Midtesol Executive Board Meeting
October 19, 2001
Lee’s Summit, Missouri
Present: William Eubank, Jeanne
Angel, Leslie Wolk, Ayse Stromsdorfer, Dennis Muchisky, Tom Reidmiller,
Ron Long, Christopher Renner, Cathy Howland, Cheryl Eason, Karen Schwelle,
Cecilia Prieto-Morehouse
Tom called the meeting to order.
Christopher moved to approve the minutes. Discussion regarding the Kansas
state rep position. Cheryl moved to amend the 6-23 minutes to reflect
that CeCe requested that someone be appointed to complete her term (ending
October 2002.) Cathy moved to approve the minutes as amended. Christopher
seconded. Motion carried.
Ron: The PCI was quite successful—more
people than expected (70 rather than 80). Registrations are over 200 and
staff is prepared for more on-site registrations. 38 presentations will
take place, organized into six strands. Cooperation from the staff, caterer,
etc. has been “fantastic”—Ron thanked the board for help editing the program
and answering questions throughout the process. The issue of a registered
agent is behind us—Ron will send a check next week and file himself as
the registered agent for midtesol as a nonprofit corporation in Missouri.
It is a small process but crucial for us to stay “legal.” Ron will do
it for at least 3 years, after which it will be decided whether he will
continue or whether the duty will be passed on to someone else. Getting
out of status can lead to legal trouble. It needs to be on an agenda of
something that happens every year. Tom thanked Ron for taking care of
the registered agent matter.
Cheryl reported that ??? will win the travel award and Phyllis Mithen
and Rosa Brefeld will get the Pat-on-the-Back awards.
Ayse reported that we have a lot
of money from publishers interested after much effort. 10 publishers and
16 tables will be at the publishers’ exhibit.
Cheryl (acting treasurer) reported
that Frank sent $20,000 and she opened an account at Firstar in Warrensburg.
A CPA will help us organize our finances (not a true audit, but some form
of housekeeping). Somewhere there is money in CDs. Discussion followed
regarding whether this money is still around—Tom reported that because
of the expensive breakfast in St. Louis and promotional items which haven’t
sold well, there may not be as much money as we might think. Cheryl has
redesigned the expense reimbursement form and passed out copies. Tom thanked
Cheryl for taking over the treasurer’s job.
Theresa could not be here but sent
her report. Tom pointed out that membership is falling in Iowa.
Jeanne reported the results of
the election, which included a close victory for Jane Robison for Missouri
member-at-large. JoAnne will be moving and will need to be replaced. Jeanne
pointed out the bylaw indicating that terms begin in November. Jeanne
anticipates that several people will be interested in filling upcoming
vacancies. Tom thanked Jeanne for the clear timeline which will simplify
the process of identifying vacancies.
William reported that web traffic
has increased since the STL conference. He submitted a detailed report
indicating which pages have been accessed most frequently. 85,000 pages
have been used in the last year. 22,000 unique IP addresses have accessed
the site. Ron inserted a thanks to William for making program information
available so quickly and updating it consistently and attributed the increase
in registrations in part to the availability of this info on the web.
William intends to link to the ESL pages of each state department of education
to the front page of the MIDTESOL site.
Dennis asked about an item in the
6-23-2001 minutes referring to regularizing proposals. He brought up the
legality of e-mail voting. A decision about this has not been made on
the national level. He thinks we are safe in making our own decision about
it and putting it into the bylaws. A change in the bylaws must be approved
by/presented to the membership. Ron suggested that Dennis put together
a proposal and submit it for the teleconference in January. The board
will vote and put the proposal in the summer newsletter to announce that
vote in the fall. The proposal will be on the ballot in Fall 2002.
