EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING
APRIL 28-29, 2007
PENN STATE
Consider the Future of PSMLA
President’s
Welcome / Introductions
The spring ‘07 PSMLA Executive Council meeting began at
10:00 am on Saturday, April 27, 2007.
The following members were in attendance on Saturday, April
28: M. Boettjer, K. Boykin, L. Crum, C. Dotto, D. Hall, R. Hall, E. Irish,
Sister M.H. Kashuba, D. Kinman, P. Kolega, F. Mulhern, D. Murphy, D. Richards,
P. Rzodkiewicz, T. White, D. Wills, D. Wolfe, and B. Youngs. The following
member was absent on Saturday: J. Stewart.
The following members were in attendance on Sunday, April
29: M. Boettjer, K. Boykin, L. Crum, C. Dotto, D. Hall, R. Hall, E. Irish,
Sister M.H. Kashuba, D. Kinman, F. Mulhern, D. Murphy, D. Richards, P.
Rzodkiewicz, T. White, D. Wills, D. Wolfe, and B. Youngs. The following members were absent on Sunday:
P. Kolega, and J. Stewart.
Approval of
Minutes (P. Rzodkiewicz)
The minutes were approved via e-mail after the meeting in
September 2006. In early March, this
Rzodkiewicz/Wills motion was made: “For
all PSMLA reps, PSMLA will pay: full
registration, hotel expense up to $450, and transportation up to $250 (toward
plane, train, car, etc.). Before reps
are reimbursed, they must submit all their receipts, and complete the necessary
paperwork to the Treasurer.” The motion
carried via computer vote.
A new format was used for this spring meeting. Council members selected committees on which
they would like to serve and were assigned to a committee by B. Youngs and E. Irish. New committee assignments are posted on the
web. Each committee has a Chair, a
Consulting chair, and committee members.
The following committees met and formed and examined their mission
statement. They examined past work of
the committee and set three goals for their committee for the next six
months. They also discussed how the
website would be restructured, etc.
These committees met Saturday morning:
Advocacy – Chair (T. White), Consultant (T. Fall),
Members: P. Kolega and L. Crum
Professional Development – Chair (D. Kinman),
Consultant (F. Mulhern), and Members: Sister. M.H. Kashuba, D. Richards, and D.
Murphy
Publications – Chair (D. Murphy), Consultant (B.
Youngs), Members: D. Richards and D. Kinman
Nominations – Chair (D. Wolfe), Consultant (M.
Boettjer) and Member: C. Dotto
Internal Audit
Conducted
In accordance with the by-laws, an internal audit was
conducted. The persons who worked on the
audit were: K. Boykin, E. Irish, P
Rzodkiewicz, and D. Wills. All months of
the Quicken Report were accounted for in numerical order. A reminder was made to council members to
turn in vouchers along with their receipts to D. Wills. The two minor changes that had been
recommended by the external auditor from 2006 had been made.
Treasurer’s Report
(D. Wills)
Deb Wills discussed the Treasurer’s Report. Upon examination of the report, she reminded
Council of the need to re-examine the need for a dues increase later during the
meeting. P. Rzodkiewicz moved and C.
Dotto seconded that Council accept the Treasurer’s Report. Motion carried.
Business Manager’s
Report (K. Boykin)
There are presently 557 individual members. Council looked at the breakdown of individual
vs. institutional memberships. Kathleen
also provided Council with a list of PSMLA members who have volunteered to
serve on committees and to possibly run for Executive Council.
The Advertising
Managers’ Report (D. Hall and R. Hall)
Bob Hall distributed to council a report that detailed the
number of ads for the Forum and the conference brochure, the number of tables
that have been reserved for the ’07 conference, etc. He pointed out that some of the exhibitors
are receiving a free conference ad and/or a free ad in the Forum because they
made donations for the fall ’06 conference. Council voted to accept the
Business Manager’s report and the Advertising Managers’ Report on an
Irish/Richards motion.
Conference Reports
2006 PSMLA
Conference (P. Rzodkiewicz)
Phyllis presented a detailed report on the ’06
conference. Council was reminded that
the spreadsheet reflected the mix-up at the hotel in booking the wedding the
same weekend as our conference. This was
the first time that the t-shirts and note cards were sold at the conference. The pre-conference workshop was also
successful.
2007 PSMLA
Conference (E. Irish)
The 2007 PSMLA Conference will be held at the Crowne Plaza
Valley Forge in King of Prussia on October 19 and 20. Ellen explained they have room for 32
sessions. 29 proposals have come in so
far, creating a good blend of topics, presenters, and languages. Keynote speakers have been arranged for both
days of the conference, including the 2nd pre-conference
workshop. Ellen presented the names of
the awardees to Council. On a
Wills/Kashuba motion, Council voted to accept both the ’06 and ’07 conference
reports.
