Washington Geographic Alliance
Minutes of Board of Directors Meeting of
June 9, 2009

Call to Order

The regular meeting of the Washington Geographic Alliance (WGA) Board of Directors was called to order at 6:48 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), Vice-President Meghan Hoyer of St. Philomena School, 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.

Approval of Minutes for April 28, 2009

A motion to approve the draft minutes of the Board of Directors meeting of April 28, 2009 was made by Meghan and seconded by Pat. The motion passed unanimously.

Action Item Review

Tim's action items with respect to the WGA Reception on May 11 are complete. The Summer Institute is on tonight's agenda. A spreadsheet containing a summary of our finances has been received from GRCC. The revision to this year's budget and creation of next year's budget are on tonight's agenda. Tim had GRCC process Meghan's and Pat's airfare, lodging, and registration for the NCGE Convention. Kyle Dye's nomination for the Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship Program is on tonight's agenda. Tim saw the confirmation for the order placed by GRCC for shoe covers for use at the Puyallup Fair. Tim has contacted Groundspeak about possible alliances for GPS activities. Based on our other priorities, he thinks this item should wait. 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 on tonight's agenda.

Richard emailed all board members a copy of their action items. His action items with respect to the WGA Reception on May 11 are complete. The revision to this year's budget and creation of next year's budget are on tonight's agenda. The repurposed WGA brochure is on tonight's agenda. Richard has requested our participation in the KUOW FM Media Sponsorship Program. The 2009 Summer Institute application form has been revised and posted to the web site. Chris Shearer of NGS was contacted again on the D&O insurance and the acceptance of gifts for WGA. Our proposed uses for Earth Station One and our proposed revisions to the travel and expense policy are pending.

Heidi has distributed our business cards.

Pat's planning activities for the Giant Traveling Washington State Map are tonight's agenda. Course Syllabus comments have been emailed to Tim. Her action items with respect to the WGA Reception on May 11 are complete. The Summer Institute is on tonight's agenda. Pat requested a copy of Adobe Acrobat from her school. Pat is still awaiting replies from Oklahoma and Texas on the Geography Awareness Week postcard/poster contest. Pat's CD containing photos of students on the giant North America map have gone missing.

Meghan sent the repurposed WGA brochure was sent to Richard. Meghan's action items with respect to the WGA Reception on May 11 are complete. Meghan's planning activities for the Giant Traveling Washington State Map are on tonight's agenda. Course Syllabus comments have been emailed to Tim. No free maps will be available any more from NGS. The Newspapers In Education Program is still pending.

Treasurer's Report

The checking account balance as of April 30, 2009 is $977.95. There were no withdrawals during April. There was one deposit of $133.94 from the Employees Community Fund of the Boeing Company.

Richard is still awaiting Chris Shearer's answer if NGS could accept and have Boeing match gifts designated for the WGA.

Richard was emailed Reggie Wright, TechSoup Global Customer Service Lead, about the $90.00 refund for Adobe Acrobat. She stated, "a refund check will be sent out this week."

On May 11 at Benaroya Hall, Pat was given a donation of $50 by an unnamed gentleman. Pat gave the money to Heidi for deposit to the WGA checking account.

Conflict of Interest Policy Annual Statement

Copies of the Conflict of Interest Policy Annual Statement were distributed to all board members, signed, and returned to Richard.

Giant Traveling Washington State Map

One of the three giant traveling Washington State maps was exhibited at the NGS Live! lectures at Benaroya Hall on May 11 and 12. It generated a great deal of interest from attendees. Andy van Duym of NGS spoke about the map before each lecture and was instrumental in getting better lighting for the map.

Tim sent the following letter regarding the map tubes. He also mentioned that he thanked his parents for all of the tube construction labor they donated.

