DISTRICT VI

Illinois Music Educators Association

District VI

Spring Newsletter

May, 2009

Click Here for PDF Version of this Newsletter

Greetings! As we approach the end of another school year, I hope you have plans for some much deserved rest and relaxation with family and friends. I know this has been a challenging year for some fighting budget cuts and even program elimination. I just hope things in our state can improve and we all come out of this stronger than before! Rest assured that IMEA will continue hosting quality activities for both you and your students. Now is the time to begin planning for next year's IMEA activities, and this document will guide you through that process.

Division Information

Specific information for each division is available on the IMEA website (www.ilmea.org).  Please visit this site for the most up-to-date information.

Dates – A Quick Glance

Please Share!

It is important that EVERY music teacher in District VI receive this newsletter, so please provide them with a copy or a link to this document.  It is CRITICAL that EVERY music teacher be registered in the RNS system.  I understand that some schools like to have one person enter all information for the entire school, but having each teacher registered means they will receive specific information regarding their area of specialty.

Site Reality

Some of you may remember sitting in IMEA District VI business meetings a few years ago and hearing me express concerns about the use of the SIU campuses for our festivals, and that we need to begin thinking of alternatives. That reality has been realized, and securing festival sites has become more and more difficult. We were scheduled to be at SIU Carbondale for next year's event, but a construction project on that campus makes the Arena unavailable. There are even concerns about future years ... music staff is very supportive but they need to work carefully with the athletic department. SUI Edwardsville was contacted to see if they could host this year, but facilities were unavailable there as well (also with concerns in future years). Numerous alternatives were considered to keep the north-south festival set-up we have enjoyed for the last several years (as long as I can remember), but there was just no way to make it work. The administration and music faculty at Edwardsville High School agreed to allow us to use their facility again, so that decision was made.

To accommodate students in the southern portion of our district, I considered moving auditions out of Highland to somewhere south. There was only one school that had previously expressed interest in hosting auditions, but when asked they were unable to accommodate this year. So, we are back in Highland for auditions.

McKendree University and David Boggs in particular have been very generous for the last several years allowing us to use their facilities for the jazz festival. Due to scheduling issues (athletics, again, as well as admissions), they are unable to host next year. Tom Birkner, District VI Jazz Representative, offered his facilities at Belleville West High School, so we will be there for the jazz festival.

Special Needs Students

If you teach a student with special needs and think they may audition in the fall, please go to http://www.ilmea.org/speciallearnerssa.shtml for more information. There are deadlines included that may mean you have to begin the process in the summer.

Professional Development

JW Pepper Music, in conjunction with IMEA, will once again present a choral music reading session for CPDU credit in our area this summer.  This event will be held at the Four Points Sheraton in Fairview Heights on July 10 and will feature music for elementary, junior high, and high school ensembles.  You can visit www.jwpepper.com for more information and to register.

We are always looking for local workshop presenters for our fall festivals.  If you are willing to present or have seen a clinic recently that you think might be beneficial to other educators in our area, please contact our District VI Professional Development Chair Cathy Stranc at cstranc@ecusd7.org. 

Get Involved and Encourage Others

Remember, this is YOUR association!  Get involved, stay informed, and urge your colleagues and friends in neighboring schools to participate in IMEA activities.  Their students will benefit, and we all know that increased senior level participation allows for more District VI students at All-State.

I challenge you to do two things:

• Right now (really, RIGHT NOW) call someone in a neighboring school who is not currently active in IMEA activities and encourage them to consider participating
• In the fall, contact a new teacher in your area and share information with them regarding IMEA and our wonderful activities

In addition, please consider leadership positions within our district as well as at the state level. We currently have an opening for a JEM (Junior-Elementary Music) Representative in our district.  Division reps and chairs are always needed. 

RNS (Online Registration/Nomination/Selection System)

There are several things that should be done BEFORE THE SCHOOL YEAR ENDS and those will be outlined below.

UPDATE YOUR PROFILE

• Go to www.ilalldist.org
• Select “District 6”.
• Select your school (for those at both a junior high and a high school, this must be done for each one).
• Select your name.
• Enter your password and click “Enter” (if you don’t remember your password, e-mail me at washburr@wesclin.k12.il.us).
• Click “Update Profile”.
• Check all boxes that are a part of your teaching assignments.  You may select more than one.  This insures that you receive information specific to each teaching specialty.
• Enter/update all phone numbers.  All numbers are confidential and will only be used for official IMEA purposes.
• Enter/update your e-mail information.  The “secondary e-mail” allows you to enter a secondary/home address…some school filters don’t allow some of IMEA’s communications to pass through and this additional e-mail will insure you receive all necessary information.  It is state policy to not share your e-mail address with third parties.
• If you are the primary contact, delete retiring teachers or teachers who are moving out of your school.
• Click on “Update”.
• Click on “Exit”.

ADD NEW TEACHERS

1. Go to www.ilalldist.org.
2. Select “District 6”.
3. Select your school.
4. Click on “Add New Director”.
5. Enter requested information.  You will need your school’s faculty password to complete this process.  Your school’s Primary Contact should have this information or you can contact me.
6. Click on “Enter”.

DELETE RETIRING/RESIGNING TEACHERS (Can only be completed by the Primary Contact)

1. Go to www.ilalldist.org.
2. Select “District 6”.
3. Select your school.
4. Login.
5. Click “Update”.
6. Near the bottom of the screen, choose the director you want to delete.

THINGS TO DO…

District VI Leadership