Saving the 25 Year-Old Oregon Teacher Inservice Day Bulletin from Extinction

Online, July 16, 2011 (Newswire.com) - The Oregon Inservice Bulletin was created by the Oregon Dept. of Education more than 25 years ago, and has been at the center of Inservice Day ever since. It lists all the courses and workshops that exist statewide on Teacher Inservice Day, which this year is October 14, 2011.

Historically, the bulletin is the only place that all Inservice Day training events are listed, and no comparable alternative exists on paper or on the Internet. Without the schedule, teachers and training opportunities would not be able to connect. Especially at a time when teachers are being asked to do more with less, it is important that educators connect with the newest, most advanced education tools that exist.

In another recession, about two decades ago, the Dept. of Education transferred responsibility for the bulletin to a small non-profit. The non-profit has been the publisher of the bulletin for past 21 years, but in July, 2011, it was discovered that group had apparently ceased to exist, and that no inservice schedule would be published.

To prevent the loss of a critical Oregon education tradition, Youth Change Workshops networked with other inservice providers and the Dept. of Education. Following those discussions, Youth Change Workshops decided to re-create the bulletin. Youth Change has been listed as a training provider in the bulletin for decades, and will attempt to duplicate all aspects of the publication as it has historically existed.

Youth Change will ensure that the bulletin is in every Oregon school principals' mail box around September 1, as has been the custom throughout the past decades. As needed, Youth Change will donate the materials, postage, and manpower to keep this critical Oregon tradition alive for Teacher Inservice Day 2011.

The bulletin was normally compiled in July but the demise of the publisher wasn't discovered until July. The bulletin appears to have been supported by inservice providers' listing fees, however most providers would normally have already paid their listing fees during July. With the unexpected change to a new caretaker, it is unknown whether providers will discover the revived bulletin in time to list their courses and pay the fees needed for financial support.

Despite the last-minute change in publisher, Oregon inservice providers are encouraged to list their inservice programs to help ensure the bulletin's survival. The fate of the bulletin beyond this year remains unclear.

Youth Change Workshops is a 22 year-old, Oregon-based, national K-12 educator training group that also publishes books, posters, and other resources. Inservice training providers who wish to be listed in the revived bulletin should contact Ruth Herman Wells at 503-982-4220, email [email protected], or visit http://www.youthchg.com/oregon.html.