[Reading-hall-of-fame] Re: ILA non-election

Tue Apr 5 12:19:41 BST 2016

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jill Lewis-Spector <>
Date: Mon, Apr 4, 2016 at 9:14 PM
Subject: Re: [Reading-hall-of-fame] ILA non-election
To: nrcemail at lists.asu.edu

Hi Ken,

I completely agree with your comments here, your decision not to vote, and
your statement that "I see this as a shift in power from board control to
staff control of this important organization."  While the charge to the
board to have a slate of 2 VP and 6 General Board candidates is no longer
in our bylaws, it is still very much in our policies and has continued to
be a charge to the Nominating Committee for many years.

It may surprise some, but I was not on the Nominating Committee this year,
despite last year's board vote on that committee's membership that included
me as Immediate Past President. There are other instances where decisions
made by last year's board were ignored by HQ - decisions not to publish
position statements the board had approved, not to include on committees
individuals who had volunteered to serve and had been approved by the
board, etc..   There is nothing in any set of minutes that indicates that a
decision to overturn these board votes were board decisions, nor would the
timeline of events have made such an overturn possible. If you've requested
copies of minutes, you would see the board approvals.  Perhaps even more
telling is that a Handbook of "IRA [ILA] policies" was distributed to
Council leaders at the July 2015 Leadership Workshop that the board had
never seen and which had numerous contradictions to our existing bylaws and
policies.  It had been created by HQ. It was only after its distribution
that I - and most board members  - learned of its existence, since we had
not been at this workshop.

ALL past presidents are aware that I have asked several times that minutes
be posted; the board NEVER voted not to post them.  It seems members will
have to contact HQ for these.  Do members even know this?  I've also asked
HQ several times to post committee volunteer information as we once had on
the website.  It is no longer possible for members to sign up for
committees. Indeed, it is probably the case that members don't even know
that ILA has committees.  (Will we continue to have them?) Committee work
has been the heart and soul of the organization.

This year's ILA President is now identified as "President of the Board"
(motion made by Diane Barone and approved by the board at the October board
meeting, as per the minutes.)  I think this change in title tells members
they no longer have a president. It does, however, portray what is now the
case - authority belongs to the ILA staff. This is significant change.
IRA was always an organization whose members were deeply involved in its
activities and deeply invested in its success. I feel that the change in
name should not result in a change in that relationship.  But the truth is
that many of us who knew how we functioned as a member organization are
simply leaving ILA.  If members feel excluded, if they believe that it
doesn't matter if they vote because there is only one candidate, what is
their membership worth? Does their opinion actually matter?

Like you, Ken, I won't be voting in this election.  I'm in agreement with
Garth Brooks who has contacted so many, that the "vote" should be voided
and the committee should restart its work. We should not accept an
'appointed' VP or  an incomplete slate for board members.  But this isn't
just about this particular election; it's really about "the shift in power"
that you mention, Ken, and how ILA no longer sees to function as a member
organization. Board members and others have been reluctant to speak out.
They fear reprisal, loss of status with HQ, which has the ability to
'reward' those who accept HQ authority.  I hope the multiple emails the
board has received since it took office in July 2015 will generate some
serious board deliberations, and that until this occurs many more emails
will follow.

Wishing you all the best,
Jill

Dr. Jill Lewis-Spector
Immediate Past President (2015-2016)
International Literacy Association
        (formerly International Reading Association)
Professor Emerita, Literacy Education,
      New Jersey City University
Distinguished Faculty Award, NJACTE &
      New Jersey Secretary of Higher Education

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments
that take our breath away."
— Maya Angelou

------------------------------
*From:* Ken Goodman <kgoodman at U.ARIZONA.EDU>
*To:* NRCEMAIL at ASU.EDU
*Sent:* Monday, April 4, 2016 12:18 PM
*Subject:* Re: [Reading-hall-of-fame] ILA non-election

Diane I appreciate very much your prompt and frank response to my concerns.
I could have communicated first to you , Marcie and the board. But I felt a
broader discussion was needed.
The circumstances you describe are not unusual in my experience having
served on the nominating committee and chaired it as past president. I am
aware that there are often ony a few nominees for VP and nominees for board
are often limited in diversity.
Over the years various limitations on who can be nominated and how much the
committee can do beyond choosing from the pool of nominees have in my
opinion contributed to problems you mention occured this year.

WHen I was on the comittee we could and did add to the nominee list at our
meeting and in fact called nominees to encourage their acceptance. I
personally convinced a reluctant Ira Aaron for example to accept
nomination. As members of IRA(ILA) we felt we had the right to add nominees
to the pool.

Even with limitatioins I don't see how you can commend the work of this
year's committee if they failed to produce a full slate as requried in the
by-laws. Were the chairs and members of the international committees
consulted when only one non- American was nominated? Did a special message
go out to past presidents   and committee chairs for diverse nominees? I am
dismayed at the implication that there simply aren't many able and willing
members who would have been honored to be asked to run.

Was there a face to face meeting of the nominating committee? Did the
committee actually meet at all or were their decisions made by
correspondence?

In the interests of the future of ILA in being the organization you and I
seem to agree it should be I believe the board should take  the following
actions:
1. Reconsider this years slate of nominees and solicit  a non American
board nominee and a second VP nominee.
2. Review and revise the charge to  the nominating committee to make it
possible to add to the pool of nominees if they feel those nominated prior
to their meeting is insufficent.
3,  Adopt more transparent procedures.

