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EDUCATION REPORT SUMMER 2008
This
past year has been a very busy and productive time for our
Association’s educational programs. We had record attendance at
each of the three major conference sites, Potsdam, Tarrytown and New
York City and we also offered the largest number of subject choices
for the clerks to date. The feedback from each of these training
events was positive and enthusiastic. The clerks liked having the
opportunity to attend the elective classes without having to miss
the core subjects. Offering the core subjects on Monday and Tuesday
made this possible. In Tarrytown and New York we experimented with
scheduling a class on Wednesday morning in addition to the
traditional Question and Answer discussion. We weren’t sure if
enough clerks would attend to make it worthwhile, but they did.
More and more we are finding that the clerks are at the conferences
to LEARN -- not just for social and/or shopping opportunities.
Since Potsdam is only a 2 day training, we won’t have the
opportunity to offer a Wednesday morning class. However, last
summer some of the clerks asked if we could schedule an evening
class or run classes later than 5:00 o’clock. We’re discussing this
with OCA and the University to see if we can have the Monday classes
run until 5:30 or 6:00. OCA is planning a Monday evening barbecue
again so a class after dinner wouldn’t be feasible. But it’s
refreshing to know that the clerks are willing to put in more time
in order to learn the things we all need to know to do our jobs
properly.
The
District Trainings have also seen an increase in the number of
attendees – in some districts the numbers have almost doubled over
last year’s attendance. It’s becoming quite evident that the Court
Clerks around the state WANT to learn, they WANT mandatory training
because they WANT to be certified by New York State as being highly
qualified to perform their responsibilities. A new option that OCA
and OCS are working on is on-line classes. The comptroller’s office
sent flyers to every town and village court in the state to make the
judges and the clerks aware of the opportunity of taking the Fiscal
Responsibility class on-line. There will be an article in The
Docket from Rhonda Latz of OCS with more information and the
schedule for these on-line classes for the remainder of the year.
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