MIDTESOL
Executive Board Minutes
Friday
May 19, 2000 Embassy Suites Hotel,
Omaha, NE
MIDTESOL Executive Board Minutes Friday May 19, 2000 Embassy Suites Hotel, Omaha, NE
Roll Call: P. Mithen, L. Dortch, A. Stromsdorfer, J. Zoller Wagner, F. Bramlett, C. Eason, W. Eubank, J. Angel, T. Riedmiller, C. Renner.
1. Linda Dortch reported on her preparation for TESOL 2001.
2. The agenda was approved.
3. The Jan. 20, 2000 Board minutes were approved.
4. Treasurer's report. The Treasurer's Report was reviewed. At the fall conference, we made $2434.13. MIDTESOL paid for the team leader 2001 T-shirts. Angel is going to ask Schindler if the organization TESOL is going to reimburse us for these. Renner moved that the treasurer's report be accepted. It was accepted by acclimation.
5. At-Large report. No report from Missouri. Howland sent a report on the Iowa ESL conference and the TEAMS project between UNI and the Waterloo schools. Prieto-Morehouse sent a report from Kansas. No report from Nebraska at this time in the meeting. (Hamilton joined us later.)
6. Membership report received from Bries. We have 387 members as of 5/16/2000. The breakdown is in the attached report. Riedmiller confirmed Bries' observation that the data needed to be entered more uniformly to facilitate the sorting function. Riedmiller suggested that at the next conference we could have a station next to registration for members to confirm their email address and other contact data, because many email addresses are incorrect in the database.
7. Publication Reports. Riedmiller is looking for an editor of the newsletter, who would be responsible for finding, editing, choosing, writing articles-the creative, content part. Riedmiller is willing to do the layout and take care of the printing. The newsletter comes out four times a year, approximately every three months. There is no current newsletter because there was not enough material for an issue. Deadlines must be adjusted because of shifting conference dates. Eubank reported that the website is doing phenomenally. A written report was reviewed (see attached). We continue to have increased traffic. Eubank reviewed the other affiliate pages, and we are getting more exposure than most of those pages. We need more files related to the 2001 Conference. The Howland pages of the folktale projects have received many accesses-this is a more creative and attractive facet of our website, which makes our website distinctive. Mithen suggested that Eubank gather information on program contact info for K12 to University and send it to the newsletter. Eubank would like to receive more info for the jobsite.
8. Nominations report. Mithen reported that we have a new membership chair and representative from Kansas, but they need to be elected. We need a 1st VP who is a current or former Board member. We need a list of the benefits of being a Board member.
9. Awards report. Eason reported that the best of KATESOL will be invited to our fall 2001 Conference. She raised the question of funding for the KATESOL-MIDTESOL exchange. Our current practice has been to award $100 and the registration is normally waived. Renner is trying to convince KATESOL to hold their conference in June, in conjunction with the Bilingual Conference. There is a meeting on June 17 to decide this. The decision will be postponed until we have more information. Travel awards were awarded to Denise Mussman, Lois Spitzer, William Eubank, and JoAnne Zoller Wagner for the NAME conference. The award to go to the TESOL Academy has only one applicant. The deadline is May 25. Eason asked if Best of MIDTESOL will be raised to $150, since MIDTESOL travel awards were raised to $150.
10. Historian-no report from Leslie Wolk.
11. Publishers' representative-Stromsdorfer reported that she has corresponded with Kim and Angel. She is looking forward to the 2001 conference. She schmoozed at the 2000 Conference. She needs more publishers' addresses. Riedmiller raised the question of whether publishers can advertise on our website. It seems that we cannot do that if we want to retain our non-profit status. Riedmiller suggested that the publishers could sponsor the website. Renner suggested that we remain advertising-free. Eubank said we could include a list of our own publishers ' representatives for reference on the website. Stromsdorfer asked about the policy for reimbursement. She only needs to send in the receipts to the treasurer.
12. Resources and Employment. Mingucci was not present because of a NAFSA conference. There was no report. Riedmiller asked about the purpose of this position. The website might be making this position redundant. Riedmiller suggested we look at the necessity of this position, once Mingucci's term is finished.