Conference 2008
(D. Wills and B, Youngs)
The 2008 PSMLA Conference will be held in Pittsburgh at the
Radisson Hotel Pittsburgh Greentree. The
hotel room rate is $94.00.
Conference 2009
(D. Wolfe)
Doug Wolfe has agreed to chair the ’09 conference in
York. This will allow PSMLA to target
the middle of the state. Bonnie will
forward to Doug the hotel information that she had received from Pam. A “PSMLA
Conference Timeline” was given to Doug to use in his planning. Doug will also find a co-chair for the
conference. The ’08 and ’09 conference
reports were approved on a Rzodkiewicz/White motion.
PDE (P.
Kolega)
Pam
informed Council that Marilyn Zilli Esq., Executive
Director of the Democratic Education Committee has introduced a package of four
bills that would provide incentives for students to study and teach foreign
languages, math or science. The second
bill amends the Accountability Block Grant to provide monies for school
districts that establish, maintain or expand programs of instruction in world
languages in the elementary grades. The
third amends the language of the Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program to
make students who study in an immersion or early foreign language study program
eligible for scholarship monies. The
fourth amends language of the Concurrent Enrollment Program to include funds
for world language study. Pam also
explained there is another piece of new legislation that would direct our State
Board of Education to adopt world language standards.
Pam and
Council discussed what PSMLA could do to help us finally get World Language
Standards. Discussion centered on letter writing campaigns that will eventually
be headed by Thekla Fall. Council discussed how the Arizona Governor
overrode their state’s board decision and mandated world language
standards.
Pam also
explained about setting up language academies.
She explained there will be 10 pilot school districts and that the
individual school districts would need to apply to be part of the
academies. Council discussed the need
for a Needs-assessment survey to determine what is most important for the
majority of students, schools, etc.
Committee
Restructuring (Continued)
The next four committees met, set their goals, and prepared
their report using a worksheet that was provided by President Youngs.
Awards – Chair (Sister M.H. Kashuba), Consultant (P.
Rzodkiewicz), Member: C. Dotto
Finance – Chair (E. Irish), Consultant (D. Wills),
Members: P. Rzodkiewicz, D. Hall, B. Hall, and B. Youngs
Membership – Chair (C. Dotto), Consultant (J.
Stewart), Members: L. Crum, E. Irish,
and T. White
Special Committee
Meetings
Business Manager
Duties (F. Mulhern)
With the resignation of K. Boykin, PSMLA Business Manager,
Frank provided Council with background information on revamping the job
description for the Business Manager.
There was discussion regarding how the job of Business Manager has
expanded over the past few years. Now
with adding a PSMLA store to the web site and the acceptance of credit cards,
the job will be even larger. Council
members received a copy of a proposal that detailed dividing the
responsibilities of the Business Manager among other PSMLA officers, members,
and committees. Council looked over the
description carefully. Council requested
that Frank retype the description to reflect some of the topics that were
discussed. Once finished, Frank will
send the description to Council and a vote will be taken on the proposed
changes. Once complete, the job
descriptions will be posted on the PSMLA web site.
PSMLA Web Site
Karen
Williams is stepping down as the web mistress of the PSMLA web site. Denise Hall will take on this task. Karen and Denise will work together to ensure
a smooth transition. Denise will redo
the shell of the web site. Council gave
Denise some ideas for how the site should look.
The web site will now be hosted by CMU (N.B. As of May 5, 2007, this is
no longer true; Denise Hall is going to combine the web store and the main
PSMLA site under one web hosting service, for a nominal fee - $51 the first
year, $14 per year after that). Council
members are reminded to mark the subject line appropriately when they are
sending something to Denise to put on the PSMLA web site. Items sent to Denise do not have to be in PDF
format unless they are something we do not want changed. A special thank you to Denise for taking this
over.
Some of the
possible categories for the main page will include: Forum, Awards, Membership, PSMLA store,
Advertising, Conferences, Contact us, About Us, Getting Involved,
Advertising/Exhibitors, PSMLA Members Only, and the PSMLA Logo.
Volunteer Liaison
Position
Bonnie Youngs brought up the need for a Volunteer Liaison
position to be added. This person would
be someone who would contact persons who might be interested in serving on
PSMLA committees or possibly to run for Executive Council. Council made a list of some things for which
someone might volunteer: Help at a
conference by introducing presenters of sessions, working the language lotto
table, taking pictures at the conference, and stuffing conference bags,
etc.
