Education Law Association

For several weeks, beginning April 27^th, I have been fairly consumed dealing with everything that has come about as a result of a hacker getting into our website’s server and stealing, or attempting to steal, the credit card numbers of as many as five persons. Please know that at no time was our membership database at risk, as this is held on a different server and no personal information, other than contact information, is held in the database.  Each person whose information was potentially compromised was personally contacted.

We have learned much about our own operations and policies and changes that need to be made thereto, and internal changes are ongoing.  Your privacy and financial safety is very important to us. Until every change has been thoroughly reviewed, will we not be taking credit card information through our website.  Compared to stories you hear on the news this break-in was considered pretty small, yet it consumed our time and caused the same corporate difficulties as a larger-scale attack.  However, we also consider ourselves fortunate because it revealed potential issues that may have allowed a larger-scale hacking – so in a way we are grateful, if that makes sense to you.

To date, we have been through the proper reporting system with local and federal officials. We have researched and changed the software of our online shopping cart (though you won’t notice a difference from the outside) and are finalizing the terms of use that will be acceptable to our bank so we will then be able to upload new payment gateway software. At that time, we will again be able to accept credit card payments over the Internet. Until then, if you need anything, feel free to call us with your payment information.  We hope to have everything completed on or about June 1^st.

Corporate Matters

As we begin to review comments added to our recent membership survey, I’d like to address one comment in particular for today’s blog. This member commented that we spend too much time promoting membership. Excellent point, and well-timed!  (if you have not yet completed the membership survey yet, please do so immediately at  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XBQZKMK )

As a member-driven organization, it is sometimes difficult to balance the needs of the organization with the needs of the individual members, for one cannot survive without the other. In reviewing the trend of our membership numbers over the last few years, and reaching out to individuals whose memberships have lapsed, we realized that our downturn in the number of members is both a direct and indirect result of the economy. Members we spoke with were allowing their membership to expire mainly for one of two reasons, (1) their school/firm/company was no longer assisting with the payment of dues or (2) because of restructuring, the member was no longer working in the field of education law.

In response, our Membership Committee decided to try something new!  Rather than constantly trying to recruit new members, they decided to ask the Board of Directors and the state committee chairs to really concentrate their efforts during the month of April. We expanded on this idea and are reaching out to ALL members to be a part of this membership drive. 

Any current member that recruits colleagues to become full regular members shall receive $20 credit for each new regular member ($145/year) toward their annual conference registration!

NEW members will receive 14 months for the price of 12, a copy of The Law of Teacher Evaluation (2^nd Ed.), a leather bookmark, and other incentives that together have a retail value of about $60!

I am asking each of you to reach out to your colleagues to share your experience with ELA. If you would like some membership brochures or additional copies of ELA Notes or the School Law Reporter to share, just give us a call at 937-229-3589. If you are not comfortable doing so, please provide us with their contact information and we will be happy to reach out to them for you.

This is a very important time of year for ELA and working together we can make a difference that can result in additional member benefits and better membership services for everyone, so hang in there and work with me over the next few weeks to build and even better and stronger ELA.

Member News

Jody L. Thornburg has been the publications manager for ELA since 2005 and is the person who handles all the book editing, brochure designing, and ad marketing for the association. She also handles some of the responsibilities of the website. Jody earned her bachelor’s from Cedarville University in Ohio in 2002, with a degree in Technical and Professional Communication. Jody is tremendous at her job and often serves as the soft voice of reason in the office too, when things get hectic!
Jody and her husband Matt have been married for 6½ years, and they have a two-year-old son named Beck. Aren’t they an adorable family?! They recently purchased a new home and are excited to begin the moving process! In Jody’s spare time, she enjoys spending time being a wife and mom, serving in her church community, and gardening in the summer.

Office Staff

There are several people who work hard behind the scenes to make ELA run smoothly. In these next few blog entries, you will get to know us, perhaps better than you expected or wanted.  In the end, you will know exactly who you should ask for when you need something from us!

Once I have introduced your ELA staff, from time to time I will introduce you to active members of ELA, including board members and committee chairs, and others who are working hard to ensure the success of ELA for years to come.

Judy M. Pleiman has been the bookkeeper for the Education Law Association since 1998, and is the person you speak to most often if you call the ELA office.  She is an individual with full-charge bookkeeping experience.  Judy’s primary responsibilities include a comprehensive understanding of accounting processes and practices, collections experience, inventory control management and member service knowledge.  She earned a bachelor’s degree in business financial services from Wright State University in Dayton Ohio.

 Judy is the one you talk to regarding the status of book orders, your membership and problems with signing in to the website, and conference registration.  She is a true gem and I don’t know what I’d do without her! 

 She and her husband Vern have been married for 30 years and have 4 children.    She is also a great sounding board here in the office, because as the middle child of 4 brothers and 4 sisters, I learned to be the peace keeper. Whenever the weather permits they enjoy riding their bikes, hiking, and camping.

 My husband and I look forward to camping with Judy and Vern this summer, and I know my husband looks forward to having a cycling companion!

Office Staff

One of the goals of the ELA Board of Directors (BOD) is to have contact on a more regular basis with our members. Rather than drown you in emails, which will be just a little more frequent as we move forward this spring, did you know there are several other ways to get news from ELA?  You can follow me on Twitter (ELAOffice), Facebook, and LinkedIn (Education Law Association). In this way, the communication is much more of a two-way street, the way it should be in a membership organization!

There are some really great things happening with ELA these days, and you can be an integral part of the future of your organization by posting comments on Facebook and LinkedIn, and by contacting us with your suggestions for changes.

Members of the BOD, Past Presidents, and Committee Chairs have been actively emailing and holding regular phone conferences to plan for the future of ELA, and the energy and excitement is contagious!  Take part if two events coming in the next weeks: (1) be sure to respond to our survey on surveymonkey (an email is coming to you soon) so that we know what you want as a member and we are moving forward with the most up to date information and (2) April has been designated as our official Membership Drive month, with incentives for both new regular individual members and recruiters. Please take part in both of these events! Details coming soon.

I can’t wait to tell you about all of the great changes coming to ELA! You likely have already  noticed the redesigned website – if you haven’t, where have you been?  There were a few small changes made to the annual conference in Louisville, and wait until you hear what we have planned for Vancouver!  We are striving to plan conferences that will meet everyone’s needs as much as possible. As soon as we have a few of our ideas pounded out, I will post the good news right away, so return to my blog weekly for more information.

Governance, Member News, Office Staff