I'dl ike to add one more caution.
In all professional  organizations I have particpated in, I have always
found, that regrardless of good intentions, what the elected officers seek
to accomplish and what the paid staff does to faciliate those goals are
always in some tension. Board and executive committee members come and go
and staff stay on. Power eventually migrates from those elected to
permanent staff. It takes strong elected leadership to overcome the inertia
in this relationship. That's why the issues inolved in how we choose and
elect our leadership is so important.

ILA has a long history and I hope an important future.
Ken Goodman

Ken Goodman
7914 South Galileo Lane
Tucson, Az 85747
520-9909612
Learning is not a Response to Instruction
Effective Iinstruction is a  Response to Learning
*Coming Feb. 17, 2016*
*READING THE GRAND iLLUSION*
*HOW AND WHY PEOPLE MAKE SENSE OF PRINT*

On Mon, Apr 4, 2016 at 7:08 AM, Diane Barone <barone at unr.edu> wrote:

Hello to Ken, Reading Hall of Fame Member, NCRE list, and CELT,

I so wish that Ken would have contacted me or Bill Teale before sending out
this message. However, that did not happen so let me respond. Before
responding to the issues of the ballot for voting. I will respond to Ken’s
other issues.

Bill Teale and I work together as Vice President and President of ILA. We
work closely with members and with ILA staff. We see this collaboration as
the best way to support and lead ILA.

Yes we do have virtual meetings. On these meetings we see all board members
on the screen and they work well. We also have face-to-face meetings. This
balance is appropriate for 2016 with the ability to use technology to
support our work.

We do not see the ILA convention as a trade show. Once again we see it as a
collaboration of teachers, researchers, principals, and others such as
vendors.

I hope these answers help, now let me help with this year’s nomination. I
know Ken that you are concerned so let me address your concerns.

First of all the Board is confident that the Nominating Committee did
indeed fulfill its charges. The Committee thoroughly reviewed every
nominated candidate and provided the best candidates for the board election.

ILA has not moved to a non-competitive election by choice. We are coming to
realize and prepared to address key critical issues related to the
nominating process for the board. Chief among them is generating a diverse
slate (which we are very weak on this year, but better than other years),
more greatly representative of an international organization and a better
process for the stewarding and recruitment of those interested in
governance.

Not only do we expect that members will be concerned about one member
running for VP, we expect that some members are and should be concerned
about (once again) the lack of diversity on our slate. We had only one
non-US member nominated, a person with the very finest credentials, whom we
pursued and encouraged throughout the process, only to have this person
withdraw their nomination right before completion of the Nominating
Committee’s work for personal reasons. We were all devastated, because this
person was one of our very strongest candidates.

We rely annually on members to either self-nominate or to nominate others
for our election slate. The way our process is set up, any member can
nominate someone and as is often the case, people are nominated randomly –
meaning that the person doing the nominating does not necessarily consult
with the person they are nominating.  Because of this, nominees may not
agree to actually run. That is what happened this year: there were three
people nominated for Vice President, and two of them were not consulted in
advance. When ILA reached out to encourage them to take the next steps,
they declined their nomination, which everyone has a right to do. In both
cases, each of the individuals had compelling personal reasons for not
accepting the nomination (and both indicated they may very well accept the
nomination in the future).

What is concerning to us about this is that we could actually find
ourselves in a situation in which we have no candidates, especially if we
continue to operate the nominating process this way.  For this reason, we
are examining the process and are making improvements to it to ensure a
solid slate of candidates to carry out the governance of the organization
in the future, including the Board taking a far more active role in the
identification and recruitment of members to volunteer positions. We want
to move the recruitment process to be a year-round (not election-seasonal)
process of identifying, stewarding and recruiting leaders to board and
governance involvement. We also must keep in mind the enormous, challenging
work in front of the governing board as it relates to ILA’s strategic
direction and recruit and orient board members with a clear understanding
of their role and responsibilities.

We appreciate your long-term investment in ILA as a committed member and we
hope you will join us in identifying and nurturing the best candidates to
run for the Board.

Thanks again for the email.

Sincerely,

Diane Barone

On Apr 4, 2016, at 5:59 AM, Ken Goodman <kgoodman at u.arizona.edu> wrote:

I am personally refusing to vote for the ILA non-election.
There us no choice for vice-president and an insufficient number of
candidates for board members.
I see this as a shift in power from board control to staff control of this
imporotant organization.
Adding to that the board now holding virtual meetings and ILA seems to be
shifting from a professional organization
to a trade show run for the convenience of publishers.

Ken Goodman
7914 South Galileo Lane
Tucson, Az 85747
520-9909612
Learning is not a Response to Instruction
Effective Iinstruction is a  Response to Learning
*Coming Feb. 17, 2016*
*READING THE GRAND iLLUSION*
*HOW AND WHY PEOPLE MAKE SENSE OF PRINT*

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***********************************
*Diane Barone*
Foundation Professor of Literacy Studies
Director, Professional Specialized Studies
President of the Board, International Literacy Association
Editor of The Reading Teacher

University of Nevada, Reno
College of Education/288
Reno, NV 89557
barone at unr.edu
775.682.7870

-- 
*Lesley Mandel Morrow, Ph.D.*
Distinguished Professor of Literacy
Rutgers the State University of NJ
Director, Center for Literacy Development
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