Report of the Liaison Committee –

	The responsibilities for this committee included outreach to local schools and universities, organization of the 
	book fair, and coordination of graduate course credit offerings.

	LOCAL OUTREACH - I joined the council and took over chair of the liaison committee in March. Previously, 
	there had been some discussion/debate regarding the role of the committee. Should its focus be on an outreach effort
 	to local K-12 educators or should it be on the teachers we were already working with at our respective colleges/universities? 
	Eventually, I believe, we ended up trying to focus on both, with the greatest formal effort going toward the local outreach.


	After significant Council discussion via the listserv, coordination was established amongst the program, site, and liaison 
	committees for the purpose of creating a Saturday "K-12 friendly" schedule  that could serve as professional development. 
	Donna Breault, site chair, and Kris Sloan, program chair, researched the GA requirements for staff development credit and 
	then crafted an application to submit to the GA State Department of Education ("A Comprehensive Plan Offering Staff 
	Development Units" – available in the archives). The state did approve our application.


	Our original plan had been to schedule for Saturday the sessions most attractive to K-12 educators 
	and then let local educators self- select for the SDU opportunity. While the program was still scheduled 
	in this manner to encourage all local educators’ attendance, GA requirements were too strict to use this 
	approach to the SDU. 


	Instead, Donna used local K-12 contacts to put together panels for specific SDU sessions, which she facilitated. 
	Panel participants included administrators from three different counties (Fulton, Dekalb, and Hall) and one 
	charter school and teachers from three different counties(Fulton, Dekalb, and Gwinnett). 
	Another teacher, Julie Phlegar, from Gwinnett County also did one of the sessions. 

	About seven teachers and three administrators attended from River Trail Middle School in Fulton 
	County. Because GA requires a "mastery verification" component to any SDU, Donna is continuing to oversee 
	that phase of the project. The group should be wrapping things up early in 2004.


	BOOK FAIR - As coordinator of the book fair, Susan Edgerton contacted companies that publish books by 
	our members and by others whose work is compatible with our conference. Through the listserv she also requested book donations. 
	She saw that the books were mailed to the conference center ahead of time, displayed, and priced. She also oversaw sales, 
	and she reports that over $900 was raised for the graduate student scholarship fund. 


	GRADUATE CREDIT ACTIVITIES – Louise Allen organized activities for 22 graduate students. 
	Activities included a brown bag lunch with Susan Edgerton and Dana Rapp on Thursday, one on Friday with 
	Jim Henderson, a fireside chat with Jim Sears; and a grad student reception hosted by Louise, Jim Sears, and Patrick Slattery. 
	Students also attended the Strange Fruit film and met for a debriefing session on Saturday.


	Respectfully submitted,
	Nancy Brooks
	Liaison Committee Chair, 2003