Washington Geographic Alliance
Minutes of Board of Directors Meeting of
April 28, 2009

Call to Order

The regular meeting of the Washington Geographic Alliance (WGA) Board of Directors was called to order at 6:40 p.m. by Tim Scharks in the home of Richard Kennedy and Heidi Morgan, 18825 6th Avenue SW, Normandy Park, Washington.

Roll Call

Present: President Tim Scharks of Green River Community College (GRCC), Treasurer Heidi Morgan of the National Geographic Society's (NGS) Grosvenor Council, Secretary Richard Kennedy of the NGS's Grosvenor Council, and Director Pat LeRoy of St. Francis of Assisi School.

Absent: Vice-President Meghan Hoyer of St. Philomena School.

Approval of Minutes for March 31, 2009

A motion to approve the draft minutes of the Board of Directors meeting of March 31, 2009 was made by Richard and seconded by Tim. The motion passed unanimously.

Action Item Review

Tim is having GRCC process Meghan's and Pat's airfare, lodging, and registration for the NCGE Convention. It is a slow and tedious process. Meghan's slow replies have been delaying the process. Kyle Dye's nomination for the Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship Program is on the agenda. GRCC has yet to supply us with a statement of our current financial position. Tim is having GRCC place an order for shoe covers for use at the Puyallup Fair. Tim chatted on Facebook with Chris Shearer of NGS about the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. Chris is in support of any programs that promote geography education, including AP Human Geography classes and the IB program; thus, more IB programs in the state would be viewed as good for geography education. The IB program itself probably does not need much help in the way of geography content. The WGA reception is on tonight's agenda. Tim has contacted Groundspeak about possible alliances for GPS activities. As this year's legislative session just ended, Tim will be contacting George Scarola of the League of Education Voters to enlist their support for our endowment. He will also be scheduling a meeting with Judy Hartmann, Executive Policy Advisor for K-12 Education. The survey of state community colleges to determine which Advanced Placement tests they accept for credit is in progress.

Richard emailed all board members a copy of their action items. He emailed Meghan and Pat the language he used to invite VIPs to the WGA reception. The fund-raising brochure is on the agenda. Washington Mutual is unable to offer automatic withdrawal programs until their merger with Chase is completed in the next month or two. As Meghan has not completed the WGA brochure, Richard was unable to contact The Boeing Company for printing. Replies from Chris Shearer of NGS on the D&O insurance and accepting gifts for the WGA are still pending. The proposed revisions to the travel and expense policy are pending.

Pat sent her NCGE travel dates to Tim. The planning activities for the Giant Traveling Washington State Map and a review of the Summer Institute Course Syllabus are on tonight's agenda. Pat is still awaiting replies from Oklahoma and Texas on the Geography Awareness Week postcard/poster contest. The possible activities for the giant traveling Washington State map and list of persons to be invited to the WGA reception are on tonight's agenda. Pat had a CD containing photos of students on the giant North America map created for Tim that she will bring to him at the next meeting. The sources of preprinted maps of Washington State are on tonight's agenda.

Heidi placed an order for business cards from Costco, as their price was lower that that offered by Highline Community College.

As Meghan was absent, her action items were not reviewed.

Treasurer's Report

The checking account balance as of March 31, 2009 is $864.01. There were no withdrawals during March. There was one deposit of $400.00 from the Utah Geographic Alliance for their share of a hotel room at the NGEF Winter Alliance Meeting in Washington, DC.

Richard is still awaiting Chris Shearer's answer if NGS could accept and have Boeing match gifts designated for the WGA. Tim mentioned that Emily Schell, our liaison, is also checking into this.

Adobe PDF Software

TechSoup Global has rejected our order for Adobe PDF software. Adobe no longer contributes to "Organizations that provide education services or computer literacy, but do not provide digital technology training to students". We are awaiting a refund of $90.00 from TechSoup Global.

We were directed to contact Zones, Inc. in Auburn for this software. Richard received a quote of $490.56 including tax for two copies of Adobe Acrobat v.9. The board needs to make a decision on this software or look for alternative like PDFCreator http://www.osalt.com/acrobat (open source) or Bluebeam PDF Revu ($149 per copy) http://www.bluebeam.com/web07/us/products/revu/standard/. Richard offered help with the installation of PDFCreator. Pat will check with her school to see if Adobe Acrobat is available.

