REPORT
OMSU NORTH AMERICA
FIFTH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
LAUREL, MD.
May 26th - 28th, 2006
Friday May 26th, 2006
The Local Organizing Committee (LOC) had an opening reception at the residence of Prof. E. Kobla Glakpe (Class of 1967) to welcome the participants to the OMSU North American 5th annual general meeting.
Saturday May 27th, 2006
At 10.15 am, the President called the general meeting to order after opening comments by the LOC Chair Kobla Glakpe ('67). After a slide show in memory of the Trosts and a minute of silence, the president introduced standing orders for the conduct of the meeting and members present were called upon to pay their dues in order to exercise their voting rights. Afterward, the members in attendance were asked to introduce themselves. The Assistant Secretary, Pat Ocloo-Dzaba ('90), read minutes from the last meeting held in May 2005. Kobla Glakpe motioned for the minutes to be accepted and was seconded by Elliot Rennison; the acceptance vote was unanimous.
Reports & Messages
Message from the Headmaster, Mr. David Afudego ('74) was read by Philip Dowetin ('90), see attachment.
- Message from the OMSU-Ghana President, Moses Tetteh ('64), was read. See attachment.
- Message from Walter Arne on behalf of OMSU-UK was read. See attachment.
- OMSU-NA financial report for 2005/06 was delivered by the Treasurer Doreen Dedume Williams ('78). See attachment
In addition, Doreen announced that OMSU-NA donated some funds ($100.00) for Katrina Relief to the United Negro Fund in the past year.
- State of OMSU-NA address was delivered by the President Evans Afenya ('76). He presented figures to show the growth in the active membership of OMSU-NA and went on with a slide presentation of current programs and projects that had been completed by OMSU-NA at Mawuli School. In the same presentation, Evans touched on future projects and programs that OMSU-NA would undertake at the school in line with the organization's declared objectives of focusing on areas that have direct impact on student learning and performance. He mentioned the collaboration of OMSU-NA with the Class of 1990 in refurbishing the Senior Chemistry laboratory and the continued collaboration between OMSU-UK and OMSU-NA in supporting future Teaching Excellence Workshops.
Year group/Interest group
- 1990-year group: Prince Hodogbey conveyed greetings from the year group to all attending the general meeting. He reported that the group has a balance of $3,750.00 out of which they have spent $1,000.00 to set-up a business for one of their colleagues. As usual, the year group raised funds from the sale of T-shirts, lapel pins and the collection of dues from group members. He also elaborated on projects in progress being undertaken at Mawuli.
- Mawuli Fund (MF): Yao Ababio announced that MF has a balance of $29,000.00, of which $7,500.00 was bequeathed from the Trost Estate. In the past year, MF have being able to raise funds from corporations.
- The Medical Group: Sam Dzodzomenyo ('76) requested the list of all health professionals so that they could undertake the rehabilitation of the sickbay together.
- Business Promotions: Wil Ofori promoted his business Verizon phones sales and Travel Agency. He said that OMSU-NA would be a beneficiary of 10% of sales made at the congress.
Discussion of Issues:
There was a lively discussion of several issues confronting OMSU-NA and our alma mater and the most notables are as follows:
- Matters arising out of the minutes: a) OMSU.org website is updated and running, featuring Mawulian of the month, Dave Tay, and other segments. b) The headmaster in principle accepted the idea of a) Development Committee setup in Mawuli. c) Re-roofing of the entire long block completed. d) Sickbay renovation in progress with new cabinets installed.
- Matters arising out of the headmaster's report: Various items from the headmaster's report were discussed. a) It was felt that renovation and expansion of the staff common room to accommodate teachers' and refurbishing of the headmaster's office should remain as items on the long-term list of things to be completed. b) The headmaster should give more specifics and details on student performance in future reports.
- Membership/Dues: Kobla Agbanyo suggested ways to raise funds through one on one contacts, i.e., each of us contact our friends and encourage them to pay dues. It was mentioned that some old Mawulians do not want to be involved and that such people need
s to be encouraged to join our ranks. It was also observed that there are some Mawulians out there with significant positions that need to be encouraged into our fold. Members who work for large corporations were reminded to enquire about their company's matching fund programs so we can take advantage of them.
- Student Mentor Program: Pauline Simmons called for a database on all Mawuli alumni that will make it possible for private one on one mentoring of current students and alumni that may be interested in participating in such a program. She also suggested that one main website needs to be established to handle the affairs of Mawuli School with links to existing sites of OMSU, year groups and interest groups. A lengthy discussion followed and it was generally agreed that fundamental changes were needed on the part of the Mawuli School administration and other groups in the approach to handling the business of the school.
- Project control/coordination issues: A lengthy discussion on control/coordination of projects and programs at Mawuli ensued and members were concerned about who determines what projects to be undertaken and by whom. It was generally agreed that groups should make the effort to undertake projects in a coordinated fashion so as to avoid duplication and waste of scarce resources. It was also suggested that a comprehensive action plan be setup so that we could tackle issues in a manageable way. This makes the Development Committee idea a good one for the school and for all stakeholders in the school.
