscal Year Review, Financial Update, Budget: The Board received the Review Engagement for the fiscal year 2019-20, along with Financial Statements. A number of questions were raised which will be pursued with the accounting firm. The Board has taken a number of necessary steps this year in light of decreased attendance at the BIT conferences in 2018 and 2019, and the anticipated effects of the continuing pandemic on the near future. The Board will bring the approved budget to the membership at the AGM. 

Annual General Meeting 2020: The draft agenda for the 2020 AGM was reviewed. ECOO members are reminded that the annual general members’ meeting will take place on Wednesday, December 16th at 8:00 pm. Details will be forwarded to members via email closer to the event.