Washington Geographic Alliance
Mail Stop BI
Green River Community College
12401 SE 320th Street
Auburn, WA 98092-33699

May 27, 2009

Pete Dawson
Dawson Construction, Inc.
405 32nd St.
Bellingham, WA 98255

Dear Mr. Dawson:

Thank you for your generous donation of three sections of 12" ID PVC pipe for the storage and transport of our new Giant Maps of Washington. The Giant Maps will be well protected as they travel to school gymnasiums and fairs around our state to help young Washington residents learn geography.

The Giant maps measure over 20' by 30' and are designed to be spread out on a gym floor and walked on for an interactive experience by an entire class.

Please let us know if there are any particular schools you would like to have a map visit and we will do our best to get a map there!

The Washington Geographic Alliance is a charitable organization under IRS code 501(c)(3) so your company may be able to consider this donation for tax purposes.

Again, thank you for your generous donation.

Sincerely,

Tim Scharks
President, Washington Geographic Alliance

The board discussed the plan for getting the various activities for our giant map created. Megan and Pat agreed to meet on June 17 at Pat's home to start developing activities.

Tim suggested naming the maps to aid in their scheduling. After board discussion, the maps were named Lewis, Clark, and Sacagawea. A motion to so name the maps was made by Tim and seconded by Heidi. The motion passed unanimously.

Tim received the following email on June 3 from Pam Love, Volunteer Program Manager, Woodland Park Day Camp, Camp Fire USA:

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 was May 1. The letter of recommendation from Kyle's school was never received and hence his application was not submitted.

2009 NG Live! Event

Our reception was held before the Monday, May 11, 2009 NGS Live! Lecture by Mattias Klum entitled "Borneo: Paradise Under Siege." The guests, totaling 58, included:

• Business/Other — 7 persons
• NGS — 5 persons
• Private Schools — 2 persons
• Public Schools — 9 persons
• University of Washington — 2 persons
• WGA Board — 5 persons
• WGA Members — 10 persons
• Woodland Park Zoo — 18 persons

None of the invited legislators attended. Richard and Heidi created handouts for our reception guests containing maps of the Eastern Mediterranean (Crucible of History) and South America, The Mapping the Americas toolkit, our business card, a flyer on the maps appearance at the Puyallup Fair, a brochure on the WGA, a WGA branded pencil, and a donation form and envelope. WGA purchased 35 lecture tickets for our guests totaling $420.

Due to our other priorities and the expense of hosting the reception, this will probably be the last one held at Benaroya Hall.

Survey of State Colleges that Give Credit for AP Geography

Time gave a report of the state schools that give students undergraduate credits for scoring well on the AP Geography test.

Four-year colleges:

• Central Washington University: No
• Eastern Washington University: No
• Evergreen State College: Yes
• Gonzaga: No
• Pacific Lutheran University: No
• Seattle Pacific University: Yes
• Seattle University: Yes
• University of Puget Sound: Yes
• University of Washington: Yes
• Washington State University: Yes
• Western Washington University: Yes
• Whitman: Yes

Two-year colleges:

• Bellevue: Yes
• Big Bend: No
• Centralia: No
• Clark: No
• Columbia Basin: Unclear
• Edmonds: No
• Everett: No
• Grays Harbor: Unclear
• Green River: Yes
• Highline: Yes
• Lower Columbia: Unclear
• North Seattle: Yes
• Olympic: Yes
• Pierce: No
• Seattle Central: Unclear
• Shoreline: No
• Skagit Valley: Unclear
• South Puget Sound: Unclear
• South Seattle: Unclear
• Spokane Falls: No
• Spokane: No
• Tacoma: No
• Wenatchee: Yes
• Whatcom: No
• Yakima Valley: Unclear

Tim will write the institutions not granting credit for AP Geography asking them to do so.

2009 Summer Institute

The 2009 Basic Summer Institute will be held July 6-10 (M-F). Tim has made the necessary arrangements with GRCC for classrooms and transportation. Lodging still needs to be addressed. It should be one with a free breakfast, as due to the current budget situation, WGA will not be paying for meals this year. The updated institute application form has been placed on the web site. 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 fill need to pay SPU either $129 for three credits or $45 for 35 clock hours.

