Organization Maturity

The structure of the organization’s quarterly meeting format was once again a topic of review.  At the 1990 planning meeting, an ad hoc committee made recommendations to strengthen the organization:

·          Experiment with a Friday in-service, luncheon and speaker, and a Saturday business and board of directors meeting;

·          Experiment with an alternative activity to attending the board of director meetings;

·          Give the host college time on the program to present unique local activities;

·          Urge district directors to participate with their boards at quarterly meetings;

·          Consider a joint in-service with the state board; and

·          Maintain Association regular representation at state VTAE board meetings.

Participation in Association quarterly meetings had continually expanded throughout the 1980’s.  In January of 1991, a new item was instituted called the “open forum.”  It provided an opportunity for any member to bring any issue before the board of directors and membership.  It lives on today in the form of “special sessions” and “town hall meetings” supplementing the regular in-service from time-to-time.

Until 1992, Association committees were comprised of members as appointed by the president.  A dynamic change was undertaken in April 1992 when the Association requested that each local district board, as a part of its July organizational meeting, select its own representative to the Association’s committees.

State Director York, speaking at the August 28, 1992, planning meeting, noted the Association’s growing clout: “Your office reception and planning meeting reflects one of the many good things I see happening.  You can send out invitations, but it doesn’t mean people will turn out.  When people like UW president Katherine Lyall, Secretary of the Department of Administration Jim Klauser, Orlando Canto, the Department of Administration chief policy analyst, Ken Cole, executive director of the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, Jim Haney, president of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, and many others attend, you should be complimented.”31

The Association in the 1980’s had entertained two committees related to labor negotiations, the mediation/arbitration committee in 1985, followed by the cost containment/labor negotiations committee.  Fox Valley’s Harland Kirchner chaired these committees and was a driving force at encouraging cooperation in the collective bargaining arena.  By 1990, a collaborative affiliation had been formed between the administrators association’s personnel committee, Marion Smith of the Mulcahy and Wherry law firm of Milwaukee, and the Boards Association.

In early 1990, the committee name was changed to human resources committee, to better reflect the intent and purpose of members.  Board members on the committee felt strongly that there was a need to better educate members on human resource management and labor negotiations.  In January of 1991, the committee recommended the Association develop a comprehensive in-service education program on labor negotiations and human resources management.  The committee’s efforts had a strong impact on educating board members on their role in collective bargaining and moved the 16 districts forward in collaborating in this arena.

In 1994, the state VTAE board, after years of debate, led a change of the system’s name to the Wisconsin Technical College System.  This action opened the door for the Asso