Sunday, February 22, 2004. NAPSG business meeting.

MS. BRIZINDINE: If you'll take your seats we'll get started. So well-behaved.

I'm Bodie Brizindine, and I'm delighted to welcome you to the NAPSG annual conference, and what promises to be an excellent program with a wonderful title, "Transitions." I think that word transitions will be echoed throughout our days here together.

I'd like to begin my report, mercifully brief that it will be, with a couple of thank-you's. I know many of you have done this before, and hopefully some of you will follow, but those who do the program do it for us. They do it on a volunteer basis, and they do it with tireless effort. The program chairs for this conference have been particularly hard at work, and I'd love to bring them up for just a moment to acknowledge them with a little something from California. You can guess what it is. Steve Blanchard, Gene Bratek, and Linda Gibbs, if they could come up. (Applause.)

The truth of it is, we don't always have a formal moment to close, and I have always missed this moment of being able to thank those who are volunteering on our behalf.

The second thank-you is of the same ilk, and that is to departing council members who have also served for us, making sure year after year that things go well. And so could I ask those who are here, when I call your name, to stand, so that the membership may be able to thank you. Priscilla Sands, Kristi Kerins, Dulany Bennett, Gene Bratek, Kay Cowan, and Lourdes Cowgill. (Applause.)

And in continuing with my report briefly, I want to let you know that we are still in the process of searching for an executive director. We have been working with Edes Gilbert and RG Group 175, and she's been fabulous. We're down to the finalist round, and the membership will probably be hearing from us shortly. I wanted to give you an update on that.

Secondly, I'm pleased to announce that we have two sites for year 2004 and 2005 for hosting our leadership seminar. Once again, Burch Ford has taken the program under her wing through Miss Porter's next year, in 2004, and Pam Clark at St. Paul's Summit in Minneapolis in 2005. So we're delighted for this program to be on a yearly basis, and we encourage you, all heads of schools, if you don't know much about it, to join Liza and me for lunch on Monday so we can tell you a little bit about the program and why we think it's so important for furthering women in leadership, one of our absolute charges. So please do join us for lunch on that day.

Without further ado, I'd like at this point to call on our visitor from Canada, Paul Duckett, who is representing CAIS. Paul.

MR. DUCKETT: I thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. I was in conversation with someone earlier this afternoon who recognized that I had an English accent. I actually was born in England. Canada is my adopted home. And one thing about England and some regions in Canada, they have an absolutely wonderful climate, but absolutely the lousiest weather. And I think for the last month, where I have come from, the average daytime temperature has been about minus 20 degrees centigrade, which is I think about minus 4 degrees in US currency, so you'll understand just how cold that is. So you can imagine it's with a profound sense of duty that I got on a plane to be here for this conference, to which I always look forward, and of course, had a very warm invitation.

Canadian Association of Independent Schools has about 75 schools in the membership, and it's really a fledgling organization by comparison to many, and I think we have been doing some important work over the last few years, and certainly working very hard in terms of professionally developing people in the independent school system and trying to promote the independent school system as a way of life, of course, for young children.

But we are open-minded, and we are always looking for new ideas, and it's particularly good for us to come to other countries and see how other people do things, particularly our colleagues in the United States. We always love to come down here and meet with you and work with you. So I look forward to talking with many of you over the next few days and perhaps seeing some of you at the NAIS conference in Montreal, which is coming up very soon.

I'd like to thank you for the invitation to be here. It's very nice to be here. Thank you for your hospitality, and I bring you greetings from all of your colleagues in the Canadian system north of the border. So thank you very much. (Applause.)

MS. BRIZINDINE: Could I ask Jerry Katz to come forward and share with us his trip to GSA?

MR. KATZ: I'm Jerry Katz, Park School in Brookline, Massachusetts. It's not quite as cold as Canada, but it's wonderful to be here and wonderful for my wife and me to represent this group to the Girls School Association of Great Britain in November in St. Andrews, Scotland. We were on sabbatical -- a wonderful good fortune for us -- and had the opportunity to head up to Scotland after some wonderful time in southern Europe.

We were totally engaged and enthralled by the conference that we joined there. As the head of a co-ed school, I have learned a great deal as a member of this organization, and I must say that I found myself feeling, at the Girls School Association in Britain, more self-conscious about being a co-ed school head than in being the American representative.

There are striking differences between this organization and ours, and of course, some striking similarities, as well. They are big on style. The setting was quite spectacular. For those of you who are familiar with St. Andrews, we were out between the moors and the sea, right near the home of golf. We had fireworks over the moors the first evening and a black tie dinner the second evening, so I would say the Girls School Association knows how to gather and celebrate one another.

In terms of substance, two things were fascinating to me. First, I heard many references of comparison to the world of boys' schools in Great Britain, and that was striking in its difference from the conversation that I have experienced in 11 years as a member of this association. I think they are following with more interest the parallel experience of boys' schools in their nation than I have certainly experienced here.

The other interesting aspect of the program was its emphasis on government curriculum reform and government testing. And I was frankly surprised, knowing little about the British education system, to learn the degree to which independent schools there are bound, as are their public schools, by government guidelines. There was much discussion about the Year 17 reforms, which are really impacting the way in which they think about and go about the business of secondary education.