- Teacher workshop: The next steps for undertaking future workshops were vigorously discussed with varying points of view. Members agreed on the development of assessment tools to gauge workshop success and impact on teaching and student performance. Such tools could also be used to gauge accountability from the teachers. It was suggested that certificates of completion be issued to the participants at the end of each workshop and/or course.
- Student performance and academics: Issues concerning student intake, performance, and test results were extensively discussed once again. It was noted that Mawuli was ranked 5th about four years ago but things seem to be getting worse as the years went by. The consensus of the general meeting was that a
n thorough and comprehensive explanation from the school authorities may be in order.
- Teacher incentives and morale: The Teaching Excellence workshop was considered as part of the incentives to raise morale of teachers. Improvement of housing accommodation for all teachers was also discussed and the performance of the PTA in this regard was noted and acknowledged. To be able to tackle these problems effectively, a comprehensive analysis is needed on a host of things on a long-term basis. It was agreed that OMSU-NA, OMSU-UK, PTA and all stakeholders should form a committee with OMSU-NA in the lead in dealing with such.
- Situation of the Mawuli physical structures: OMSU-NA is in collaboration with Class of 1990 to renovate the senior chemistry lab; OMSU-NA will re-roof the entire building and the Class of 1990 will do the interior. Discussions were generally centered on collaborations among various groups and/or individuals on programs and projects, as a way through which funds could be strategically spread over various areas needing attention. Lots of questions were asked about uncompleted government projects on the campus and the OMSU-NA Executive Council was to talk to the Mawuli School Board and Headmaster about such projects.
- OMSU-NA website: OMSU.org website is updated with new features.
ACTIONABLE ITEMS
A) Teacher Workshop Assessment Committee: This committee was tasked to design assessment tools for future workshops and present its recommendations to the Executive Council by a deadline determined by the Council. The committee members are Selete Avoke (chair), Rowland Atiase, Kobla Glakpe, Matthew Tsikata, and the Assistant Headmaster (Academic) of Mawuli School.
B) Student performance and academics: OMSU-NA to send a resolution to the headmaster at Mawuli expressing our dissatisfaction about student performance and also request the criteria for student admissions and a detailed and comprehensive report on students’ performance. OMSU-NA is to keep focusing on programs and projects that have direct impact on teaching and student learning and performance at Mawuli School.
C) Physical Structures: A resolution was adopted and is to be formally written by the OMSU-NA Executive Council to work with the headmaster and the Mawuli School Board in pursuing and ensuring the completion of current uncompleted projects at Mawuli.
D) Computer Committee: This committee was tasked to work with the OMSU-NA Executive Council in developing an official website for Mawuli School that would link all existing Mawuli related sites and listservs. The OMSU-NA Executive Council was to liaise with the Mawuli School administration and with OMSU-Ghana and OMSU-UK in determining and defining the scope of work to be undertaken by the committee before setting its work in motion. The committee members are Divine Adika, Phil Acolatse, Henry Afenya, and Divine Amoah.
ELECTIONS
Rowland Atiase motioned: the current executive council should remain in office for next cycle (2yrs). Kobla Glakpe suggested an amendment to the motion by adding that current officers not at the meeting be replaced, which Rowland accepted. The motion was seconded by Evelyn Sarku and Elliot Rennison and carried unanimously after which nominations were made for the position of vice-president. Voting was done by secret ballot.
Nominations for Vice President
· Emma Acquah (nominated by Kobla Glakpe and seconded by P. Dowetin)
· Selete Avoke (nominated by Kobla Agbanyo and seconded by Kwamina Quartey)
· Rowland Atiase (nominated by Evelyn Sarku Sedodo and seconded by Sesime Kom)
Selete Avoke was elected the Vice President.
After the voting, the Assistant Secretary Pat Ocloo-Dzaba announced her resignation and Emma Acquah was nominated by Rowland Atiase for the open position. Her nomination was seconded and she was unanimously elected to become the next Assistant Secretary. The Executive Council then nominated Joe Amanfu, Kobla Agbanyo and Addison Agbemadzo for the OMSU-NA board and the nominations were unanimously approved by participants.
After some discussions, it was unanimously agreed that the next OMSU-NA general meeting will be held on the 2007 Memorial Day weekend in Chicago, IL. A local organizing committed is to be formed immediately to prepare for the next event. The meeting was adjourned at 5:10pm with singing of the Mawuli anthem “Haviwoâ€.
THE EVENING FUNDRAISING EVENT AND SUNDAY BARBECUE
The master and mistresses of ceremonies at the evening fundraising dinner/dance were Kobla Agbanyo, Aseye Aboagye, and Brenda Atutonu. The keynote address was delivered by Kobla Glakpe (see attachment). Auctions and other fundraising activities were held followed by dancing. The “Lady of the Dance†was Nancy Ahorlu Tanson and the “Lord of the Dance†was a sympathizer of Mawuli School. A cookout/barbecue took place on Sunday.
Divine E. Amoah, ˜79
Secretary, OMSU-NA