Message presented to the members at the 2010 MECRA Conference:
Normally, I would be making my presentation to all of you in person; however, I am unable to attend this year's conference. Please accept my sincere apologies. As I had mentioned at last year's conference, I am in pursuit of my Master's degree in Administration and this summer term I am taking two classes, which actually span four days, Monday through Thursday. For this reason, I cannot join all of you, my wonderful friends and colleagues, in Muskegon. This week of the conference is actually my last week of the semester and you know what that means…papers and exams! Trust me, I would much rather be with all of you!
What I would like to inform the membership about is that the Board of Review is taking a look at minimum educational requirements for CERs. With the decline in the passing rate of the skills portion of the CER exam, the Board is wondering whether or not requiring just a high school education is really sufficient for our profession anymore. If somebody struggled in English class in high school, what makes us think that they will be a good fit as a court recorder?
While the Board realizes that many electronic court reporters hold the positions they do, due in large part to it being a requirement for their job as a judicial secretary or clerk or back-up for the official recorder, the Board still has a responsibility to make sure the work product of recorders; i.e., our transcripts, are correct and readable and proper and conform to the mandatory formatting requirements. Honestly, the transcripts that have been being produced for the state certification examination have left a lot to be desired. It is puzzling, to say the least.
I have considered changing the format of the mandatory workshop to include some sort of hands-on transcription, but that will lengthen the workshop as well as probably increase the cost. I believe that we have a good workshop as well as wonderful instructors but, when push comes to shove, personal responsibility is paramount and ultimately in the hands of the recorder themselves.
I know I am preaching to the choir when I say that proofreading is a skill that must be honed. Proper punctuation is so important. Now, I'm not talking about anything fancy, here. I'm talking about putting a comma where we all know there is supposed to be one, and a period or a question mark at the end of a sentence or question. Capitalizing Honor and Court, when addressing the judge, and knowing that the meaning of hearsay is hearing what somebody else has said, so it makes sense to spell it hearsay as opposed to here-say. Yes, really, that error has been made numerous times.
People think that they should pass the skills portion of the test even though their formatting does not comply with the manual. Every person who attends the workshop is given the state manual with the formatting conventions. Reference materials are allowed to be brought into the skills portion of the exam. There is no excuse to have a transcript formatted incorrectly, barring technical difficulties with the computers, which has happened, and allowances have been made for those instances.
The manual changes every year and the court reporters and recorders on the Board are currently in the process of making some other changes. For instance, the space before and after the dash is returning. You can actually make that change now, if you would like. I would like to make a request that every certified recorder make sure at least annually, that their manual is up-to-date. Make it a habit, perhaps quarterly, to check the state's website to see if any changes are posted. We will also try and make sure to get the changes posted to the MECRA website.
So, getting back to education, it looks like the time might be coming where those wanting to get into this profession will be required to have some continuing education credits, if they are not coming in with at least an Associate's degree. Please don't quote me on this right yet, because this is all still in the very preliminary stages. I have to say, though, that I am in support of some minimum requirements above the high school graduate level. I guess time will tell.
As far as this wonderful conference, Sylvia Stratton, who has joined me on the Board of Review, will be presenting educational material for me and I thank her tremendously. You are all in very, very good hands! She has developed some awesome tricks of the trade and I highly recommend you trying some of them. She knows how to make your transcription life a whole lot easier!
Thank you, all, for your hard work and dedication to the field of court reporting. If you have any comments about what I've written, please feel free to forward them onto me at dcs@veionline.com. We have a Board of Review meeting the second week of September and I will be happy to pass along any suggestions or commentary relating to the education piece I wrote about.
Have a wonderful three days of networking and camaraderie and just plain fun and enjoyment. I will see you all at the 2011 conference…a little bit smarter.
