The regular meeting of the Washington Geographic Alliance (WGA) Board of Directors was called to order at 6:45 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 (SCC) 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.
A motion to approve the minutes of the Board of Directors meeting of August 31, 2006 was made by Tim and seconded by Richard. The motion passed unanimously.
Richard reported that on September 26, 2006 the Washington Geographic Alliance was incorporated as a Washington state Non-Profit Corporation. Our Unified Business Identifier (UBI) number is 602-653-337 and our Employer Identification Number (EIN) is 20-5627193.
The provisions of the proposed Bylaws, previously emailed to all Directors, were summarized by Richard. Tim asked about the number of Directors wondering the workable of a board of nine. Chip said that the AWG allocated some board positions to students to increase their involvement. As the initial board will serve until the next annual meeting, it was the consensus of the board to wait and see if the number of Directors needs to be modified. Officer elections will be next month.
A motion to approve the Bylaws for the WGA was made by Chip and seconded by Tim. The motion passed unanimously.
Richard distributed a printout of a web page containing program details, dates and times of the 2007 Seattle Live! Lecture series. Tim will contact the NGS about the process of getting local teachers and their students admitted to the weekday, daytime portion of the NGS Live! Lecture series.
The key points of the proposed travel and expense policy were reviewed (reasonable expenses, board approval, no alcohol, itemized receipts) by Richard. Tim commented that "reasonable expenses" need further definition. Heidi said that the General Services Administration (GSA) web site has a payment schedule by city. Richard will look into this and propose revisions at the next board meeting. The board also approved the use of GRCC forms for reporting expenses.
A motion to approve the WGA Travel and Expense Policy was made by Tim and seconded by Heidi. The motion passed unanimously.
Tim reported a very productive visit with Teresa Bulman of the Oregon Geographic Alliance (OGA) at Portland State University (Portland, OR). In about a four-hour meeting, Teresa and Tim discussed:
Chip left the meeting at the end of Tim's presentation.
The reception is scheduled for Wednesday, November 29 from 7 to 9 p.m. Dress in layers as the winery can be cold. For door prizes, NGS will donate two sets of tickets to the 2007 Seattle Live! Lecture Matinee series and Stacy George will donate one "Around the World" board game.
A list of invitees is attached. Dan Beaupré of NGS sent Tim a list of names and addresses from the Seattle Lecture Series. He will invite them to the reception. Tim will also get list of additional teachers from Meghan Hoyer of St. Philomena School, the GRCC Project Reach list, and Evelyn McNeil of the Washington State Geographic Bee. Heidi will locate the International Baccalaureate Coordinator for Social Studies/Geography.
Richard will welcome everyone; introduce any special guests and Tim. Tim will introduce any NGS representative and any other speakers.
The web server space at GRCC lacks many technologies and would require use of GRCC's domain name. Richard mentioned that web servers with current technologies are available for around $5 a month.
Richard will produce a list of available domain names that would be appropriate for WGA use.
Comments on Alliance web sites were submitted by Amy and Tim. Genya mentioned that teachers often have little time to search for information on web sites. Therefore, we have to capture their attention quickly and make relevant information easy to find.
Everyone was urged to send Richard a categorized list of good geography links.
Tim has been working with his Dean who hosts a summer mathematics seminar. The WGA would be able to use the facilities at GRCC Enumclaw Campus at 1414 Griffin Ave. There is a reasonably priced hotel across the street and catered meals are available.
After a discussion of which dates would work best for K-12 teachers, the second week of July (the week of July 8) was favored.
Based on his conversations with Teresa Bulman of the Oregon Geographic Alliance (OGA), Tim described their institute techniques. Rather than have a day filled with lectures, attendees are given a topic and research how to write a lesson plan for it.
Copies of this Act (H.R. 5519 and S. 1376) were distributed along with talking points. Heidi mentioned her success in getting Rep. Raul M. Grijalva (AZ-7th) to become a cosponsor for this Act. Everyone is urged to write their Federal representative and senators requesting that they become cosponsors of the Act.
Chip mentioned that he would ask the AWG for a resolution of support.
This year the week is from November 12-18. Two sample proclamations were distributed. Board members are to use one of these or write their own and send them to their city and county governments.
A motion to have Tim, Chip and Genya represent the WGA at the NCGE with Genya's airfare will be privately funded was made by Amy and seconded by Heidi. The motion passed unanimously.
The next meeting regular meeting of the WGA Board of Directors will be held on Thursday, October 26 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 October 26, 2006