Christopher reported that the Elementary
and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is still under discussion. He submitted
a comparison of the House and Senate bills. NABE claims that the House
has said it will fully fund Title III but Christopher is skeptical, especially
given recent budget crunches federally. Administrators will have to keep
track of proficiency—district to state to government—more than $19,000
in paperwork per state. Language proficiency tests will have to be standardized—states
may have to develop their own. Kids will be out of programs after three
years. Christopher passed out hard copies of “Beyond Blame,” a set of
materials for dealing with the aftermath of the September 11th
terrorist attacks. Kansas has had students attacked: Arabs, Muslims, Indians.
He ended with a call to write to senators and reps regarding any and all
ESL-related issues.
Cathy reported that the Iowa Language
and Cultural Concerns Conference will be on Feb. 20-21 2001. She proposed
that MidTESOL give $150 for a table and $150 toward the reception at the
conference. Cheryl seconded, motion carried.
Ron added that IA and NE have supported
the PCI and moved that we go ahead and pay $300 for a table at the IA
conference. Cathy seconded. Motion carried.
CeCe reported that Kansas TESOL
will take place on April 19-20. The Migrant ESOL/Bilingual and Refugees
Conference will take place on June 5, 6, and 7 in Wichita (Airport Hilton)
preceded by an institute for administrators and principals–leadership
skills in addressing the needs of English language learners. Kansas was
awarded a lot of money in discretionary grants: Pittsburg State was awarded
a training teachers grant (5 years, 1 and a half million dollars). It
will consist of a summer ESL institute in July for teachers in southeast
Kansas and southwest Missouri. Christopher added that there is a town
in southeast Kansas with 87 kids not enrolled in school. The superintendent
is “going up in flames.” There may be a possible training of trainers
seminar in the spring (sponsored by the Midwest Equity Assistance Center)—it
would be in March or April, in Kansas City or Omaha.
Susan reported that she has a file
regarding about $1200 from some kind of activity in Missouri. Ron suggested
doing research about where the money came from. Christopher suggested
turning it over to Cheryl as its own line item. Christopher moved that
the money be turned over, Cathy seconded, motion carried. It will be known
as “Missouri mystery money.”
Leslie reported that she has filed
the info from the boxes that she inherited and found much useful info
about the history of MIDTESOL. Some pictures need to be identified and
some newsletters are missing. William offered to put up a list of missing
newsletters and past presidents.
Karen agreed to photocopy the paperwork
regarding the transfer of the nonprofit mailing permit to the address
at Wash U and send it to Ron. Submissions for the next newsletter should
be made ASAP.
Dennis suggested putting a proposal
on the ballot to eliminate the job coordinator position from the board.
Tom looked for and found volunteers
to staff the MIDTESOL promotional materials table.
Christopher talked about the possibility
of MIDTESOL becoming affiliated with NABE. They have great curricular
standards, multicultural standards. Cost would be $100 per state per year.
He suggested that this would be a good investment—there is lots of advocacy
by NABE in politics. We would have to look at the logistics of how to
divide up dues, etc. NABE sends out a weekly advocacy note—could go to
sociopolitical concerns people. They publish a high quality journal—very
hands-on, very practical. Jeanne pointed out a possible conflict with
the MIDTESOL constitution, which forbids political advocacy. Cheryl brought
up the question of whether TESOL’s constitution contains a similar provision.
Ron expressed support for looking into the possibility of this kind of
affiliation, and the possibility of looking into the history of that provision.
William: something to do with our categorization as a non-profit? Susan
pointed out that TESOL does not have a tax ID number as a nonprofit. TESOL,
NAFSA, and NABE have lobbyists. NABE affiliation could bring in more K-12
members and provide necessary info for K-12 members. We pay for TESOL
affiliation based on membership (currently about $200). Christopher will
gather and share more info.
Cheryl suggested that in all official
correspondence that we use the “real” name: using MIDTESOL rather than
MidTESOL. --?
seconded, motion carried.
Ron moved that we continue the normal rotation of MIDTESOL conferences and have the conference in IA next year. Dennis seconded, motion carried.
*******************
