NEOA Membership:
In the last few days, The New England Educational Opportunity Association has received numerous inquiries about our upcoming Annual Professional Conference in light of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) outbreak. Please know that the NEOA Board of Directors takes the health and safety of our members and other guests very seriously and we are monitoring the evolving situation. At this time, we have had a Board Meeting by phone and I have contacted the Heritage Hotel and Kim Kossl of Helms Briscoe (our meeting planning partners) to look into the possibility of rebooking our conference. Every year, we look forward to connecting with our colleagues and community at our Annual Conference. However, given the growing concerns around COVID-19, including strong warning respecting travel and meetings, we have made the difficult decision to cancel this year’s conference. But again, we are working closely with the Heritage and we will consider rescheduling for at a later date or offering some sort of teleconference in its place.
Many of our states and our colleges have instituted travel bans at this time or will do so in the near future and Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont has issued an immediate freeze on state employee travel on state business outside of Connecticut. Additionally, and where it impacts our Annual Conference at The Heritage Hotel in Southbury, CT, is that “any state of Connecticut-organized large meetings, conferences or gatherings that are anticipated to have over 100 people in attendance between now and April 30 will be evaluated to determine if the events should move to teleconference or be postponed.”
We are by no means alone: a number of major higher education events, including the American Educational Research Association annual meeting, and, most recently, the annual meeting of the American Council on Education (ACE), have been cancelled, recast as virtual meetings, or deferred. An increasing number of institutions also have cancelled classes or transitioned to online instruction.
Please see below for answers to questions you may have regarding refunds for registration and participation. We will continue to provide necessary updates and truly appreciate your understanding and support.
REGISTRATION: Right now NEOA plans to cancel all of the registrations for this year once we hear back from the Heritage. Members will have the option of receiving a full refund, or you can apply your 2020 registration for our next conference.
LODGING: As stated, we are working closely with the Hotel and I will have more information about whether our membership has to cancel their individual / program registrations or if the NEOA Conference Committee will be able to cancel on behalf of the membership. As soon as we hear back from the Hotel, I will send an additional email.
CONFERENCE PROGRAM: The NEOA conference Committee is grateful to each of our speakers, invited guests, and members for their willingness to present at our event. Although the call for proposals is often changed each year to align with the most pressing issues of the time, we will encourage each workshop presenter to consider adapting their presentation for the next scheduled conference. The conference committee will assume that you will still want to present at the later date and Kim Gorman will reach out to you as we develop our plan.
Again, it is with great sadness that I share this development with all of you. Please give the Board of Directors a few days to work the situation out with the hotel and the individual state associations to chart a viable path forward. If you have any questions, please contact me at any time.
Respectfully,
Rick Williams, NEOA President
Director Upward Bound Lyndon
Northern Vermont University
1001 College Rd
Lyndonville, VT 05851
802-626-5000
802-274-5648