Giant Traveling Washington State Map

The three giant traveling Washington State maps have arrived at GRCC and they are now in Tim's possession!

Tim is creating a case for one of the maps and is donating his time and the materials to create it. He will try to make the container meet the height, width, and length constraints for firms like UPS (http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/resources/ship/packaging/weight_size.html). Heidi brought the Uline catalog that contained various shipping containers. None of them was suitable for our use.

One of the maps was be strengthened for vertical hanging at an additional cost of $295. Richard paid this amount directly to Berry and Homer from his personal account. He and Heidi will not be requesting a refund and are considering this a donation to the WGA.

Now that we have the Giant Traveling Washington State Maps in our possession, we must develop the activities for it. Pat and Meghan will selected a date and location for the initial meeting.

Pat reported that AAA offered to supply us with Washington State maps.

Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship Program Nomination

At the January 13 meeting, Kyle Dye was nominated for the Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship Program. The deadline for submitting nominations is May 1. Tim is awaiting a letter of recommendation from his school.

Kyle's nomination letter follows:

"Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship
National Geographic Education Foundation
1145 17th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20036-4688

RE: Kyle Dye nomination as Grosvenor Teacher Fellow

Dear Members of the Selection Committee,

It is a sincere pleasure to nominate Mr. Kyle Dye for the Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship. Kyle is the archetype of the passionate geography activist teacher you have in mind for this fellowship.

Kyle has been part of the Washington Geographic Alliance nearly since its reformation in 2006. Kyle was a participant in our 2007 Summer Institute, where he engaged the material and the other participants with great enthusiasm. I can still recall Kyle's [Richard pointed out this incomplete sentence.]

He took that enthusiasm back to Marcus Whitman Junior High, where he taught 7th grade social studies, and managed to so effectively become a geography advocate that not only was he allowed to teach exclusively geography to his 7th-graders, he was also elected to division chair. As chair, Kyle makes sure to integrate geography with the other social studies programs taught at his school.

It was in this context that I proudly nominated Kyle to represent the WGA at the National Geographic Society's Summer Geography Institute in July of 2008. I knew that Kyle would be sure to implement the curriculum on Europe's changing borders, regions, and cultures throughout his school, as well as sharing his knowledge at our own 2009 Summer Institute.

I recently caught up with Kyle at the Washington State Geography Bee. He was enthusiastic as ever about how well the curriculum he had learned the previous summer was going in his classrooms and division. We are discussing ways to foster the feedback and review at a regional level that was unfortunately canceled at the national level; Kyle would like to close the loop on the evaluation of the new curriculum so that he can work to improve it and disseminate it more widely through our state.

Kyle appreciates the broader context of geographic thought and is eager to incorporate elements of mathematical reasoning and environmental science into his classes in coming years.

As a dedicated member of the Washington Geographic Alliance, Kyle has agreed to serve as a member of our Steering Committee. We are looking forward to working closely with Kyle in the years to come.

Sincerely,

Tim Scharks
President of the Board
Washington Geographic Alliance"

2009 NG Live! Event

Our reception is scheduled before the Monday, May 11, 2009 NGS Live! Lecture by Mattias Klum entitled "Borneo: Paradise Under Siege." Guests will be in the Founder's Room between 6:15 p.m. and 7:25 p.m.

The results of the VIP invitations are:

In addition, Tim will contact Katie Remine to get a final list of the persons attending the lecture with the Woodland Park Zoo. Tim will get additional invitees from the WGA membership, the Washington State Council for the Social Studies, and the Association of Washington Geographers.

Richard has notified Benaroya Hall about the size and weight of our giant traveling Washington State map and our desire to display it on both May 11 and 12. It will be hung from the second balcony over the entrance to the main hall. Tim will transport the map to and from Benaroya Hall.

Richard will introduce Tim who will acknowledge our VIPs and describe the purpose of the WGA. Dan Beaupré of NGS offered to speak about giant maps. Pat offered to be in the main lobby during the reception to handout our fundraising form.

We also need to notify all invitees by telephone the weekend of May 9-10. Tim will create such an assignment list and email it to the board.

Richard and Heidi are creating handouts for our reception guests. They will contain maps of the Eastern Mediterranean (Crucible of History) and South America, The Mapping the Americas toolkit, our business card, a flyer on the map's appearance at the Puyallup Fair, a brochure on the WGA, a WGA branded pencil, and a donation form and envelope.

