Summary of Board Meeting

Your ECOO Board of Directors met on Monday, May 4th, 2020 for its regular monthly meeting.  The meeting commenced with a round-the-table wellness check-in, followed with the reading of the Board’s Human Rights Statement. 

The Board continues to plan for ongoing activities to help you through these unprecedented times and to enhance your membership in the organization. Please keep tabs on ECOO.org and your email for further information and activity in the coming days.

Highlights from the May 4th meeting include include:   

Pandemic Response – Since our emergency response meeting on April 6th, the Board has implemented a number of items to support Ontario educators and learners in coping with the pandemic.

Our message of collaboration and working together is supported by the hashtag #OntarioEducatorsUnited.  Tweets celebrating the efforts of our peers and promoting the concept of personal wellness continue daily. 

The ECOO.org website has undergone both a face-life and a significant increase in features to include:

• • • School Boards COVID-19 resources
    • Online Tools
    • Coding Platforms
    • Subject Associations
    • Wellness. 

In addition, an Upcoming Events section features online events of interest to our members and educators in general.  Members are invited to submit resources and events via the Suggest a resource and the Tell us about your event links on the respective pages. 

More than 20 new posts have been made over the past three weeks, highlighting new content on the site. Page visits in April exceeded those of all other months since October 2014. 

Our Ontario: Learning Together at Home podcast has 10 episodes completed and posted. An further 11 interviews are in varying stages of production, with additional invitations extended and awaiting confirmation. 

BIT20 Update – The Conference Administrative committee has confirmed that BIT20 will take the form of an online/virtual event sometime this fall. Details will be developed and will take into account the teaching/learning conditions in place at the time. Date and format yet to be determined. The committee is also investigating options for a venue for a possible BIT21 face-to-face event. 

ECOO Update – ECOO Updates mailings to the membership and Life Members continue to show a much higher engagement than the industry average with open rates ranging between 55 and 80%. Members can now update their membership profile via a personalized link within their ECOO Update email. 

Membership – The former spreadsheet-based sign-up form has transitioned to a new form integrated with our mailing list software.  Membership has increased on the order of 10% since the new form was implemented two weeks ago. 

Special interest Groups – The two new Special Interest Groups (SIG-TELL and SIG-C4G) are up and running under the leadership of Harry Niezen and Tim King respectively. Following a recent meeting with TVOntario, further work will be undertaken regarding the existing SIGs on that platform: SIG-Elementary, SIG-Secondary, and SIG-Cybersecurity.  Melanie will coordinate the work in that area. 

Bylaw Review – A committee was struck to review our current Bylaw and make recommendations to the Board regarding potential revisions. 

Treasurer’s Report – The Board received the Statement of Financial Position and Statement of Operations for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2020.  

The Board enjoyed a positive, caring, collaborative meeting and looks forward to continuing to serve the membership in the months ahead.  

May the 4th be with you always.