Committee Meetings
December 4, 2003
October 2, 2003
August 7, 2003
June 12, 2003
April 4, 2003
February 6, 2003
2002 Meetings
2001 Meetings
2000 Meetings
Meetings of the Statewide NIE
Committee are held at the New Jersey Press
Association's offices: 810 Bear Tavern Road, Suite 307, West Trenton, N.J. Our phone number is
(609) 406-0600 (dial ext. 0 for the
receptionist).
The NJPA offices are located in
the Mountain View Office Park, which is adjacent
to Exit 2 of Interstate 95 in central New Jersey
... less than two miles north of the Delaware
River bridge (the Scudders Falls Bridge) linking
New Jersey and Pennsylvania. (NOT exit
2 of the New Jersey Turnpike, which is just north
of the Delaware Memorial Bridge leading to/from
I-95 in the state of Delaware)
When leaving I-95 at Exit 2,
turn left at the top of the exit ramp. Then turn
right at the first traffic signal to enter the
Mountain View Office Park.
Our offices are on the third
floor of Building 840, which is clearly marked on
the top of the building.
For detailed directions to
NJPA's headquarters, click here.
Minutes of
the December 4, 2003, Meeting
The meeting was held at
the New Jersey Press Association offices in West
Trenton and began at 11 a.m.
ATTENDING:
Cynthia Forster (Chair), Shirley Sasor
(Vice-Chair), Tom Engleman (NJPF), Antonette
Bomentre-Walter, Steve Gondelman, Wendy Halle,
Liza Mattison, Jeanne Schexnider, Lee Williams
MINUTES:
The minutes from the meeting of October 2,
200,3 were distributed and approved, with one
correction: Antonette Bomentre-Walter was
present.
GUEST SPEAKER
Dr. Ken Hartman, New Jersey School Counselors
Association; NBC-10 Philadelphia; University of
Pennsylvania. Web Address: www.techcounselor.org.
Email: kenhartman@comcast.net.
Dr. Hartman developed a training CD for school
counselors on how to use technology. He was then
challenged by the Los Angeles Unified School
District to do a similar project for parents and
students on the topic: “Everything Parents
& Students Need To Know About The Road To
College”. Copies of this CD were distributed
to committee members. Hartman's next goal is to
develop a monthly e-newsletter for parents. He is
now looking for sponsors and partners to add
their message to the CD and help get it into the
hands of all parents. He has a distribution
mechanism – school counselors. He needs
financial partners. He emphasized that CDs can be
individualized for specific geographic areas and
can also be a sales incentive for advertisers.
Would our committee have any interest in
partnering on this project? Antonette motioned
that we individually review the CD first and
discuss it at the next meeting in February. Tom
will see if the New Jersey Newspaper Network has
any interest.
OLD BUSINESS:
Regional NIE Conference: Liza Mattison
reported that the Pennsylvania NIE Committee is
planning a Regional NIE Conference in Hershey on
June 17-18, 2004. The topic of the conference is
fundraising and will include sessions on
salesmanship and grant writing. The cost is $85.
They expect to make a profit of $20 per person,
which will be used as seed money for future
events. Steve volunteered to be our liaison with
the Pennsylvania NIE Committee.
Essay Contest Update: The winning
essays – one middle school and one high
school essay per newspaper – are due to Tom
at the NJPF by January 15. Discussion: Should we
have required articles from our own newspapers?
Consensus: this was not in the rules, although it
might have been a good idea. Basically, the goal
was to make a newspaper connection. Tom needs to
know: 1) total number of entries received by each
participating newspaper, 2) how many schools
participated, broken down by middle and high
schools, 3) number of classrooms that
participated, if known, and 4) what each
newspaper did to promote the contest. Committee
members were interested in knowing what
individual newspapers gave out as rewards for
local winners. Of those who reviewed their
entries, most commented that the number of high
school entries was up significantly from last
year.
NJEA Convention: Committee members
noted that it went well. Miss New Jersey signed
posters. Tom reported that the total cost of the
booth and printing of the posters was $3,105.
In-Print Articles: Not everyone is
submitting an article, as assigned. The upcoming
schedule is: January – Lee Williams;
February – Peggy Maier; March – Melissa
Feliciano; April – Cynthia Forster. Steve
offered to write articles if given a 10-day
advance notice.
Discussion: How are newspapers placed
in the schools? Are they used educationally or
just dumped on school doorsteps for circulation
numbers? This discussion needs to be added to a
future agenda.
NEW BUSINESS:
First Amendment Project: Cynthia is
continuing to look into this and will get back to
committee members. She is trying to negotiate a
group rate for the “Freedom” curriculum
guide.