Richard will ask Dan Beaupré of NGS if we can give them a count at the reception and then be invoiced for the tickets.

2009 Summer Institute

The 2009 Basic Summer Institute will be held July 6-10 (M-F). No Advanced Summer Institute will be offered. Tim has made the necessary arrangements with GRCC for classrooms and transportation. Lodging and catering still needs to be addressed. In addition, the institute application form needs to be updated and placed on the web site.

Tim received a quote of $1,500 from Our House Deli, up significantly from last year. Tim will send a copy of the menu to the board. Pat offered to get a quote from Emerald Cove Catering.

Seattle Pacific University (SPU) will be offering credit through their Center for Professional Education at the 5000 level-that is graduate level so cannot be used by students pursuing an undergraduate degree but is very helpful for the K-12 educator. Students requesting credit will need to pay SPU an amount to be determined.

Tim presented a course syllabus for review and comment by the board.

WGA Logo

Washington Geographic Alliance
2009 Summer Geography Institute
July 6-10, 2009

Course Syllabus
3 credits available through Seattle Pacific University ($X.00) or 40 clock hours (free)

Institute Coordinator: Tim Scharks, president@washgeo.org

About the Coordinator: Tim is President of the Washington Geographic Alliance and a tenured geography instructor at Green River Community College. He has degrees in geography from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (BS) and Western Washington University (MS). Tim has taught a broad range of geography courses, from introductory physical geography to a course on Canadian urban geography. He has served as a reviewer of and written supplementary material for popular college-level introductory human and physical geography texts.

Course Description: The Summer Geography Institute is a continuing education opportunity for current and pre-service teachers. We address the Washington State Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs) and Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) for geography education and the National Geography Standards established by the National Council for Geographic Education. Emphasis throughout the Institute is placed on integrating geography as a social and physical science throughout the curriculum, bringing greater relevance to the study of science, reading, history, and other subjects.

Course Objectives: After completing this course, participants should:

Course Outline: Attached [NB: 2008 Summer Geography Institute agenda attached; 2009 will differ in speakers and some content according to the summary below]
Day 1: Introductions, goals, and survey of geographic science and inquiry through short lectures and group discussion; learning and applying the State GLEs through small group breakouts by grade level, reporting back at end.
Day 2: Fieldwork in the suburban fringe of King County: Land use, planning, development, sustainability, environment, and the economy. Visual landscape interpretation of the cultural and natural landscape. End of session debriefing in small groups and application by creation of lesson plans.
Day 3: Integrating geography into the curriculum: presentations on integrating geography GLEs with reading, math, and science. Roundtable discussion on the Balkanization of subjects, especially at higher grade levels, and potential benefits to integrationist approaches. Afternoon session on working with giant map.
Day 4: Fieldwork in urban geography: methods geographic data collection including observation and descriptive inquiry applied to varying scales and urban structures. End of session debriefing in small groups and application by creation of lesson plans.
Day 5: Applying lessons learned: solving a "big problem" in geography in small groups using concepts and skills from the previous four days. Teams analyze the problem, create solutions, and generate a lesson plan incorporating their learning process from the exercise. Review of the week, a charge for the coming school year, course evaluation and goodbyes.

Course materials: Participants will be provided with course packets on the first day of courses. Additional readings and homework will be made available via a secure website only accessible to enrolled students. Readings will include topical newspaper and magazine articles on geographic issues and the book Teaching Geography by Phil Gersmehl.

Assigned work: Teachers participating for clock hours pay a refundable $100 deposit (by check) to the WGA. The check will be returned upon satisfactory completion of:

Participants taking the course for credit must satisfy the above requirements as well as:

Grading: Grades will be assigned according to the following scale for individual assignments. The final grade will be based on the number of points earned according to the total number of points possible.

  A: 94-100% A-: 90-93%
B+: 87-89% B: 84-86% B-: 80-83%
C+: 77-79% C: 74-76% C-: 70-73%
  D: 60-69%  
  F: 0-59%  
Points will be assigned as follows:
2 lesson plans, 20 points each: 40 points
Discussion board posting and participation 10 points
Summer Institute attendanne and participation: 20 points
Final paper 30 points
Total points possible 100 points

Point totals and assignments may be subject to change in the progress of the course.