The meeting was
adjourned at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 28, 2007.
Sunday, April 29,
2007
President Youngs
called the meeting to order at 8:00 a,m.
Committee Reports
Advocacy
(T. White)
Thomasina identified the three main goals for the
committee: (1) The PSMLA list serv will
continue to be used to publicize foreign language events. (2) The list serv
will also be used to announce flap grants, exchange programs, etc. and (3) On a
Rzodkiewicz/Irish motion, council voted for PSMLA to fund a bulk mailing to
legislators to help get the PA state language standards adopted. Thekla will also send a letter to rally the
superintendents in a similar format.
Awards (Sister
M.H. Kashuba)
Sister will chair the Awards committee and is already
working on preparing the certificates for Who’s Who. Sister asked Council if we could expand this
to include College students as well.
Council thought this was a great idea.
Periodic reminders will be sent to world language teachers to remind
them they do not have to wait until April to send in their requests for Who’s
Who certificates or to submit for Outstanding Senior Awards. M. Boetttjer
informed Council that she has received applications for the Outstanding
Senior. Winners will be selected and
contacted and the information will be sent out via the list serv and will be
available on the web site.
PEP Awards (T.
Fall)
Thekla pointed out that the number of PEP applications we
received this year was less than in the past.
Council discussed and approved moving the date for submission of the
applications to March to give those preparing the application more time to
gather the required information. We need
to give special recognition to those schools that receive the PEP Award. The schools that received a PEP Award will be
announced at the fall conference.
Council was reminded that every school that applies does not
automatically receive Honorable Mention.
On a motion by Irish/Richards, the Awards reports were accepted.
Finance
(E. Irish)
Ellen reported on the three goals of the Finance
Committee: (1) D. Wills will find a new
bank that the PSMLA Treasurer and Secretary can access. (2) Get a sales tax license. K. Boykin told Council she needs to fill out
a form on line to apply for the sales tax license. (3) Set up a web store.
It was decided that the past president and the 1st vice-president
would always be members of the Finance Committee. D. Hall and B. Youngs will work to get the
web store running. On a motion by Rzodkiewicz/Kashuba, Council voted to accept
the report and to give Denise Hall a one-time set up fee of $1000 and $500 per
year to maintain the web site. (The
amount will be prorated for 2007.) Council
also voted to raise the stipend for the list serv manager to $250 per year.
Publications
(D, Murphy)
Council
gave the Publications Committee some goals for the Forum: Inform members of up-coming events, commend
members, recognize award winners (schools, individuals, teachers, schools,
etc.), advertise, etc. There was
discussion about having a Program Leaders Corner or a Dept. Chair Corner. We need to emphasize what we, as language
teachers, are doing to help prepare students for the PSSAs and reading across
the curriculum. Council discussed using
the list serv to solicit responses to questions like these and to put them in
the Forum. The Forum has two new co-Editors:
Dan Murphy and Doug Wolfe. Drew
Richards will be the website liaison.
One goal of
the Publications Committee is to get the Forum to have an on-line version. They will conduct a trial run this
summer. Bob and Denise Hall will put
this on-line and then Council can decide.
The Forum will continue to be mailed to those PSMLA members who do not
have an e-mail address and for those who sign up after the mailing. Council decided to continue to offer the
Forum, Newsletter, etc. in paper, as well as on-line. In the future, PSMLA members will indicate
how they wish to receive their copy of the Forum. When/If the Forum
goes on-line, it will be available to Members Only.
The
Publications Committee will send out a PSMLA Newsletter this summer. Some topics that might be included are: Recognition of awardees (Pep, Outstanding
Seniors, etc.), conference preview, back-to-school ideas, and technology tips,
etc. Bonnie Youngs reminded the
committee that this should be to the printer by August 1 to ensure printing
before the year starts for the university people.
On a motion
by Rzodkiewicz/Murphy, Council voted to accept the report.
Nominations Report
( D. Wolfe)
Doug presented the goals for the Nominations Committee: (1) To send out a letter, request a bio,
picture, etc. (2) Refine the list to
qualified persons by Aug. 15. (3) Prepare to vote and tally the results. Voting will occur between September 5 and
19. The voting site on the web site will
need to be updated and PSMLA officers will need to be on the slate this year,
Electronic voting will be used again this year.
Paper ballots will again be available for those who do not have
e-mail. The newly elected Ex. Co.
members will be introduced to Council members at the Ex. Co. breakfast. On an Irish/Kashuba motion, Council voted to
accept the report.
