Washington Geographic Alliance
http://www.washgeo.org/
Promoting geographic literacy in Washington State
The regular meeting of the Washington Geographic Alliance (WGA) Board of Directors was called to order at 6:40 p.m. by Meghan Hoyer in the home of Richard Kennedy and Heidi Morgan, 18825 6th Avenue SW, Normandy Park, Washington.
Present: Vice-President Meghan Hoyer of St. Philomena School, Treasurer Heidi Morgan of the National Geographic Society's (NGS) Grosvenor Council, and Secretary Richard Kennedy of the NGS's Grosvenor Council.
Also in attendance was Pat LeRoy, a fifth grade teacher at St. Francis of Assisi School in Seahurst, WA.
President Tim Schultz of Green River Community College (GRCC) was absent as he is in Salamanca, Spain teaching geography to a group of community college students from around Washington State.
Article III §2 of the WGA Bylaws requires at least three and not more than twelve members of the Board of Directors.
The Board finds that there are only four members of the Board of Directors and a vacancy exists.
Article III §13 of the WGA Bylaws allows any vacancy in the Board of Directors to be filled by the majority vote of the remaining Directors.
Nominations:
It was moved by Heidi and seconded by Meghan to elect Pat LeRoy as a director of the Washington Geographic Alliance. The motion passed unanimously.
A motion to approve the draft minutes of the Board of Directors meeting of January 7, 2008 was made by Meghan and seconded by Heidi. The motion passed unanimously.
Tim sent emails requesting that our Teacher Coordinators contact Rep. Jay Inslee (WA-1st) and Senator Patty Murray requesting that they become a cosponsor for H.R. 1228 / S. 727 (Teaching Geography is Fundamental Act). The list of schools offering Advanced Placement in Geography is still being developed. The development an Assessment of Geographic Knowledge for 5th, 8th, and 12th grade students has been placed on the back burner. Tim did email Rep. Schual-Berke details about his work on the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction's Geography Grade Level Expectations committee and how the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) tests handle geography. GRCC did send a list of WGA expenditures to Heidi. The lesson plans created at our Summer Institute were sent to Meghan so she may put them in a common format. When Tim receives a digital copy of the Boeing Grant application, he will complete it for our giant Washington State map project. Tim sent materials to Meghan for her use at her WSCSS presentation. Tim requested 50 tickets for the Seattle Live! lecture but he has not heard back from the box office. He was contacted by the Founder's Room at Benaroya Hall and thought everything was OK. Once the artwork for the pencils is ready, Tim will transmit it to GRCC. Tim looked at the Flashform and Adobe Connect software. He does not think Flashform is within our capabilities right now. He would like to concentrate on a stable, "easily" updated web page product.
Heidi is awaiting the artwork from Richard before creating the order. She will be contacting Lindblad Expeditions and the catering company at the next Seattle Live! lecture.
Meghan has sent Richard the list of web sites that incorporate easy access to teaching materials. Her other action items are still in work.
Richard is awaiting receipt of the NGS travel policy. The report on our funding from the state legislature appears separately in these minutes. Richard has not received any names from Diana Morelli for possible candidates for the WGA board. The rules pertaining to the donation of good and services were distributed to board members. A spreadsheet containing contact information for NGS grantees in Washington State was distributed. The "Application to Register as a Charitable Organization" form is still pending. The WGA slide is being displayed at the Seattle Live! lectures.
Pat thought that Meghan had completed listing the web sites that incorporate easy access to teaching materials. The other action items are still pending.
The checking account balance as of February 25, 2008 is $276.84. There were no transactions in this account since the last report.
By a letter dated December 23, 2007, the WGA was notified by the Boeing Company Gift Matching Office that our organization does not appear to quality in accordance with their program guidelines. Richard contacted Chris Shearer, Director of Grantmaking, at the National Geographic Education Foundation about the rejection. Chris and the NGS legal department will be drafting a reply for us.
Heidi received a spreadsheet containing WGA expenditures handled by GRCC.
