AFFINITY CREDIT CARD SOLICITATION TELEPHONE CALLS

Some members have received phone calls from a telemarketing firm indicating they are calling on behalf of Phi Delta Kappa International to offer a Visa credit card. No authorization was given to make calls which implied that Phi Delta Kappa International requested the solicitation. Some of the people making the phone calls for MBNA were perceived as overly aggressive and insensitive to our members. To those of you who called or wrote to the international office, a most sincere "thank you" for letting us know what was taking place. To those of you who thought PDK had sold your name, nothing could be further from the truth. We immediately contacted the company and directed MBNA to cease the telemarketing campaign.

To set the record straight, PDK does not sell its membership list to anyone! Many organizations do raise a substantial amount of revenue by doing this. Phi Delta Kappa International continues every effort to maintain integrity with its members by not releasing membership information.

For a number of years, Phi Delta Kappa has provided an affinity credit card as a service to its members. It came about at the request of members who were being solicited for credit cards by other organizations. Logically, members wanted to know why Phi Delta Kappa didn't have a similar membership benefit. The Board of Directors asked the staff to obtain data from several companies, and a bank in Indiana was selected to offer the card. Last year, the Indiana Bank sold its interest to MBNA, one of the largest Bank Credit Card companies. A mailing was made this fall offering members a newly designed Visa card with no annual fee and a low interest rate. MBNA then used a telemarketing company to follow-up with members who did not accept the first offer. The telemarketing company was specifically instructed not to "call on behalf of Phi Delta Kappa International." As soon as the international office received calls and letters from members describing the aggressiveness of the telemarketers, MBNA was notified and subsequently asked to cease all phone calls.

What started out as a service to members unfortunately developed into a public relations dilemma. Be assured that Phi Delta Kappa International does not condone the aggressive phone calls and that it has not sold membership data to any company. We are sorry for what happened and certainly want to set the record straight. Thank you for your understanding. If you have need for a no-fee credit card, the MBNA card is an excellent choice. However, your participation is voluntary and you should feel no pressure to accept the offer.

PDK INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: ADVOCATES FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION

Plans are underway for a fall Phi Delta Kappa International Conference that will precede the First PDK Legislative Council. Chapter ratification of the governance amendment last fall brought significant changes to Phi Delta Kappa. The biennial council that was held in the odd-numbered years has been replaced by a legislative council to conduct the business of the fraternity. No longer is it mandatory that each chapter send a delegate to the legislative council. Instead, the 102 area coordinators serve as representatives of the 663 chapters to conduct the legislative business of the organization.

To provide opportunities for those chapters who wish to participate, a conference has been planned during the usual dates of the biennial council, October 23-25, 1997. This conference will offer three different components in which individuals can choose to participate. These are a series of professional development workshops, a National Forum on the Public Schools, and the Phi Delta Kappa International 1st Legislative Council.

Many members of Phi Delta Kappa were sorry to see the biennial council disappear because of the wonderful social and professional opportunities it provided. The conference is designed to provide similar opportunities for Kappans and other educators. Your chapter is invited and encouraged to send representatives to the conference. Although all expenses for attendance must be assumed by the chapter or the individual, a lower registration fee will be afforded members.

The enclosed schedule provides the initial details about the conference. It should be noted that the Legislative Council will begin on Friday evening, October 24, and conclude by noon on Sunday, October 26. An array of outstanding presenters will be contacted for the professional development activities and the forum. President Clinton and Secretary Riley have been invited to participate. David Berliner, Louis Gerstner (IBM), David Matthews, Vartran Gregorian (new director of the Carnegie group) are just a few of the individuals who have been approached as presenters. Invitations have been extended to all the major professional education organizations to assist with the forum and conduct a major strand of the program. The National PTA, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and the Center on Education Policy are already committed to collaborate.

Earlier you received information about your chapter's interest in conducting a Forum on the Public Schools. If your chapter is considering a forum, it would be extremely beneficial for a member(s) of the chapter to participate in the October conference. Time will be devoted to sessions on how to conduct a forum as well as how to be an advocate for public education.

Please share this announcement with members of your chapter and place it in your chapter newsletters. We invite every chapter and Kappan to participate in this outstanding conference. Many chapters will want to tap their treasury to help with expenditures for a member(s) to attend. This is an opportunity to attend outstanding professional development workshops, participate in a national forum on public education, and attend the new Legislative Council with your area coordinator who will be representing the area chapters.

Although complete details and costs cannot be provided at this time, be assured it will be a quality conference. Additional materials will be forthcoming as speakers are confirmed. I did want to announce the conference this spring, so that members can be informed and chapter executive committees can include it in the planning and budgets they are preparing.

PDK WEB SITE ACCESSIBILITY

We have received feedback from members indicating that they cannot access the PDK Web Site. Bill Hyman, PDK MIS Director, has investigated this problem and offers the following information:

The company that provides service for the PDK home page indicates that if you cannot connect when using AOL, Compuserve, or any other Internet service, you need to change the address line on your screen as follows:

Delete the line that reads: http://www.XXXXXXXXX

Where XXXXXXXXX are any other characters on that line.

Replace the deleted line with: http://www.kiva.net/~pdkintl/

Where ~ is the symbol on the key to the left of the number 1 key.