NIE Week: Any ideas? Shirley suggested
doing more with the “Making My Community
Better” essays, perhaps developing a
compilation.
Gifted Child Conference: Every year,
the statewide NIE Committee has been represented.
Cynthia has not yet heard about next year's event
and will call Jackie Mickelburgh to follow-up.
Jackie has represented us at past meetings.
NJPA Advertising/Circulation Meeting: April
30, 2004, Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. For
the last two years, our committee has sponsored a
speaker at this event. It was agreed this year's
topics would be: Increasing Circulation: Securing
Corporate Dollars For Your NIE Program. Shirley
offered to find two speakers, one a professional
fundraiser and another a corporate funder. Tom
will also sit on this panel to represent the NJPF
efforts at fund-raising for NIE. It will be a
one-hour presentation.
Sharing: Tom suggested committee
members invite other committee members to their
workshops, and also consider using the resources
and expertise of others in our group to give
workshops.
Tabs Handed Out: Financial Literacy Tab
(Cynthia); Gangs (Liza Mattison)
The meeting adjourned at 2:00 pm.
Next Meeting: Thursday, Feb. 5, 2004
Respectfully Submitted 12/4/03 by Shirley
J. Sasor
Minutes of
the October 2, 2003, Meeting
The meeting was held at
the New Jersey Press Association offices in West
Trenton and began at 11 a.m.
Attending: Cynthia Forster,
Jackie Wilson, Foundation Director Tom Engleman,
Steve Gondelman, Millie Kerner, Peggy Maier, Lee
Williams, Liza Mattison, Jackie MicKelburgh,
Jeanne Schexnider, Wendy Halle, Antonette
Bomentre-Walter.
Old Business: Minutes were
approved from the August meeting. An update was
given on the Miss New Jersey poster, which is
being printed by The Record. Cynthia Forster is
facilitating. The Press of Atlantic City was
taking the photo of Miss NJ and this still needs
to be done. Steve Gondelman is facilitating.
Members asked that Shirley Sasor be contacted to
make sure that Miss NJ will be present at the
Teachers' Convention to sign autographs.
A listing of members who are available to
staff the NIE Statewide booths at the convention
was made. It included: Millie Kerner, Ziggy
Wozniak, Jackie Wilson, Liza Mattison, Lee
Williams, Wendy Halle, Jeanne Schexnider,
Antonette Bomentre-Walter, Peggy Maier, Steve
Gondelman, Tom Engleman, and Cynthia Forster.
Members distributed the tri-fold listing of
NIE contacts in the state for updating by
Antonette and printed by the Burlington County
Times. These will be given out at the convention.
Discussion was also held about the essay
contest. Wendy Halle agreed to contact the NAA
Foundation about a guide on citizenship that was
available for distribution to the newspapers.
This guide, at $10 per copy, was less money than
other vendor products, and it was thought that it
would serve the purpose.
There was also discussion about inviting the
potential essay winners to the Press Association
Presidents' Dinner. Jackie Mickelburgh felt that
parents of the winners should not have to pay the
entire amount and perhaps half of the cost could
be defrayed, using the funds that were not spent
on purchasing a study guide. This will be
discussed further.
New Business: Steve Gondelman
gave an update on a proposed regional NIE
conference that would include NJ and surrounding
states. Liza Mattison noted that Pennsylvania is
hosting a regional conference next June in
Harrisburg. Steve then said we should rethink the
date, and perhaps think of 2005. The location
would be the Jersey shore, and the event would be
1 and _ days, with a 1 night stay. Steve will
pursue this further.
Cynthia Forster asked members to consider
speakers for the Spring Circulation Conference
which is to be held in the spring. This will also
be considered at the next meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted:
Cynthia Forster, Chair
Minutes of
the August 7, 2003, Meeting
Attending: Cynthia
Forster (Chair), Shirley Sasor (Co-Chair),
Antonette Bomentre-Walter, Steve Gondelman, Wendy
Halle, Milli Kerner, Peggy Maier, Jeanne
Schexnider, Jackie Wilson
Presentation on Spelling
Bees: Barney Gallassio (Advocate/Judge of
Spelling Bees)
Mr. Gallassio talked informally
with the group about his passion for spelling
bees. According to his count, there are 19 daily
newspapers in New Jersey but only seven
participate in statewide spelling bees. He was
curious why. The group response was that spelling
bees are very expensive and labor intensive. He
noted that at the national level, the winner
typically comes from a state that sends only one
state representative. The committee favored this
idea – sending one statewide champion rather
than multiple newspapers each sending a
representative to Washington, D.C. The NIE
coordinators also said they would like to find
corporate sponsors for events such as this.
