It sure is exciting getting in on the ground floor of a new organization, new movement and a new way to reach out to people. In the past two months of launching our chapter organizing effort, we have developed and refined our chapter concept. These early chapter leaders are the pioneers, inventing our organization as we go along.

State Coordinators meet every Thursday evening by teleconference for an hour of trading ideas, discussing challenges and celebrating successes. We have seven conference lines, so we schedule participation on a rotating basis and as the coordinator feels the need. As we expand, we will add evenings to our teleconference schedule.

Please call me at to find out what all this chapter coordinator stuff is about, and whether it is right for you, and to schedule yourself for the next teleconference. Join the fun, the water's great!

ALABAMA

George Crispin retired in 1990, but it's not so you could tell. He is active with Auburn University's Life-Time Learners group. This is not some passive cultural self-improvement outfit, but one whose members prepare and give presentations. George intends to present Separating School and State by Sheldon Richman. George was attracted to the decentralized chapter concept of the Separation Alliance, because that's how his corporation worked, from the bottom up. George suspects there are a lot of potential Separationists among his Life-Time Learners. Give George a call: .

CONNECTICUT

Ned Vare is Connecticut's Provisional State Coordinator. Ned was a Separationist before Separation was cool. A 20-year homeschooler (or as Ned prefers, "unschooler") when he first head of separation of school and state, he says, "It just made sense to my very being." Ned's talents and interests lie in the written word, so he's recruiting other like-minded Separationists in Connecticut to form a chapter organized around writing projects. You don't have to write Ned, though; you may give him a call at .

MAINE

Gerry Murphy's looking for interested Separationists to help him get Maine's first chapter off the launching pad. Gerry has taught in the public schools and is one of many influenced by John Taylor Gatto's Dumbing Us Down. Gerry saw the Separation Alliance's ad in Reason magazine, listened to Candace Allen's tape, and is now organizing a chapter. Call Gerry today at .

MARYLAND

Look out Baltimore and Maryland: Lorenzo Gaztanaga and the Separationists are coming. After organizing a meeting for Marshall Fritz to address, Lorenzo's goal is to recruit a chapter vice president and become officially launched as Maryland's first chapter. Lorenzo and Susan Gaztanaga are very involved in Baltimore city life and, when enough interest has been generated, they want to form that city's first chapter. To offer Lorenzo your help, give him a call: .

MISSOURI

Peter McCandless of Kansas City has volunteered to start the first chapter in Missouri. Peter, a professor of mathematics, attended both SepCon'95 and SepCon'96. He decided to volunteer after reading about chapter organizing in recent issues of The Education Liberator. Welcome aboard, Peter, and good recruiting. Note to others in that state: Why not give Peter a call () and "show him" what Missourians can do for the cause of Separation?

PENNSYLVANIA

After the excitement of Marshall's visit and the success at Pennsylvania's Libertarian Party convention (which adopted the Separation Proclamation unanimously), Ken Sturzenacker () is getting down to the nuts and bolts of forming that state's first chapter. He has a hot lead for a vice president and hopes to recruit three to eight more members at an upcoming organizing meeting.

VIRGINIA

Gary Reams of Virginia has proven hard for me to catch. It seems that every time I call, he's heading off to a Separationist meeting. When I did reach him, he came up with an absolutely brilliant idea around which to organize chapters. This idea is being further developed by Gary, fellow state coordinators, Alliance HQ, and myself. That's all I'll say about it for now, but look for details in future issues of the newsletter. Meanwhile, you Virginia Separationists can try to reach busy Gary by telephone at .

Look for more news of our state coordinators next month. Also: Consider whether your profile should go here, too.

This article is copyrighted by the Alliance for the Separation of School & State. Permission is granted to freely distribute this article as long as this copyright notice is included in its entirety.

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