13. Sociopolitical Concerns. Renner distributed copies of his NABE report (attached). He will report on this at the NAME conference at the luncheon tomorrow. The issue is an attachment to the bill that parents of immigrant children must request that their children receiving bilingual or ESL services. Renner urged us to contact our senators regarding this legislation, not by email, but handwritten one page notes. Senators need to be contacted regarding reappropriations because our position could be weakened if this initiative is successful. Block grants for migrant workers should be opposed, because it would have to be voted on each year, and eventually would be likely to be dropped. Title I children are facing a School Choice issue. In a bill called the Triple A's, there is a bill called School Choice. In this bill, parents have to decide whether to keep their child in that school or another school of their choice. 14. Rules and Resolutions. Muchisky had no report. He had a family emergency. Muchisky needs to do the following: (a) add to the Constitution that the First Vice-President needs to be currently, or have been in the past, on the MIDTESOL Board; (b) see if Board members need to be TESOL members in addition to having MIDTESOL membership; (c) examine whether we need to maintain our Resources and Employment position once the current rep has finished her term; and (d) write up a summary of the benefits of being a Board member.
15. TESOL 2001 Update. Mithen said we need to know what people are going to be reimbursed for. We need a MIDTESOL reception for MIDTESOL members at the TESOL 2001 Convention. It was recommended that the reception be held on Saturday for a breakfast. There was a discussion of whether we could invite Kansans and Minnesotans to plan a joint reception. Angel will communicate with KATESOL about this. We could have people sign up for this on the website. Angel reported that MIDTESOL was asked to host an Invited Session, putting forward a speaker. Renner was invited at the meeting to present on Global Education. Mithen raised the question of support for travel to the monthly TESOL 2001 planning meetings, particularly to help Sheila Monk, the former coordinator of volunteers, who resigned because of lack of financial support. It was recommended that we have better communication regarding meeting dates and financial support. Mithen moved that TEAM leaders be reimbursed for TESOL 2001 planning meetings the same as MIDTESOL board members who must come for a special meeting-transportation and a room for one night, pending no other means of support. Seconded by Eason. Unanimously approved. Mithen inquired about the possibility of offering Travel Awards for the 2001 Convention as a one-time offer because the convention is in the Midwest. The award would be for a MIDTESOL member (as of May 1, 2000) who has had a proposal accepted. This would be four $150 awards, with the same criteria. This was moved by Renner, seconded by Riedmiller. Unanimously approved. This will be published in MIDTESOL Matters.
16. Old Business. The TESOL Central Office has requested artwork 3' X 2' framed, bright color, suitable for wall-hanging. (Joan Hamilton joined us at this point.) Riedmiller's artist-friend and Art Zoller Wagner were potential candidates. The website for Zoller Wagner is: http://www.geocities.com/art_zoller_wagner/ (Use underlines between Art, Zoller, and Wagner.) It was decided to view the two artists' work and then we would send our votes to Angel electronically as soon as possible. The artist would receive $200 for his contribution. Angel will ask her dad (a retired CPA) to do a MIDTESOL audit. Angel said that we are still processing the Midwest Accord, especially regarding who would be responsible if there was a loss of money at the Midwest Regional Conference. (We have already accepted the original Midwest Accord, so Angel can sign a changed one as approved by the Board.) Minnesota is interested in hosting the Midwest Regional Conference in Fall 2002.
17. New Business. Materials from Ron Long were distributed (attached). Public school ESL teachers are on the committee. Angel asked if it might be a good idea to have a Board member on the committee. Eubank raised the question of whether MIDTESOL should be making decisions for Missouri. Renner agreed that it should be a grassroots level effort. Renner is going to confer with colleagues regarding the Missouri proposal to draft a letter in response to the request for support. He will forward the letter to Angel, who will send it to the MIDTESOL Board for review. Angel reported that we have a Certificate of Affiliation stating that we have been an affiliate since 1978. MIDTESOL 2001 might be held at UMKC October 19-20, to be confirmed by the university on August 1. The first vice-president would be in charge of planning that conference.
18. Nebraska representative Hamilton reported that Omaha is developing a dual language program at South High School, to begin this fall. Mithen asked if Hamilton could recruit more Nebraska members of MIDTESOL. There is a perception among Nebraskan TESOLers that MIDTESOL is focused on higher education.
19. The next Board meeting will be on September 22 in St. Louis, MO. The meeting was adjourned at 5:10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
JoAnne Zoller, secretary
Added to the WWW on 5/19/2000
