Welcome to this new feature in Views & Vision—Network News is designed to give you a glimpse of what is going on in each ELEA Network. We hope that you will find it helpful and welcome your comments. We invite you to become a part of ELEA and fill out the enclosed Membership Application

Network 1 - (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington) - This year’s annual spring conference was held at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lynnwood, WA with over 230 in attendance. Our theme was “Discovering God’s Wonders.” With the help of our excellent keynote speakers and workshop providers we were able to see God at work in areas we never thought possible before.
Two of our keynote speakers, Bishop Stephen Bouman from New York and via Video, Dr. John Scibilia, brought us an update about how children, families and churches in the greater New York area are coping since 9/ll.

Plans are in the works for our next two events this year. In May, we have a directors only one day retreat at Emmanuel Lutheran Child Care Center in Tacoma, WA. The topic for the day is “Staffing/Hiring & Firing”. Next October our Pastor/Director Conference will be at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Everett, WA. Each year we trade off with a Pastor/Director Conference and Board Director Conference. The topic for this conference is “Helping Directors/Pastors Develop Strategic Plans for their Schools.” For more information on Network events, contact Karen Beasley at flutpresch@cs.com.

Network 3 (Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Southern Nevada) - Network 3 covers a large geographic territory that does not have a large numbers of schools and early childhood centers. We would like to hear from those of you within that geographic area on how we might connect for a network event, and your thoughts on what kind of topics/training is needed. Please email your thoughts to Susan Ryan, Network 3 representative, at susanr@joyonline.org. Don't be afraid to be creative!

Network 4 (Minnesota Early Childhood Centers) - Greetings … my name is Brenda Jensen and I have represented Network 4 on the National Board for 2 1/2 years. I am the Director of Trinity Nursery School in Owatonna, MN. Please feel free to contact me at brendaj@tlcowatonna.org. if you have any questions. All Minnesota early childhood programs should be receiving the Network News Letter. If you are not on the mailing list, let me know.

Network 4 ELEA hosted the 23rd annual Minnesota ELEA Network Early Childhood Conference on February 7-8 at Westwood Lutheran Church in St. Louis Park. The conference was a success with over 400 participants over the 2 days. The conference theme was “You Are A Marvel”. Next year’s conference “The Art of Conversation” will be held at Augustana Lutheran in West St. Paul, MN on January 30-31, 2004.

Network 4 sponsors 5 Director’s Lunches throughout the year. The topic for April’s meeting was “Code Blue … Are You Prepared for an Emergency?” The next Director’s lunch is scheduled for June 4, 2003.

Network 5 (Texas) - Network 5 had two great conferences for early childhood centers and elementary school staff last summer  - one in Austin with about 200 in attendance, and one in Flower Mound with about 75 participants.  Both conferences were very successful, and we are off and running with two more conferences coming up this summer.  The Southern Texas area will meet on August 2, 2003 at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, TX, and the Northern Texas area will meet on August 23, 2003 at Faith Lutheran Day School in Flower Mound, TX. We are very excited about these two great educational opportunities.
The Texas network has had one school and two early childhood centers complete the ELEA Elementary Accreditation and Early Childhood Program Certification processes in the past year. Kudos to Faith Lutheran School in Flower Mound, St. Martin's Lutheran School in Austin and St. John's Lutheran Day School in San Antonio! For more information on Network 5 events, feel free to contact Marge Robison at margero@earthlink.net.

Network 6 (Iowa & Wisconsin Schools & ECE Centers & Minnesota Schools) - Network 6 is pleased to announce a new Network Representative to the ELEA National Board.  Christi Lines, principal of St. Paul's Lutheran School in Waverly, Iowa, will represent the network at the national level, and is hosting an administrator's workshop for all ELCA school and early childhood center administrators in the area on Saturday, November 15, 2003.  Look for information in the mail soon! You may contact Christi Lines at Christi.Lines@stpaulswaverly.org.

Network 7 (Ohio Early Childhood Centers) - The annual Early Childhood Conference was held at Upper Arlington Lutheran in November. It was quite successful with about 75 early childhood professionals from around Ohio attending. The staff from UALC did a fantastic job presenting the workshops. It was quite a stimulating day.

The annual Directors’ Day Out in March was held at Lutheran Memorial Camp. The majority of the day was spent planning the conference for November 2003 that will be held at LMC. The focus will be science and nature in the classroom utilizing the gifts of the LMC staff.

God is so good. He provides us with precious children and families to serve, nurture and care for. What a privilege.

You may contact Sherri Bishop for more information regarding Network 7 at sbishop@christbexley.org.

Networks 9 & 13 (Lutheran Schools Association of New York/New Jersey) - Lutheran Schools and Centers in the LSA area have had a busy spring, with lots of celebrations taking place during Lutheran Schools Week March 3-7, and our Early Childhood Conference April 4. LSA has a new membership arrangement with ELEA—LSA members may now join ELEA at half price! Rather than using the regular ELEA Membership Application, LSA members have a special application (available from both the ELEA and LSA offices) which entitled them to half-price dues. We encourage you to take advantage of this great offer and join both organizations! For more information on LSA, contact Marlene Lund, director, at marlenelund@mindspring.com
 or call 212-665-5599.

Network 10 - (Pennsylvania) - Hello from the Pennsylvania Network. I am Janet Greenleaf, a new board member and I hope that you will contact me if I can be of help. I live in Bethlehem and am a retired Lutheran School principal. I am currently serving on the ELCA Division for Higher Education and School Board and am a member of our public library.

