Dear Friends of the Bergamo Conference and JCT,
As you know, the Executive Board Members of the Foundation for Curriculum Theory and the Journal of Curriculum Theorizing (JCT) have been assessing the viability of holding the 2020 JCT Bergamo Conference on Curriculum Theory and Classroom Practice this October 2020. Health officials continue to stress the importance of social distancing practices, and that, coupled with the possibility that a second wave of the virus may occur in the Fall in tandem with the annual flu season, has led us to the unfortunate decision to cancel the JCT Bergamo Conference on Curriculum Theory and Classroom Practice for Fall 2020.
The possibility of another stay at home measure in Southwest Ohio in the Fall makes it tenuous at best that we would be able to hold our meeting. Cancellation later in the Summer or early Fall is not financially sound for JCT as we would then have incurred the costs for developing and deploying the submissions and registration portals and would have to sign a contract for the Bergamo Center space. We are also aware of the financial setbacks for many of you as your institutions and schools and community organizations make decisions about staffing and travel budgets in light of the pandemic. Should we experience a low turnout this year, it would be difficult to absorb the cost of the meeting, and it would not constitute good stewardship of the organization’s financial base.
However, we ask our longtime and new potential participants to engage in a year-long renewal of our shared commitment to the curriculum field by contributing to the Journal of Curriculum Theorizing with your talent and time. First, we want to review more manuscripts from you. Let’s all commit to writing a piece for JCT to review this year. Send us something to read, ponder, work on, and share if at all possible. Second, the journal is in need of enthusiastic and committed manuscript reviewers. Please join us in becoming a part of the team that continues making our journal cutting edge and a “must read” in the field. Those who wish to volunteer to be reviewers can do so by logging in to their account (or by creating a new one!) on the JCT Journal page (https://journal.jctonline.org/index.php/jct), clicking on “My Profile” on the right hand side of the page, selecting the “Reviewer” box under the “Roles” heading, filling out the “reviewing interests” box, and clicking “save” at the bottom of the page.
Finally, let’s plan to have a tremendous 41st meeting with some great speakers and a record crowd of 200 at our next conference on October 7-9, 2021! Please join us on the journey to 2021. Many thanks for your understanding and for your commitment to the work at hand.
Many best regards, and with regret,
JCT Executive Leadership Team
Tom Poetter, President, Foundation for Curriculum Theory and Editor, JCT
Denise Baszile, Foundation Vice President/Treasurer and Associate Editor
Brian Schultz, Foundation Secretary and Associate Editor
Kelly Waldrop, Managing Editor, JCT
Cindy Sanders, Conference Program Chair