The regular meeting of the Washington Geographic Alliance (WGA) Board of Directors was called to order at 6:20 p.m. by Tim Schultz in the home of Richard Kennedy and Heidi Morgan, 18825 6th Avenue SW, Normandy Park, Washington.
Present: Tim Schultz of Green River Community College (GRCC), Genya Parks of Lawton Elementary School, Amy Chertock of Shorewood High School, Charles "Chip" Dodd of Shoreline Community College and Vice President of the Association of Washington Geographers (AWG), Heidi Morgan of the National Geographic Society's (NGS) Grosvenor Council, and Richard Kennedy of the NGS's Grosvenor Council.
Richard and Heidi are sponsoring a WGA reception for up to 50 persons at the E. B. Foote Winery on November 29, 2006 from 7-9 p.m. The winery is located in Burien, Washington. A map is available. As the winery can be chilly during winter months, attendees are urged to wear warm and casual attire. For use as door prizes, Bob Dulli of NGS will be donating some tickets to the 2007 Seattle Live! Lecture series. The following special guests have been invited: Barbara Chow, NGS Vice President Education and Children's Programs and Christine Kline, Dean School of Education at the University of Puget Sound. It was suggested that a survey be made of the attendees to determine what topics would be of interest at a summer institute.
Names for the invitation list are available from a list provided by Bob Dulli of schools participating in the NGS Seattle Live! student program and the mailing lists of the Washington State Council for the Social Studies and the Association of Washington Geographers. A list of middle school teachers may be available from Ellen McNeil who has been conducting the Washington State Geography Bee for the past few years.
GRCC has offered the WGA the use of their web servers for a web site. Tim must complete some paperwork and have it signed by his dean upon his return from vacation. While waiting for the web server space, everyone has been tasked to review the other Geography Alliance Web Sites linked from the Geography Alliance Network and to send Richard their likes and dislikes together with the information and features that will be needed on our web site.
Rather than spending a $1,000 from the NGS planning grant to create a web site, Richard will donate his labor to create it.
Tim's goal for next summer's institute is to have a successful one, not necessarily an elaborate one. He envisions a program for the Teacher Consultants held on the Olympic Peninsula.
There was a fair amount of discussion about the nature of the summer institutes. It was felt that both field experiences and classroom lectures are needed to reach the widest possible audience. Some persons who could not be in the fields for a week might be able to participate 3-4 hours a day in a classroom setting.
Due to recent changes in state regulations, credit for institute does not matter as much as clock hours.
By charging nothing or very little for the institute, it is felt there would be wider participation. One idea for "payment" is to have any lesson plans created by the institute attendees be donated to WGA for use on the web site.
Tim will be meeting with Teresa Bulman of the Oregon Geographic Alliance (OGA) in October. He hopes to glean lessons learned from OGA's experiences.
Due to budget difficulties a few years ago, the Washington state legislature eliminated all funding for the WGA. Richard commented that during his terms as Mayor of Des Moines he developed a close relationship with his state legislators. One of them, Rep. Shay Schual-Berke, is on the House Appropriations Committee and is a former director of the Highline School District. He will be working closely with them to restore WGA funding in the state's 2007 budget.
Everyone else was tasked to determine if any of their state representatives are on the House Appropriations Committee and to notify Richard of the results.
The annual meeting of the NCGE is being held at Lake Tahoe from October 5-8 . It was agreed that Tim and Chip will represent the WGA and their costs will be funded from the NGS Planning Grant.
GRCC has determined that it will not handle private donations to the WGA. Therefore, any such funds received must be managed by us.
Chip has invited Tim to speak about the mission and goals of the WGA on November 4 at the fall meeting of the AWG.
Genya mentioned that Washington State now has geography standards along with the Seattle School District.
The Eighteen National Geography Standards are available online.
Geography Awareness Week is the third week in November. Proclamations by local governments support geography education and its funding should be made.
The next meeting regular meeting of the WGA Board of Directors will be held on Friday, September 29 at 6:30 p.m. in the home of Richard Kennedy and Heidi Morgan, 18825 6th Avenue SW, Normandy Park, Washington.
Respectfully submitted,
/ss/ Richard T. Kennedy
Richard T. Kennedy
Acting Secretary
Approved September 29, 2006