The Lutheran Schools and Early Childhood Centers Committee on the Northeast Penn Synod is having a conference on Saturday, October 18 for pre school teachers and administrators. It is still in the planning stage, but we are hoping to have workshops dealing with recognition and early intervention for children with disabilities. Also a Kindergarten teacher will explain what children need in order to be successful in Kindergarten. There will be a total of six workshops to choose from. If you want more information, contact me at greenleaf309@aol.com. I will send you a flyer as soon as plans are finalized and the flyers are printed.

Please feel free to contact me for any reason. I would love to hear from you about your school and special celebrations you may be having.

Network 11 (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia & Washington DC) - Network 11 has new officers: Joanna Weirman, President; Sandy Eckroth, Secretary; Jennifer Reinhart, Treasurer; Mary Ann Pollock, National Board Representative.  Rather than the Network having its own conference this year, teachers and administrators within the network will attend the ECLEC (East Coast Lutheran Educator's Conference) Conference in Hershey, Pennsylvania, November 5-7. For more information on network events, contact Mary Ann Pollock at MaryAnnKPollock@aol.com

Network 12 - (Florida, Georgia, North & South Carolina) - Network 12 congratulates ST. JOHN LUTHERAN SCHOOL in Winter Park, Florida, on receiving ELEA elementary accreditation in February, and GRACE LUTHERAN LEARNING CENTER in Miami Springs, Florida on receiving NAEYC accreditation on March 28, 2003.  The staff of both schools worked diligently over the year-long process and their dedication and commitment to children and families is to be commended.

pecial thanks to Donna Braband, Assistant Director for Schools, for her recent visit in March to Florida schools, including St. Lukes, Hialeah; Guardian Shepherd, Coral Gables; and Grace Lutheran Learning Center, Miami Springs.  Donna and Maria Cimino, Network 12 Rep, visited the different schools and met with faculty and administration.  Donna served as a wonderful wealth of information as administrators, teachers and board members posed questions. 

Network 16 - (Northern California) - We will be joining the northern California LCMS schools in Burlingame, California, for a joint conference the Sunday through Tuesday of Thanksgiving week. Also, our network will be joining CAPSO, the California Association of Private School Organizations in the fall. We hope to improve our effectiveness as a network while retaining our distinct identity as ELEA. Contact Noel Hesser for more information on Network 16 events at noellaird@aol.com

Network 18 - (Illinois & Missouri) - On February 28 and March 1, Lutheran elementary schools and early childhood centers gathered at Little Blessings Preschool of Alleluia Lutheran Church in Naperville, Illinois for a two day crisis team training, “God’s Care in Times of Crisis”. Sharon Koplinski (skoplinski@aol.com), director of Little Blessings, hosted the event. Presenters, Rev. Richard Armstrong and Anna Eissfeldt, from St. Petersburg, Florida, have delivered this program throughout the United States.

Special guests participating with us included Bob Federwitz, ELCA Director of Schools; Dr. Richard Herman of Wheat Ridge Ministries; David Roth of LDR (Lutheran Disaster Response in Chicago); and Vicar Jed Maschke of Grace Lutheran Church in Saint Petersburg, Florida.

Because we gathered on the threshold of Lutheran Schools Week, we celebrated our ministries at a special luncheon on Friday and enjoyed the fellowship and sharing which grew during our 2 days together.

For further information on this program, contact Program Administrator, Rev. Dick Eissfeldt eussfer@worldnet.att.net

Network 19 (Michigan / Indiana / Ohio) - Schools in MINOH Network 19 will assemble for our annual conference from October 8—10, 2003 in Dayton, Ohio. “Soar with the Spirit” is the theme for the upcoming fall gathering. The Lutheran School of Miami Valley will host administrators, pastors, and teachers from ELCA preschools and elementary schools from Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. Network 7’s Early Childhood Centers are also invited. The conference will include worship, workshops, and speakers which support the professional growth and development of educators in our Lutheran schools. For registration information and details of the conference, contact Jerry Haun, principal of the host school, by phone at 937-224-1939 or by email at Lutheran@donet.com. You are all certainly invited to join us as we “Soar with the Spirit” together!

Our network will have a new rep to the National Board beginning with the next school year. Nancy Hebel, who is the principal of St. John’s Lutheran School in Fort Wayne, IN. Nancy has served at St. John’s for many years and will bring a tenured and committed perspective to the National Board as Networks 19’s rep. Nancy may be emailed at nancyhebel@stjohnluth.com.

Network 20 - (LSSCH—Southern California & Hawaii) - LSSCH is in the process of searching for a new director after Robert Federwitz was selected as the National Director for Schools. This year Hollis Thoms (hjthoms@aol.com) and Rich Lewis (rich.lewis@sbcglobal.net) serve as Interim Directors. We have introduced a new monthly newsletter, “The Good News”, which informs LSSCH of activities and events as well as reports in depth on special news items, persons, events, educational ideas and new educational books.

Kathleen Haworth, principal of Laurel Hall School, North Hollywood, was selected as this year’s ELCA Distinguished Principal of the Year. She follows two other principals in this area who received this award over the past years—Barbara Clark, principal of St. Mark’s Lutheran School, Hacienda Heights; and Carolyn Coffey, principal of Christ Lutheran School, West Covina.
During the course of the year we have had three principals and early childhood directors meetings, discussing issues of mutual concern. From April 9-11 we had our annual administrative retreat focusing on relationships, gender, and sexuality. Last November we were involved in the California Association of Private Schools Organization (CAPSO) three-day convention and we are planning for next year’s three-day convention in Indian Wells, where we are focusing on spiritual education and standards-based education.

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