NYSCSS
2012 Governance meeting
Sunday, March 25, 2012, 9-10 AM
Present: Lori Megivern, Tim Potts, Oliver Cashman-Brown, Mike Collazo, Al Sive, Tina Winkler, Rozella Kirchgaessner, Mary Duffin, Ollie Fields-Thacker.
Lori called the meeting to order. Note that the change-over meeting will be June 2.
1. Lori asked Oliver to share the changes members requested to the minutes of the September 17, 2011 NYSCSS Executive Meeting.
- Len requested via email that it be added to the discussion about LCPs that “some LCPs wished to attend the meeting in addition to the conference call and Lori dismissed this as being inequitable.” Tina indicated today that as an LCP she always knew she could go to the meeting, and she was present on the conference call. Tina moved to reject the amendment. Mary seconded. None opposed.
- Len also wanted it added that “a conference call does not count in lieu of physically being at the meeting.” Tina moved to reject the amendment. Mary seconded. None opposed.
- In regards to the 3-3-1 vote on the apology letter, it was Len’s opinion that Mary’s vote should not be counted. Today Mary explained that she voted because it was from her presidency, and it was an old thing carried over; however, Lori said that a parliamentarian would agree that a past-past president should not have voted. Oliver also explained that if Mary’s vote was not counted he would have voted against the resolution, making the vote 2-2-1. Tina moved to accept the amendment. Tim seconded.
- Len also wanted it noted that Len’s and Mike’s no votes were intended to be votes of no confidence, because the LCPs were not present. Tina moved to reject. Mary seconded.
Tina moved to approve the minutes. Tim seconded.
2. In Taraneh’s absence, Al presented a Budget & Finance report. For this conference, the total number attending was about 255, not including the 25 to 30 exhibitors. We had 30+ guests at the dinner. In terms of finances, we currently have $11,384.45 in checking, $370.28 in the money market, and $27,381.71 in PayPal. We need to settle accounts with the hotel. Rozella made the motion to accept report; Ollie seconded.
3. Mike made his vice president’s report. During the conference, he met with the LCPs; Tina and Ollie were the only two to show up. Nancy McGuire and Gloria Sesno were at the conference, but not the committee meeting. Tina introduced the idea of using a video podcast as part of our Members Only section of the website to share our big speakers. Mike mentioned to the group that LCPs should be strong advocates of social studies, in light of the marginalization of social studies today. He suggested the LCPs have their councils approve the new resolutions, and that the local councils should get in touch with their legislators to let them know that these changes will negatively impact successful programs. He requested that they provide him with any examples of successful programs that would be or are being impacted. Politicians need to see data. Tina moved to approve the report. Rozella seconded.
4. Tim gave the President Elect report. Tim thanked everyone for their help and effort. He met with Cindy Sullivan Friday (Sept 23) for about an hour. We do not have any room liability for this conference because the hotel was able to sell our block to other parties. She will call him later this week to set up an initial meeting about the food issues. Because we were transparent from day one, we may be able to get out of re-signing for another convention here. Tim will provide a recap in a single document the saga, and send it out to all the leadership across the state. Rozella moved to approve the report. Mike seconded.
5. Lori gave the President’s report. She is pleased we continued our relationship with NYSUT. She appreciated adding the spirit of academia to the awards banquet, which improved the quality and attendance of the banquet. The brochure made things more efficient and provided the award winners with a document of their achievements.
In regards to her time as president, she felt she needed to lie low, and was unable to do what she wanted with local presidents or with the colleges, or with the legislators. She felt it wasn’t the right climate to do it. Now that we have two conventions and two successes, it validates the new step forward of the council and gives Lori the power to go ahead and do the things she wanted to do for a long time. Ollie moved to approve the report. Tina seconded.
6. Tina gave the Awards Committee report. Tina said it was like planning a wedding! She’s still learning some of the protocols or what’s been done in the past for this committee. No formal report is ready, but the tasks along the way have been similar to what Leslie did last year. She plans on continuing next year. Jennifer Bambino, Kate Caparuso, and Tom Bennett wish to serve again. She has asked Mary and Ollie to be on the committee as well. She said to send nominees her way.
While on the subject of duties, protocols and responsibilities, Lori said that one of the duties of the secretary is to add to the manual any changes that have happened the year that they were the secretary, and have it reviewed by the board on a yearly basis. It doesn’t happen. But now it can happen. For example, there is an Awards Committee portion of the manual, and if we want it to be a regular thing that the president hand out the awards, it needs to be in the manual.
Tina then continued her report. She said that last year Leslie had a clear idea of a budget for the banquet, for things such as centerpieces. Tina was able to keep it under $100 for the centerpieces. $80 for the tulips. $10 for the ribbon, glue and scissors. Then the awards program was $137, done at Kinkos. [Note: Committee reports do not need motions].
7. There was no one present from the Archives Committee. So, Lori spoke on their behalf. She said that archiving is a big concern. We have all this stuff in a garage. But more importantly, what has happened to the stuff since we stopped putting stuff there. Where are all those minutes and records? We have not kept due diligence in keeping them in one spot. We need to first attack this void, and then attack the garage.
Oliver said that he has an old laptop and three baskets of papers that were handed over to him when he became secretary. Lori said that was all stuff prior to Len.
Tim said we should look into buying a dedicated scanner, get an external hard-drive, scan it all in. We should also write a grant to pay for the work we need to get done.
Tina made a motion that Oliver be hired as a sub-contractor on a finite basis to track down and digitally archive all post-shed documents and minutes (going back to Linda Lapp’s presidency, 2008-2009). This will begin a digital archive for the entire history of the NYSCSS. The rate that Oliver receives will be based on a competitive scale. He will submit a bid at the next meeting. Ollie seconded.