References

Puyallup Fair

Stan Cross, Educational Building Superintendent at the Puyallup Fair, asked if we could have shoe covers available for those who did not want to take off their shoes. Office Depot does not offer shoe covers. Heidi found a case of 300 shoe covers (men's size 6 - 10) for $19.98 at http://www.palmflex.com/shoe_covers/poly_shoe_covers.htm. Tim has asked GRCC to order these for us.

We are still awaiting NGS's reply to see if they could supply maps and other handouts. Last year the World map was very popular and there were requests for Middle East maps.

A list of persons to staff the booth must be made. Three shifts of volunteers per day are recommended. It was recommended that a signup sheet be circulated at our Summer Institute. We need to tell Stan the number of tickets needed in early August.

Richard has been in contact several times with NGS trying to get a notice about the map's appearance at the Puyallup Fair printed on the carrier sheet of the August 2009 issue of the National Geographic Magazine.

Teaching Geography is Fundamental Act Cosponsors

Based on our contacts made during the NGEF Winter Alliance Meeting, the following have become cosponsors for TGIF:

There are now 72 members of the House and 10 members of the Senate who have cosponsored TGIF.

Richard has contacted Senator Cantwell's office again requesting her cosponsorship of TGIF.

Fundraising

Richard putting together a monthly donor program to be premiered at the Seattle Live lectures of May 11-12. This can also be used where the map is displayed. Attendees will be asked to donate $5 or more each month via an automatic deduction plan. Copies of the form were distributed to the board. Pat offered to distribute the form in the St. Francis of Assisi weekly "family envelope."

Before asking the public for funds, all board members should consider donating at least $5 per month via an automatic deduction plan. The board members indicated that this would not be a problem. Richard and Heidi ongoing donations include 1/2% of Richard's salary and $4.95 a month for our NING domain.

Richard placed four old NGS World Atlases for sale on eBay with all of the proceeds to be given to WGA. The atlases received no bids.

Future Activities: Institutional Host

Green River Community College has elected not to consider hosting the NGEF grant in the 2009-2010 grant year starting November 1. While they have stated a willingness to consider hosting the grant subject to application in future years, it is Tim Scharks' view that the WGA would not benefit from shifting its host institution from year to year. Instead, he feels the WGA should either 1) use its §501(c)(3) status to serve as an independent nonprofit or 2) actively seek another host institution. Given the present economic climate and the NGEF's previous unwillingness to pay overhead fees on its grant monies, Tim feels that 1) is the most likely alternative.

Tim will request our current financial statement from GRCC. He will also speak with Chris Shearer of NGS about transferring the grant to the WGA account.

Revised 2008/2009 NGEF Grant Budget

As noted by Danny Edelson at National Geographic's Alliance Network Annual Meeting, the National Geographic Education Foundation will be providing flexibility to Alliances to modify their approved 2008/09 grant budgets. Our alliance may wish to reallocate funds across budget categories or simply slow down program spending in order to have "rollover" funds in reserve in light of the national economy and the implications of the Alliance Network "ReVision" plan.

Please note that Alliances are not required to alter their budgets and the Education Foundation will continue to support approved 2008/09 plans. Should we wish to modify our plan and budget, we must complete this form in electronic format (using Word 2003) and return to the Foundation's Grant Manager, Catherine Ballay, cballay@ngs.org

This form covers all proposed changes from our approved 2008/09 budget (November 1, 2008 - October 31, 2009). NGEF will authorize rollovers through October 31, 2010.

Final evaluation and financial reports will still be due on December 31, 2009. National Geographic will verify our final rollover amount when our final financial report is submitted to the Education Foundation.

Upon receipt of our current financial statement from GRCC, Tim and Richard will complete the budget revision form.

Future Activities: Earth Station One

Richard M. McWalters, Director of Exhibits at the National Geographic Museum, emailed Richard on April 6. " As is often the case with such projects, we have not yet established the complete content focus of our new permanent gallery. We actually are scheduled to have our first planning meeting next Monday. In the mean time, would you mind writing up a synopsis of what you have in mind for the globe and other material that might be available, if we were to donate it to you. Understand that recreating Earth Station One, or some semblance thereof, would necessitate credit and as such requires us to run this by a broader group of NG staff to review and comment on. Something in writing would be most helpful in making internal presentations. Thanks."

Richard volunteered to complete this task.

Roundtable

Richard attended the GPS Adventures exhibit at the Pacific Science Center with his daughter Marianna (8th grade). She enjoyed the exhibit and thought it worth visiting.