Pat will be presenting her Geography in Literature class at the Summer Institute. Meghan, as the Geography Action Coordinator, will be speaking about My Wonderful World and the WGA.

Tim received the following email on May 27 from Dave Wilton, Assistant Outreach Director of Facing the Future:

Tim received 20 copies of the CD in trade for each user's email address.

As WGA will not be paying for Summer Institute meals, Pat's quote from Emerald City for box lunches was not needed.

We also need to check with possible partnerships with the Burke Museum as they host the National Geographic Society's All Roads Film Festival.

Woodland Park Zoo Meeting

On May 12, Alliance coordinator Tim Scharks and Katie Remine from Woodland Park Zoo's educational programs met to discuss possibilities for future collaboration between the Alliance and the Woodland Park Zoo (WPZ).

Tim's notes from the discussion are below:

1. Discussed possibilities/problems of targeting the most likely teachers for events like the Benaroya Hall event; Katie is happy to help invite area teachers to such events in the future.
2. WPZ has permission from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to give clock hours for its courses and has been collaborating with Seattle University because of Sunday class problems with SPU (currently the Alliance's partner for clock hours/credits); would be willing to handle registration services on combined programs
3. Katie suggested we talk with Tim Stetter at Burke Museum about teacher workshops and statewide outreach program.
4. Wild Wise program - traveling for 10 years; challenge was to build statewide zoo program, wildlife focus but no wild animals. Focused on Washington habitats and wildlife; observation skills, reporting locations of endangered species. The classroom component is based on Microsoft PowerPoint^® with sights and sounds of different habitats/biomes. The program use to cover 10,000 students per year after going to every county in the state over two years. Now its focus is on schools dealing more specifically with outdoor projects to get students more involved with that field project....relationships with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), more intense relationships with fewer students. Now more in depth with fewer students; but added outside/field component. Targeted at 4-7 grades. More a partnership model than broad distribution network.
   
   I brought up the idea of using the map and Katie was a bit hesitant to commit; however she brought up the idea of perhaps taking the map one-way and then leaving it at the school for a program (the program and car are already very full). I have not heard back from Katie about this yet.

5. Washington Biodiversity Council: Washington ecoregions/divisions of the state by biomes (possibility for giant map materials/lesson plans)
   
   Lots of talk about possible collaborations (Burke, First Nations, Facing the Future about climate change, global connections).

6. The zoo is building teacher professional development program into a Master's program in "Advanced Inquiry" Master's in Teaching, Miami University partnership with Cincinnati Zoo; science inquiry and participatory action: how can a zoo be a place for learning science (learning in informal environments); hiring instructors...every year once per year: Pacific NW natural history/and changes/adaptations. 2012 full cohort: target is 40 enrolled for three-year program. Targeted for current teachers. Katie is open to the possibility of having the Alliance play a role in providing curriculum or activities, with nothing specific at this time.

Puyallup Fair

Tim reported that we received a confirmation for our order for a case of 300 shoe covers (men's size 6 – 10) for $19.98 that was placed by GRCC at http://www.palmflex.com/shoe_covers/poly_shoe_covers.htm.

Richard completed and mailed our 2009 Fair application form to Stan Cross, Educational Building Superintendent at the Puyallup Fair.

We received the following email from our Alliance Liaison Emily M. Schell on June 7:

Richard received the following email from Eric Riback on June 9:

A list of persons to staff the booth must be made. Three shifts of volunteers per day are recommended. We need to tell Stan the number of tickets needed in early August plus accurate map measurements.

Richard received an email from John Iavarone, San Francisco Brand Manager of NGS, about an ad on the carrier sheet to publicize the giant map's appearance at the Fair. The cost with non-profit discount is $9,890. Richard emailed Bob Dulli to see if we could get a better rate.