A discussion took place briefly about having some archived materials presented at the 75th celebration. Steve Goldberg has all 74 program covers, from the beginning.
8. Ollie made a report for the Curriculum and Assessment committee. She and Steve LaMort have been speaking back and forth discussing the Core Curriculum. He shared with her some of the curriculum writing projects. She is also in dialogue with Nick Norman. She is working on a document pooling this information that she can post to the website.
No one was present from Elementary, Middle or Secondary committees. Lori said that they are all given the charge to increase their committee membership. They will also work with Taraneh to hook up with the student teacher placement personnel at teaching schools. They will contact the methods professors and try to get the young people into the organization in their local councils and in the convention, to get them involved even before they become teachers.
9. No one was present from the Human Rights committee. They were present at the convention and did a session on human rights. Lori said she appreciates their hard work. She also mentioned that Peter wanted to join the committee.
10. Mike gave a report on the Membership committee. He is working with the LCPs. He is trying to track everyone down. He will try to create a list of the Councils, the presidents, their contact information, and whether they have affiliated.
11. Mary gave a Nominations committee report. This list of nominees for the 2012-2013 officers was submitted and approved at the March 23, 2012 Annual Meeting.
- President, Tim Potts
- President-elect, Michael Collazo
- Vice President, Al Sive
- Treasurer, Karen Marconi
- Secretary, Oliver Cashman-Brown
- Past president, Lori Megivern
Lori said that they all won the election.
12. Regarding the Social Science Docket, Tim said that Alan Singer presented the idea that it should go fully PDF digital. He said it costs about $700 an issue to print it. That’s a bargain. He prints about 200 of them, but he said we could save more money to a digital form. We should think hard about printing or going digital.
13. Rozella then presented for the Resolutions committee. She had trouble getting volunteers, which she never really got. So she had to write the resolutions on her own. She tried to get input from people, through the newsletter, online, and in an e-blast. She got little to no response. Then from the officers, she got three people who said it looked good. She is sending the resolutions now to Erica to have them put on the website. (will be attached later)
Lori asked if Rozella wished the council forward the resolutions to NYSUT for them to review the resolutions to consider co-sponsoring. Rozella said it hasn’t been done in the past, but there’s no reason why we shouldn’t. Rozella is under the understanding that the president has to send the resolutions. Rozella added that the wording of these resolutions have resolves in them for the Officers to send these resolutions to the Board of Regents and NYS Ed, and make them available to LCPs to do this also. Lori will add to the June agenda ‘what action has been taken’ with these resolutions.
Rozella gave the committee report for Professional Development. They did not present a workshop at this conference. They have had discussions about creating an online presence. She will be sending Erika information so they can be listed on the website. Dave Scott and Steve Schultz could not be here at the conference because they were presenting at another conference in Philadelphia.
Rozella is now working on expanding the committee. Peter Fienman is now a member of the committee.
Rozella is leading the way to develop a mission statement for the committee, which will probably be ready for the September meeting. Lori will share with Rozella the mission statement she helped develop with the LCPs.
Tim mentioned we need to develop a certificate to give participants in our professional development.
14. For the Programs report, Lori stated that Geographic Alliance and the Law and Youth Citizenship program (LYC) were present at the convention, and LYC also has an advocacy radio advertisement promoting the importance of social studies education for civil responsibility. And we are very appreciative for those two organizations.
Old Business:
15. Al stated that, through conversations with Mike and Tim, they want to meet with the Rye people as soon as possible. They are trying to schedule something in April. They plan on having a very honest discussion with the Rye people, talk about alternatives, talk about the 75th anniversary celebration. The Conference planning committee would meet again the weekend of the change-over meeting, maybe that Friday evening (June 1st).
Lori stated that at this June 2nd meeting, there will be a convention planning meeting, and the executive board change-over meeting. She asked the committee chairs who were present if they wished to have planning meetings that weekend. If the committee chair decides to come to the board meeting, and decides to have a committee meeting, they can schedule it after the time of the board meeting. In other words, we will have a convention planning meeting, an executive board change-over meeting to which the committee chairs are invited, and if the committee chairs want to have their committee meet that does not conflict with the other meetings, it is up to them to plan that.
Al added that, if the committee meetings take places somewhere outside Albany, the committee chairs need to consult with the president.
When the question arose about LCPs, Tim stated that LCPs have never been invited to the change over meetings, but we should consider inviting them.
Mike stated that most of the LCPs are open to coming whenever the executive committee meets, they like to be a part of the organization. At this stage of the game, he added, we absolutely need them, and it would be important to invite them.
Tim moved that on June 1st, the convention planning committee meets; on June 2nd, in the interest of the revitalization of the NYSCSS, there is an invitation to the change-over meeting to be sent to the NYSCSS executive committee, the 4A officers, the NYSCSS committee chairs, the LCPs, council liaisons, and council program chairs. Seconded by Rozella.
Estimated, unofficial times of the meetings: The executive committee meetings will be at 9 AM. The joint meeting will be at 11 AM. Lunch at noon. The new board meeting will be at 1 PM.
New Business:
16. Based on Al’s suggestion, Ollie moved that as part of the normal thank you note from Al and Karen, we include a $25 gift card, one for each presentation this year, to the lead presenter. Seconded by Tim.
17. Based on Al’s suggestion, Ollie moved that Al work with Erika to determine whether Wild Apricot suits our survey needs, or if we should purchase a SurveyMonkey account. Mike seconded.
Lori suggested that all electronic surveys should end with a phrase such as “please send email addresses of a couple of your social studies colleagues who would like to be interested in our e-blast notifications.”
Respectfully submitted,
Oliver Cashman-Brown
NYSCSS secretary
