Hello all,

Do you find things ironic, lately? I started a list of post-its that I keep on my wall of ironic things students have told me, such as: their probationary time of having their license is over so they COULD drive with friends, but they can't be in a car with friends. Another one told me, she worked hard this year to get her grades up, and then everything went to "Pass/Fail/Incomplete." One irony I have been mulling about was the MEEOA Conference 2020 theme: "Seeing the Future in 20/20." I can say for certain, the future I saw did NOT look like what we are living in now! Thankfully, the work we all do continues to contribute to brighter futures for our students, which was really the whole point of the theme.

Thinking about the future, we still do not have a Conference Chair for the MEEOA 2021 Conference. "What conference?" you might ask, or, "who would want to try to plan that??" I get it. The MEEOA Board was discussing these quandaries ourselves at the last meeting. While we all might be hesitant to plan on signing a contract with a hotel, much like we have all done for months now, there may be ways to look at the conference as a new opportunity in a virtual format! Perhaps this year is a really great chance to bring in some outside speakers that the timing and location would not allow for before. Or, maybe even more people could go at a reduced rate and without having to take two or three days away from home and work. None of this seems impossible. 

I say all that to bring us to this: we still need a Conference 2021 Chair, and perhaps a committee. Again, this time and place we are in allows more people to collaborate and work together. Do you like to organize and plan events? Are you someone who has good connections with people around the state or in education? Are you NOT writing a grant this year? Do you want the opportunity to serve on the MEEOA Board? Could I bribe you with chocolate? If so, please let me know and we can discuss how you would like to be involved. 

For those of you planning budgets and travel (ha ha, travel!!) in the 20-21 program year, there is not much I can offer you at this point. We really do not know what January will look like, obviously. Our hope is to still have a conference in some way, but the price would be greatly reduced if we end up doing it virtually. 

Sorry for the long email. I know those are the worst right now. 

Hope you're all well, and perhaps I will catch you for Bingo tomorrow! 

Mary