In Attendance - Melanie Campbell, John Heinrichs, Marilyn Bahney, Deb Hamil,
Richard Kellogg, Lynn Boitano-Thompson, Judy Dollard, Don Everhart, Cheryl Heinrichs
Absent - Sue Davidson, Debbie Restivo, Elizabeth Vrabac
1. Opening Remarks, Melanie thanked Deb for being such a gracious hostess and welcomed Richard Kellogg to the group.
2. Additions to the Agenda-John wanted to add nametags and business cards to his part of the meeting.
3. Review of Committee Mission Statements:
o Each committee chair was asked at the last Executive Committee to submit
a
mission statement to John who would organize them into a draft. To date, none
of
the committees have submitted their mission statement. The Executive Committee
began the meeting by developing their mission statement.
Executive Committee Mission Statement:
The mission of the Executive Committee is to provide a venue for the members
of the KGA to participate in the governance of the organization.
John moved this statement be added to the by-laws; Judy seconded and all agreed.
John has not received any statenebts. Melanie asked us to review the by-laws
in
order to compose a mission statement.
4. Coordinator's Report, John
o Financial Status -a product activity report was handed out. Currently we have $30,788.44 in this account. The endowment account has about $44,000. Some expenses have not been paid yet, so we're about $3000 lower actually. However, John feels we're in good shape financially for the moment.
o Plans for Next Program Year (Preliminary Discussion) - By July 1 John needs
to submit a plan to NGS for next year, to start 9/1/03.
oIn summer 2004, a SGI will be offered.
oWe need to move the Teacher grant to a sustainable level-1 or 2 thousand. Discussion
followed on this. Roseanne thought we should have a greater amount.
oJudy shared that some alliances have gone to an online only format for their
newsletter. John felt that the yearly cost for our newsletter was reasonable,
so we'll keep to this format. Possibly we'll put it online also.
o "Are we interested in adding new members or taking care of the current
members?" was a question which was discussed due to its relationship as
to where we will devote our funding. In line with this question, we discussed
having retired TC's go into the classrooms to present lessons. If we did this,
however, we would not have the funding for a SGI to add new members and TC's.
After a lengthy discussion, Don moved that for 2004 that we have a three-step
SGI,-classroom, field trip, and presentation (doing two weeks but having a week
in between). Lynn seconded. Motion carried.
oTeacher Grant-John wants an amount to put in the budget. Don moved that we
place $2,000 in this program; Judy seconded. Motion carried. This amount can
change from year to year depending on our financial situation at the time.
o Kansas Social Studies Licensure and Geography Requirements - This could lead to the removal of geography teachers if history teachers can teach the class. Don will keep in touch with Kim R about this issue; The KGA will be available to help, make phone calls, or whatever it takes.
o Kansas Geography Activity Book --John has improved on this concept but at this point it will take money to make it available to 4th grade level.
o Membership Fee Evaluation -only 14 responded. John asked for donations and has done better with this avenue. Money goes into endowment and we'll give NGS a large sum later. John moved; Rich seconded. Melanie reminded that the paid members should receive something as promised. This is one of the items the membership committee will need to deal with. It was decided that our membership year will go from Fall Conference to Fall Conference. The motion to drop the $5 membership fee was passed
o KGA Web Domain - (At the last meeting, John asked about having our own web
domain. Marilyn moved that we have our own page; Don amended the motion to say
that the amount be under $100 or John will bring it back to the next meeting.
No one opposed this motion.) This is not a priority and has been put on the
back burner.
o Stipends for Committee Chairs - (At the last meeting, it was decided that the chair of the Executive Committee would receive a stipend of $500 payable at the end of the term. John asked us to think about the Standing Committee chairpeople receiving a stipend also.) John thinks we should have something available because of the time and money involved in being a committee chair. However, committee members expressed that they felt it was an honor to serve as a chair. Reimbursements for expenses were discussed. Melanie suggested we have reimbursement forms available.
o Pay Raise for Resource Center Manager (tabled at last meeting)
Cheryl currently receives $8.12/hour. The committee unanimously agreed that
Cheryl has made many improvements in the resource center and on the web page
since she began. While it was discussed that we could approve either a raise
for Cheryl or an increase in hours, Cheryl expressed that she really was not
interested in working more hours. Having a student around is. Cheryl and John
were asked to leave the room so that the committee could openly discuss this
matter. Richard motioned we give Cheryl a raise to $10/hour; Don seconded. Motion
carried.
