Lines of Communication

By Richard Sherry, Communications Committee Chair

As we head into the stretch run of the (traditional calendar) school year, we have an opportunity to reflect on progress over the past few months and look for areas for improvement in the future. So it is the same for ATA Local #38 activities.

The Communications Committee has worked hard to improve how the Local communicates with its members. Here are some of our accomplishments over 2005-06:

We reviewed Local #38's overall communications needs, developed a Communications Strategy document, which led to Executive Committee's adoption of it for use in future communications planning.
Continued to publish ATA Glance on the website.
Began 'Local Lines,' an emailed newsletter to all CBE ATA members informing them of events, news, and website content.
Conducted a survey during Convention regarding Local communications.
Used the website to register attendees to two Rein Selles Reitrement Seminars, and a PD Needs survey.
Continued to develop Local #38's new website under the umbrella of provincial ATA's portal technology, T-Net, which is due to be released soon.
Instituted a process that will result in a proposed new logo for the Local.

The remarkable thing about these accomplishments, I must say, is that we did all this with a serious deficit of committee members; we were four short of a full complement. This caused our members to lift a heavier load than otherwise would be expected, and I thank them profusely for their effort and support.

This means there are lots of opportunities to support you Local by participating on the Communications Committee. We are developing interesting projects, and will have some other fascinating tasks, as we move into a bargaining year.

If you think you might be interested in finding our more about how you can join our Committee, please contact me at rdsherry@shaw.ca.