Professional
Development (D. Kinman)
Dave and Frank will serve as web site liaisons for the
committee. Council was reminded that
last year, Frank and Phyllis created a Speakers Bureau under the auspices of
PSMLA. One goal of the PD committee is
to get the information out to the members on the availability of the
workshops. The committee would like to
add more workshops to the list. They
would like to solicit workshop proposals from FLAP recipients, from those world
language teachers with National Board Certification, and from those who had
submitted excellent projects to the PA Governor’s Institute for World
Languages, etc. The committee plans to
conduct a Needs-Assessment to determine the needs and interests of our members. It was suggested to find a good model of a
Needs-Assessment. The Dotto /
Rzodkiewicz motion to accept the report passed unanimously.
Membership (C.
Dotto)
Cindy Dotto presented the goals of the Membership committee:
(1) To revise the membership brochure.
Cindy brought a sample of a new membership brochure to the meeting. Council liked the new design. Cindy will get quotes for the printing once
the brochure has been revised to reflect the raise in dues. Bonnie will check to see if we can mail the
brochures through CMU. The membership
committee and the PSMLA secretary will continue to send a renewal letter to
members and to use the membership brochure for new members.
(2) Dues
have not been raised in 11 years.
Kathleen Boykin will give PSMLA members an opportunity to renew their
PSMLA membership at the current rate if they renew their membership in June. A
mailing will be sent out in early June. July 1 will be a cut off date to renew
for next year at the current rate.
These membership rates were proposed:
Regular $40
(1 yr) $70 (2 yr) $400 (Life)
Student $20
(1 yr) $35 (2 yr) n/a
Retired $25
(1 yr) $40 (2 yr) $250
(Life)
Joint $50
(1 yr) $80 (2 yr) $500 (Life)
*Reg. Institutional $35
(1 yr) $62.50 (2 yr) n/a
(This is an
individual membership for a teacher whose school has an
institutional membership.)
Institutional $75
(1 yr) $125 (2 yr)
($75 will
allow two teachers to register for the conference at the member rate and
receive one copy of the Forum. $125 will allow 5 teachers to register at the
member rate and receive 2 copies of the Forum.
Council
voted to allow P. Rzodkiewicz to purchase a 3 in 1 machine to print, copy, fax
and scan. This will be for the person in
charge of developing and maintaining a current database of all PSMLA members. They also gave her permission to purchase a
shredder. (This was approved with a max
of $500 on the printer and $50 on the shredder.) A motion by Irish / White to accept the
report was passed unanimously.
PSMLA Web Store
(D. Hall)
Council discussed what other state language organizations
have to sell. Denise hopes to have the
site up and running by the end of May.
The framework for the site will go up but we will wait for the sales tax
license before we sell items other than clothing. The assessment guides will also be available
from the PSMLA Web Store.
Cultural
Communications Alliance (CCA) (D. Wills)
Deb Wills reported that eight schools competed in the Bayer
competition this year. The Heinz
competition is this week. Fewer schools
participated this year. Thekla
volunteered to write up the information on the winning schools and to get this
to Denise to put up on the web site.
Council wondered if a portion of the video from CCA could be put on the
web site.
Website Manager
(K. Williams)
Karen asked
that she be involved if any major proposals are made to overhaul the web site
so the site needs to look appropriate and is consistent with the other changes
being made. Karen told Council that she
now has a program that will change between word and PDF. Karen informed Council that it is still
easier if things are sent to her in PDF format.
Kathleen is
working on setting up the shopping cart for the web site and will share this
with Karen when it is ready for use.
PaCIE (Sister M.H. Kashuba)
Sister
Kashuba went to PaCIE. Sister is going
to inquire about the PaCIE representative to PSMLA to
continue our relationship with their organization.
Miscellaneous
Discussion
· Liz
Crum has become chair of E-Flash.
· Drew
Richards has taken over as PSMLA Historian.
· The
description for the dissemination of the jobs of the Business Manager will be
retyped (to include the discussion at the meeting) and will be sent to Council
for a vote. Vote will be done
electronically.
· Frank
Mulhern will check and update the bi-laws to reflect any necessary changes
based upon changes from the April 2007, meeting.
Council set the date
for the fall Executive Council meeting:
September 22 and 23 at the Ramada Inn in State College.
On Saturday, April
22, the council meeting began at 10:00 a.m. and was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.
On Sunday, April
23, 2006, the council meeting began at 8:00 a.m. and was adjourned at 12:00
p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Phyllis Rzodkiewicz
PSMLA Secretary