From Brian Helman (Salem State APA unit member)
During the 2017 Annual Statewide APA Meeting, held here at Salem State, I repeated a suggestion I had made at previous Statewide meetings (Westfield and Bridgewater) that there should be a mechanism for inter-chapter communications – whether a mailing list, Facebook group or some other interactive discussion board. The state-wide board praised the idea and repeatedly said “why haven’t we thought of this”.
At the August 2018 Statewide board meeting, the Board briefly discussed the topic, concentrating on how they would moderate it. They agreed to table further discussion until the October statewide member meeting in Bridgewater. As reported to us by Mike Pelletier a few weeks ago, at the September statewide board meeting on 21 September, the Statewide APA Board voted on the subject and defeated it. I find this vote to be contrary to the open, now apparently disingenuous, praise for the idea given during that 2017 Annual Statewide Meeting. As a result, I have created a private Facebook group that I will be extending invitations to join to our peers at the other state universities. This group is not endorsed by the APA.
The goal of this group is NOT to bash the Board, but rather a place for constructive discussion. For more information, or to join, please search for “Association of Professional Administrators – Commonwealth of Massachusetts” on Facebook. For the time-being (and hopefully permanently) I have set the priviledges for the group such ath any member can approve new members. Let’s keep this contained to APA members. If you see (or suspect) people are in the group who are not (or no longer) an APA member, please let one of the moderators know.
Association of Professional Administrators – Commonwealth of Massachusetts
https://www.facebook.com/groups/159078451687598/