Minutes of the June 12
meeting were distributed. Steve moved to approve
and Milli seconded. Minutes were approved
unanimously, as submitted.
Old Business
Cynthia attended the NJPA
Foundation dinner in July to honor the 2002
statewide NIE essay contest winners. She reported
that only one of the six student winners
attended.
NJEA Booth: Tom
requested a double booth near where Certificates
of Attendance are issued. Antonette motioned that
individual papers be allowed to bring two
hand-outs per paper to display and distribute
during the convention, November 6 and 7. Motion
passed. Cynthia gave price quotes for producing
the posters: 11 x 14 would be $398 plus $150
set-up fee for $1,000. For full color, add apx.
$1,000. Committee members discussed size options,
and the consensus was to continue with what as
been done in the past. Since the poster promotes
literacy, Shirley suggested partnering with the
NJEA to help defray production expenses. Cynthia
will look into this. Committee members should
email Cynthia with new newspaper logos, if
appropriate, and also new educational materials
for the statewide hand-out, which needs updating,
along with the committee roster tri-fold.
National/Regional NIE
Meeting: Steve Gondelman
After discussion with Jim
Abbott, Steve reported that 2008 is earliest date
available to host the national NIE convention.
Also, our NIE Committee would need to provide
entertainment. These expenses raised the
question: Would our committee make a profit as
host? After further discussion, it was decided
not to pursue a national convention. Steve will
now focus his efforts on organizing a regional
meeting for October 2004. A committee was formed
to work with Steve: Antonette, Cynthia, and Liza,
who has recent experience from the Pennsylvania
convention. John O'Brien's name came up as
someone from NJPA who has experience organizing
large gatherings. His expertise will be
solicited. The next steps are to choose a theme
for the event, solicit vendors, and identify
workshop presenters.
Wachovia Grant: Cynthia
Forster
Wachovia awarded the committee
a $15,000 grant. The theme: Accentuate The
Positive was suggested. Jackie motioned to
accept, Milli seconded, and it was approved. To
narrow the focus more, the group discussed
additional topics including: By Being My Best,
How I Can Make My Community Better; Improving My
Community By Improving Myself; Self-Esteem; and
Making A Difference. Nothing further was agreed
upon. Antonette distributed hand-outs from a
similar contest she developed and ran for her
local paper. A timeline for the contest was
proposed: December 11 - deadline for entries to
individual newspapers; January 15 – deadline
to submit winning essays to Tom. Shirley
suggested reconsidering who we use as judges.
Perhaps this is something our publishers or
editors could do, to build support for the
project. Cynthia will discuss this with Tom.
Antonette suggested that the essay must
incorporate a reference to a newspaper article,
and the article should be attached. This led to a
discussion of the contest rules. The group
decided to add a no plagiarism rule, and a rule
that entries must include a reference to a
newspaper article. Additionally, Antonette moved
and Milli seconded that in order to qualify for
funding, newspapers must submit at least one
entry for judging and a final report (checklist
to be developed) that includes a discussion of
promotional efforts. Motions passed.
New Business
First Amendment Project:
Cynthia inquired if anyone is interested in doing
anything with this. Antonette agreed to contact
them for follow-up information.
Civic Education Consortium:
(Part of the Eagleton Institute) Cynthia was
approached by this group inquiring what
newspapers in the state were doing for teen
audiences. The group brainstormed and suggested
she mention Jeanne's paper, Teen Scene in
the Home News Tribune, Generation Next
in The Press of Atlantic City and Student
Voices.
Next Meeting: Thursday,
October 2, 2003
Summary of
the June 12, 2003, Meeting
The meeting was held at the
Trenton Marriott Hotel and began at 11 a.m.
ATTENDING:
Cynthia Forster (Chair),
Shirley Sasor (Vice-Chair), Tom Engleman (NJPA),
Antonette Bomentre-Walter, Robert Brown, John
DÌAchino, Steve Gondelman, Wendy Halle, Milli
Kerner, Peggy Maier, Jackie Mickelburgh, Andrea
Spaeth, Zygmunt Wozniak
MINUTES:
There was no business meeting
at the last NIE meeting in Atlantic City; no
minutes were taken.
OLD BUSINESS:
Those who attended the April
meeting with Jim Abbott summarized his
presentation. Discussion followed about how we
could package information about benefits of NIE.
