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Hello,
NET Members!
Welcome to the November NETwork.
This month the NET is one year old—a
time to reflect and say thank you. Several of our members opened
important doors and accomplished significant things. Read all about "The
NET's Best and Brightest of 2007."
What's
up with NCLB? Gridlock, which might be a good thing. Kids in schools
might benefit if no bill is passed until 2009. That could happen if
Congress can't reach a compromise quickly, because the elections
might move NCLB offstage through 2008. In 2009 we would have a
different president and a somewhat different Congress. We would have
had another year to press our case. This past year has seen the
proposals improve in some respects, due to pressure from groups such
as the NET. Another year of pressure could see them improve more.
Last
month's letter-writing campaign resulted in some
successes (see "Three great letters") and some failures. It
identified which chairs and committees can conduct NET business. It taught me a lesson about how to organize
such a campaign: 1) Give all of the directions at the same time.
2) Make sure all steps are included, make sure they are clear, and in one accessible place (e.g., a web page—see the letter-writing link).
Committees still have time to write to their representatives.
Some committee chairs, realizing that they could not provide
leadership to their committees, wisely resigned. I thank them for
that. The NET has a third membership category, General Member, for
people who support the NET but are too busy to serve on committees. Many of our
most valued members are in the General category.
So if you are an over-extended chair or committee member, consider this option. On the other hand, if you have time to perform
NET tasks and wish to join a
committee, please contact me. If you wish to chair a committee, then
monitor
the NET's Committees pages (the link is at the top of
this page) to see which spots open up over the next few weeks.
Another
important item: The upcoming year needs to be a fundraising year. We
are a 501(c)-3 nonprofit organization, which makes all donations tax
deductible. I
solicit your aid and suggestions on raising money.
Last
but not least, in the year ahead the NET is going to establish
formal alliances with other like-minded organizations. Such alliances can
reduce redundancy among our groups as well as create greater
brain pools and larger spheres of influence. I am excited
about this initiative. Please suggest organizations that we
should approach.
Let's catch the children left behind.
Warm
regards,
Dennis
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