5. Co-Coordinator's Report
o KGA Insights-the last issue was easier to put together. The next one will
go out in April or May. The Bee will be covered, Fall conference, lesson plan;
call for proposals; new TC's profile; GAW theme; Kim R on licensure. Melanie
suggested we have a standard form for updating personal information.
Judy wants all material to her by 4/25
o Equipment Purchase -Panasonic projector for $1575. For another $500, she got a remote control, a speaker, and a remote radio frequency microphone. Judy also purchased a case for $70 from Best Buy
o ASGI 2003 - at the PDC meeting Judy gave a complete report on ASGI 2003. She passed out handouts of proposed routes and shared the resource notebook that she has developed. Each of the participants will receive a backpack with the KGA logo on it.
o TC Completion Session-Roseanne Wilson and Pat Egan completed this session to become TCs.
o Grantwriting Workshop-There were two participants at this workshop (Melanie and Roseanne). Judy led this year's workshop. John suggested that we have an hour class at the Fall meeting
6. Webmaster/Resource Center Manager's Report
o Status of Membership List (Database Corrections) -We had 112 newsletters returned out of the 1200 that were sent out.
o Fall Conference PhotoFest - Cheryl plans to put together a Fall Conference PhotoFest where photos from previous KGA activities will be available for conference participants to view and identify. It was suggested that sticky notes be available for people to write on for photo identification purposes.
o Resource Center Update -Cheryl has curtailed purchasing items until there is an increase in materials check out. She shared the Lewis/Clark videos and the Mapping Our World GIS lessons that are newly available.
o Status of Website ---Cheryl would like to add a list of committee members. She is in need of committee lists in order to do this, however. There have been about 1000 hits on the site.
7. Committee Reports
o Professional Development Committee-Deb/Roseanne
o Deb reported that the update of KGA lesson plans will include KS standards
and NG standards.
o The KGA banner was received and approved. Thanks to Marilyn for taking charge
of this matter. Everyone was very pleased with the resulting product.
o The fall conference will be held on September 13. Site has been moved to Topeka
due to it being a K-State football game day in Manhattan. Next year's theme
for GAW is Habitats-Home Sweet Home. The ASGI people will present at the fall
conference as will Melanie on GAW and Don on the status of geography. We'll
try to add a grant writing workshop at Fall conference.
o Melanie will attend GAW conference in DC
o Changes to the quilt block contest were discussed. Rather than having winners
in the K-2, 3-4, 5-6, and 7-8 categories, there will be a winner at each grade
level for the 2003 competition. The winning student at each grade level will
receive a $25 prize as will the teacher of the winning student. John moved &
Deb seconded that we change the quilt block contest. Motion carried. The photo
contest was dropped due to lack of participation. Instead, we will have a public
service announcement video contest. Don will develop the criteria for this competition.
o Membership Committee (Elizabeth) -
Elizabeth was not present to make a report. Richard volunteered to help Elizabeth
co-chair this committee.
o Communications Committee (Don/Marilyn) -
Don and Marilyn will design a membership brochure soon. They will coordinate
with the fundraising/publications committee to design a fundraising brochure
for business donors.
o Public Relations/Fundraising Committee (Sue/Glenda) - There was no representation
at the meeting by committee chairs and no advance reports.
Melanie will send out the action item list compiled at the meeting and John will contact committee chairs to encourage work.
o Liason to the Kansas SS Council (Don) -October 5-6 is KCSS at Lawrence at Holidome. Cost is $35, May 1 is deadline to present. They want KGA to sponsor a break. We'll have a board set up. John moved that we do sponsor a break; Lynn seconded; Motion carried. Deb, Roseanne and Marilyn will man the display board.
o NCGE 2004 (Don) -October20-21 Missouri and Kansas will both have their fall
conferences at that time. Charles Guiswald from the KC Star is the featured
speaker
Don wants KGA workshop presenters.
Don moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded and carried unanimously.
Upcoming Meetings Schedule:
July 25 in Hays at FHSU. 6:30 PM, RM 222, Tomanek Hall
Fall Conference - September 12, Topeka
September. January 17, 2004 in Colony, Kansas.