Tom Engleman reported that the
grant request of $30,000 to sponsor a statewide
NIE essay contest is currently being reviewed by
the Hoffman Foundation. The committee voted to
accept the grant if awarded. Antonette offered to
chair a committee to review last year's contest
rules and guidelines. It is expected that the
format will remain the same: each newspaper will
be eligible to submit one middle and one high
school first place winner chosen locally. At the
state level, a first, second and third place
winner will be selected at each level, for a
total of six prizes. Student winners will be
invited to attend an awards dinner. It was
suggested that students be required to reference
information and research from a newspaper in
their essay. Ideas for topics included: bullying,
positive role models, and freedom of the press.
It also was suggested that newspapers must
receive a minimum number of local entries to
qualify for a cash distribution.
Cynthia summarized the national
NIE Convention in Chicago. Our committee won 3rd
place among statewide NIE Committees. Discussion
followed about organizing a regional NIE
conference in New Jersey for the fall of 2004.
Steve will chair a committee to look into this,
working through Jim Abbott.
OTHER BUSINESS:
InPrint Magazine: Please
remember to submit NIE articles to Missy Flynn in
accordance with the schedule previously
announced. Upcoming dates include: September -
Wendy; October - Julian. Send articles to
mflynn@njpa.org and add a brief blurb on
yourself.
NJEA Convention: Tom will
arrange for a double booth near the Certificate
of Attendance area. NIE coordinators will be
asked to volunteer to help staff the booth at the
next meeting. It was agreed to hand out posters
featuring Miss New Jersey once again. Shirley
Sasor will arrange for the photo shoot and
Cynthia will have the posters reproduced.
Summary of
the April 4, 2003, Meeting
The meeting began at about 2:45
p.m.
Attendees: Paul Lanaris (Jersey
Journal), Julian Rosado and Stephen
Urbish(Princeton Packet), Lee Williams (New
Jersey Herald), Steve Gondelman (The Press of
Atlantic City), John D'Achino (Worrall Community
Newspapers), Andrea Spaeth and Cynthia Forster
(The Record), Antoinette Bomentre-Walter
(Burlington County Times), Sue Anderson and
Allison Spinella (Recorder Community Newspapers),
Squire Osbourne (North Jersey Community
Newspapers), Jeanne Schexnider (Asbury Park
Press).
James Abbott, director of the
Newspaper Association of America Foundation,
announced the results of a new NAA Foundation
research study titled "Assessing the Impact
of NIE Programs." The study showed that
having NIE in a school increases the overall
performance of the school on standardized test
scores by about 10 percent, compared with scores
at schools that don't have NIE programs. Also,
students in middle schools where most students
were minority or qualify for free or reduced
lunches scored nearly 30 percent higher on
standardized tests than student in schools
without NIE. Printed survey results will be
distributed at the next meeting of the NIE
Committee.
The meeting was adjouned at 4
p.m.
The next meeting of the NIE
Committee is scheduled for Thursday, June 12, at
the NJPA conference room in West Trenton.
Minutes of
the February 6, 2003, Meeting
Meeting started at 11am at the
New Jersey Press Association headquarters in West
Trenton, NJ
Attendees: Cynthia Forester
(chairperson), Tom Engleman (pres of NJPA),
Antoinette Bomentre-Walter, Steve Gondelman,
Milli Kerner, Jackie Wilson, Sue Anderson,
Allison Spinella.
Meeting called to order and
minutes of the December 6, 2002, meeting were
approved.
Guest Speaker Cole Kleitsch
from "Freedom's Answer" in NJ explained
that the organization's goal is to develop youth
coordinators to get people to vote. This project
helps students to learn how to have a stake in
the political process. In 2002 there were 2,500
high school students across the country that
participated in the project. They will train 16
and 17 year old students to work as poll workers
for this November. He also presented a 2-1/2
minute video promoting the importance of voting.
Tom suggested that if the Statewide Committee
could create a tab on "How to Vote."
New Business: Tom has applied
for two grants this year: a $10,000 proposal to
PSEG and $30,000 to Wachovia. All newspapers that
participated in the "Live Without Hate"
contest were urged to write a letter to Great
Adventure, thanking them for the tickets that
were given to students. The address is PO Box
120, Route 537, Jackson, NJ 08527, Attn: Pat
Klingensmith. Forms were given out for the
"Teachers at Newspapers Program." The
Statewide Committee will be entering the NAA
Excellence Award Contest.
The NJPA Spring
Circulation/Advertising Conference is scheduled
for April 4. The NIE Commitee's session will
feature Jim Abbott, director of the NAA
Foundation. Abott will make a PowerPoint
presentation on Don Sullivan's "How NIE has
a large impact on test scores." Our meeting
will be at 2:30 pm and there is no charge if you
attend only the meeting. This will be the first
year there will be two statewide NIE awards
presented at the Circulation Committee's
luncheon.
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