It was a wonderful experience. I think the ties between our associations are important. I was disappointed that they do not have a representative here this year, but I hope that we will work to stay in touch with one another.

In closing, I would say for those of you who have been to Scotland, you have probably been told, as we were, that you haven't really been there until you have tasted something called haggis. And I'm afraid that I haven't really been there, but my wife has. Thank you. (Applause.)

MS. BRIZINDINE: Carol, would you like to come up and share some housekeeping with us? Fireworks, maybe?

MS. LANE: No. Actually haggis. Since I'm half Scot, I will reassure Jerry that the only way to eat haggis is with lots and lots of single-malt scotch.

I just wanted to tell you all that all of our events for the next three days, with two exceptions which I will tell you about later, but for tonight and all of tomorrow and Tuesday will be on this floor. Our dinner is right next door. The reception will be outside. So you really don't have far to wander and no excuse to get lost.

I will do my usual name tag lecture, which I do every year, because people keep asking me what the colors mean. They are listed in your program, but just to remind you again, I'll tell you yellow means council and honorary members. Blue is speakers, spouses, and guests. Red are new members. And green is everybody else. So the greens are supposed to look out very carefully for the reds, and I hope you do that and welcome our new members and they can feel comfortable here.

For dinner tonight, again, those of you who are used to coming to these know that this is a seated dinner with assigned seats. I would ask you to look at your name tag. The number in the corner of your name tag is your seat number or your table number. Those numbers are also listed on the attendance list, but there are some changes that I had to make, so the definitive table number is the one on your name tag. If you have any problems or trouble, I will be right outside and will certainly find a place to have you seated. But I'm hoping that when the music stops, nobody's left standing. Thank you.

MS. BRIZINDINE: We'll begin with a report, and to save the popping up and down, I'm going to ask you to follow your program and we'll begin with Deborah giving our report from the treasurer.

MS. RICHMAN: Thank you, Bodie. I have the job that no one wants, but I'm pleased to have this job and to report that we ended the 2002/2003 fiscal year with a net surplus of $33,067, and this year looks equally promising. Based on income derived from annual dues, 328 schools, 28 colleges, and 108 affiliates, and income from registration for our conference, which we approximate at about 256, we expect to end the 2003/2004 fiscal year with a small operating surplus. To date, our statement of assets including petty cash, checking, money market, and CD, shows a healthy reserve of $235,497. Thank you.

MR. BLANCHARD: My name is Steve Blanchard, and I have got some happy news again about membership. We're a very stable organization. We have 543 active school members. College members: 28, slightly down. Honorary members, we have 17. 108 affiliate members. Net members, total of 693. A very stable group.

The council this afternoon voted in several new schools, and I'd like to announce those now and then ask the heads to please stand, if they're present. One is the Marist School in Atlanta. Durham Academy, Gill St. Bernard's, St. Matthew's Parish School in Pacific Palisades. If their heads or representatives are here, will you please stand and let us welcome you warmly. (Applause.)

Thank you, Ed, for being here. I appreciate that.

The other thing I would just like to say to everybody that has a red tag, would you please stand up? Everybody that has a red tag. I want to go a little bit farther and say get to know these people. They're our newest members and representatives from schools, and I'm going to hold you to it because we're the greatest, friendliest organization around. So please welcome them very personally. Take look at their faces and make them welcome. Thank you.

MS. BRIZINDINE: Priscilla couldn't be here, so I'm giving the report for the nominating committee.

The nominating committee recommends that the following slate of officers be elected by the membership at the annual meeting today, all terms to run until the annual meeting of 2007. Treasurer, Marlene Davis, from the Marshall School.

Secretary, Mary Lou Leipheimer, from Foxcroft School.

Vice president for Region II, Ellen Stein from The Dalton School.

Vice president, Region IV, Bill Christ from Hathaway Brown in Ohio.

Motion to accept, please. (So moved.) Second? (Second.) Any discussion? All in favor, say, "Aye." Thank you very much.

At its meeting on November 8, the council also appointed the following, effective February 22nd, 2004, to serve until the annual meeting of 2007. Council members at large. Joan Beauregard from St. Thomas School and Woody Price from Abington Friends in Pennsylvania. Thank you very much.

MR. SHAHAN: Some time ago this organization adopted a code of ethics. It has become our practice to have the secretary read this code annually at this meeting in the hopes, I suspect, that that will be beneficial for all of us.

"The head of school will not offer a position to a teacher of another independent school without first notifying the principal of that school.

"A head will not seek to induce a teacher who has signed a contract for the ensuing school year to break this contract.

"A head of school will not seek to enroll a pupil who has enrolled in another school. School heads will inform their representatives of this policy.

"The head of school will not accept a new pupil transferred by parents from another school without first consulting the head of the previous school to discuss cause of leaving, character of pupil, and discharge of financial obligations to the previous school.

"Heads of schools, while recognizing the necessity of giving financial aid to some students, will not permit such offers of assistance to be used as a basis of bargaining. School heads will notify their directors of admissions of this policy.

"Correspondence between heads about pupils and parents or concerning teachers is absolutely confidential."

Thank you.