The discussion of the Steering Committee Member job description has been moved to the next meeting.

Next Meeting

The next regular meeting of the WGA Board of Directors will be held on Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. in the home of Richard Kennedy and Heidi Morgan, 18825 6th Avenue SW, Normandy Park, Washington.

[Editor's Note: The meeting date was later changed to June 9, 2009.]

Action Items

Tim

  1. Will contact the Woodland Park Zoo to obtain a list of the teachers who will be attending the NGS Live! lecture on May 11.
  2. Will finalize a list of persons to be invited to the WGA reception and email to the board along with instructions for a reminder call.
  3. Will have GRCC print the fundraising brochure and bring them to the WGA Reception on May 11.
  4. Will email the Summer Institute catering menu to the board.
  5. Will deliver our giant map to Benaroya Hall before May 8 and will arrange to pick it up after the NGS Live! Lectures.
  6. Will request from GRCC a spreadsheet containing our current budget numbers.
  7. Will, upon receipt of our budget spreadsheet, work with Richard to complete the NGEF budget revision form.
  8. Will request the amount Seattle Pacific University will charge our Summer Institute attendees for graduate credit.
  9. Will continue with GRCC the process for Meghan's and Pat's airfare, lodging, and registration for the NCGE Convention.
  10. Will submit Kyle Dye's nomination for the Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship Program upon receipt of a letter of recommendation from his school.
  11. Will monitor our order for shoe covers for use at the Puyallup Fair.
  12. Will schedule a meeting with Groundspeak to discuss possible alliances.
  13. Will contact George Scarola of the League of Education Voters to request their support for the WGA endowment.
  14. Will work to schedule meetings to discuss endowment funding with Judy Hartmann, Executive Policy Advisor for K-12 Education.
  15. Will continue surveying state community colleges to determine which Advanced Placement tests they accept for credit.

Richard

  1. Will email the board members a copy of their action items.
  2. Will contact Dan Beaupré about tickets to the NGS lecture following our reception.
  3. Will, upon receipt of our budget spreadsheet, work with Tim to complete the NGEF budget revision form.
  4. Will continue working with Washington Mutual about automatic withdrawal programs.
  5. Will contact The Boeing Company about non-profit printing once Meghan submits the repurposed WGA brochure.
  6. Will investigate our participation in the KUOW FM Media Sponsorship Program.
  7. Will revise the 2009 Summer Institute application form.
  8. Will follow-up with Chris Shearer of NGS on the D&O insurance and the acceptance of gifts for WGA.
  9. Will write NGS to describe our proposed uses of the Earth Station One globe and equipment.
  10. Will propose revisions to the Travel and Expense Policy further defining reasonable expenses and incorporating relevant portions of the GSA payment schedule and the GRCC travel policy.

Heidi

  1. Will place the order for member business cards.

Pat

  1. In consultation with Meghan, select a date in July and location to plan activities for the Giant Traveling Washington State Map.
  2. Will review the Course Syllabus and email any comments to Tim.
  3. Will hand out WGA Fundraising flyer at May 11 NGS Live! lecture.
  4. Will get a Summer Institute catering quote from Emerald Cove Catering.
  5. Will request a copy of Adobe Acrobat from her school.
  6. Will contact the Okalahoma and Texas Geographic Alliances for information about their poster contests.
  7. Will bring the CD prepared for Tim containing photos of students on the giant North America map to the next board meeting.

Meghan

  1. Will repurpose her WGA brochure so that it will be useful over a period of years and email it to Richard by May 4.
  2. Will contact the Woodland Park Zoo to obtain a list of the teachers who will be attending the NGS Live! lecture on May 11 and email the list to Tim.
  3. Will invite appropriate member of the Seattle Archdiocese to the WGA reception and notify Tim of any who accept.
  4. Will bring display boards detailing WGA activities for use at the WGA reception on May 11.
  5. In consultation with Pat, select a date in July and location to plan activities for the Giant Traveling Washington State Map.
  6. Will review the Course Syllabus and email her comments to Tim.
  7. Will follow-up with NGS on the maps (World and Middle East) requested for the Puyallup Fair.
  8. Will keep in contact with Dana C. Twight of the Newspapers In Education Program regarding our interest in a one-time article.

Respectfully submitted,

/ss/ Richard T. Kennedy
Richard T. Kennedy
Secretary

Approved June 9, 2009

Prior Minutes | Minutes Index | Next Minutes