Rep. Shay Schual-Berke introduced HB 2804 (Establishing an endowment for the promotion of geography education) on January 16. It was also sponsored by Representatives Hudgins, Fromhold, Ormsby, Hunt, Barlow, Sullivan, Haigh, Lantz, Quall, Miloscia, and McIntire.
In the morning of January 29, Richard Kennedy and Lanny Proffer of NGS met with:
A public hearing was held before the House Committee on Education at 1:30 p.m. on January 29. Testimony in support of the bill was presented by Meghan Hoyer, Professor Jim Huckabay of Central Washington University, Professor James Harrington, Jr. of the University of Washington and Lanny Proffer of NGS. The hearing is available on TVW.
During an executive session on February 1, the House Committee on Education unanimously gave the bill a "do pass" recommendation. On February 5, the bill was referred to the House Appropriations Committee.
The House Appropriations Committee did not schedule a hearing for the bill. Rep. Shay Schual-Berke drafted a budget proviso that was also signed by Reps. Hunt, Hudgins, McIntire, Kagi, Haigh, Fromhold, Anderson, Sullivan, Priest and Upthegrove.
Rep. Shay Schual-Berke was unable to get the funding in the budget in appropriations but she has an amendment to do so on the floor.
The WGA sponsored reception will be held the evening of Monday, May 12. The program that night will be by Annie Griffiths Belt — "A Camera, Two Kids, & a Camel". Fifty tickets to the lecture will be ordered by Tim at $15 each for a total of $750. We will also be renting the Founder's Room Benaroya Hall for the reception. The cost is $400 and Tim will complete the application and have the payment sent.
A slide to be displayed at the lecture series was created and sent to NGS. We may also have a table in the lobby to distribute our literature.
Heidi identified a firm selling custom pencils made from recycled materials. TheDiscountprinter.com offers 5,000 custom imprinted pencils for $750.00 including shipping and setup for a per item cost of 15¢. We can have imprinted either:
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Washington Geographic Alliancehttp://www.washgeo.org/ Promoting geographic literacy in Washington State |
The board needs to make a decision on the imprint and send the information to Tim for transmittal to GRCC for ordering.
Before each National Geographic Live! lecture in Seattle a slide is displayed giving a few facts about the Washington Geographic Alliance.
Tim transmitted our order for tickets and room rental to GRCC for payment. We are still awaiting action by GRCC.
From: jfrancis@ngs.org
Date: February 21, 2008 4:18:10 AM PST
To: "secretary" <secretary@washgeo.org>
Cc: "Connie Binder", "Greg
McGlashan", "Daniel Edelson"
Subject: Re: NGS Grantees
Richard,
Interesting that you mention this. I have been working with Nalini Nadkarni at The Evergreen State College on a related program (called the Research Ambassadors Program). It intends to connect teachers with scientists who can provide models for kids in the classroom. The intent is to create a database of NG grantees perhaps expanded to include a variety of scientific society members which would be searchable by discipline and location. I will ask Connie to run the report requested. Nalini will come up in the database as a grantee. Do get in touch with her to as a potential speaker and let her know your interests.
Please be aware that there are some sensitivities around approaching our explorers in residence, fellows, emerging explorers and speakers bureau members as they are used somewhat heavily. I don't think any would show on this Washington State listing but Greg McGruder could advise if so. I also copy Danny who recently mentioned strengthening the Alliance and should know we are in touch.
Thanks for doing this and let me know if I can help further.
John
John Francis, Ph.D.
Vice President
Research, Conservation, and Exploration
National Geographic Society
1145 17th St. NW
Washington, DC 20036
A copy of this confidential list was distributed to board members.
Tim and Richard will represent the WGA at the 2008 Alliance Network Meeting in Washington, DC from February 27 through March 1. On "Hill Day", Thursday, February 28 they will be meeting with:
They will also be meeting with Dan Beaupre and Chief Cartographer Allen Carroll to finalize the giant Washington state map.
Richard distributed a printed copy of IRS Publication P1771 "Charitable Contributions: Substantiation and Disclosure Requirements".
The next meeting regular meeting of the WGA Board of Directors will be held on Monday, April 28, 2008 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
Secretary
Approved April 28, 2008