Teaching Geography is Fundamental Act Cosponsors

Richard spoke with Marsha Renwanz of Senator Maria Cantwell's office. Senator Cantwell's cosponsorship of S.749 (Teaching Geography is Fundamental Act) was delayed due to a staff change and the arrival of a new Legislative Director. Marsha has submitted the necessary paperwork and Richard should be hearing from her the week of June 8.

Fundraising

All board members should consider donating at least $5 per month via an automatic deduction plan. Please send the completed form along with a cancelled or voided to Richard. If you have misplaced your form, please contact Richard. He is working with Chase Bank to establish the automatic deduction plan.

WGA Brochure

Richard contacted Morgan Nomura, a graphic designer who is a graduate of Scripps College in Claremont, California. She estimated that a redesign of our WGA brochure would take 8 hours at $30/hour.

A motion to authorize Richard to enter into an agreement with Ms. Normura to produce the artwork for our brochure at a cost not to exceed $240 was made by Tim and seconded by Meghan. The motion passed unanimously.

Institutional Host

Green River Community College has elected not to consider hosting the NGEF grant in the 2009-2010 academic year. Therefore, we will be using our §501(c)(3) status to act as an independent organization.

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. We have decided to 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.

To modify our plan and budget, we need to complete the form in electronic format (using Word 2003) and return it 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.

Richard will complete the form with Tim reviewing it.

2009/2010 NGEF Grant Budget

The 2009/2010 NGEF Grant application is due by July 9. We are limited to $23,000 to participate in "preparing-to-plan" activities.

The Alliance Coordinator Conference Call/Town Hall Meeting of May 27 was recorded and is available until the end of June. Please dial 1-866-391-5318 to be brought directly into the beginning of the recorded conversation. If prompted, the participant passcode is 7920085 and the conference ID is 8334529. All board members are encouraged to listen to this recorded call.

Tim offered to send board members a copy of the companion PowerPoint presentation.

Richard will complete the form with Tim reviewing it.

Revisioning Consultant

Between his graduate studies, work and his family, Tim's schedule is full. Our Alliance liaison, Emily M. Schell, is located in San Diego and it is both expensive and difficult to have her on site. Richard has started a dialogue with Susan Howlett <http://susanhowlett.com/> an instructor in the University of Washington non-profit certificate program to see how she may be of help in facilitating our pre-planning process.

Roundtable

The Geographic Education National Implementation Project (GENIP) is a consortium of geographic associations committed to improving the status and quality of geography education in the United States. It was organized in 1985 by the Association of American Geographers (AAG), American Geographical Society (AGS), National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE), and National Geographic Society (NGS). Tim described the organization as mostly sizzle and little steak.

Pat distributed some materials on postcard contest held by other Alliances. Richard offered to draft a flyer for our postcard contest.

WGA still has mailing privileges through GRCC. Richard offered to contact the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for the mailing addresses of public schools. Meghan offer to so the same for Catholic Schools.

Tim will conduct an online survey of last year's Summer Institute attendees before the start of this year's Summer Institute.

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

Next Meeting

The next regular meeting of the WGA Board of Directors will be held on Tuesday, August 4, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. in the home of Richard Kennedy and Heidi Morgan, 18825 6th Avenue SW, Normandy Park, Washington.

Action Items

Tim

1. Will verify with GRCC that Meghan's and Pat's airfare, lodging, and registration for the NCGE Convention have been paid.
2. Will continue to monitor our order for shoe covers for use at the Puyallup Fair.
3. Will send Richard a completed monthly donation form along with a cancelled or voided check.
4. Will survey last year's Summer Institute attendees before the start of this year's Summer Institute.
5. Will contact Pam Love of Camp Fire USA declining their request to use our giant map outdoors.
6. Will email a copy of the 2009/2010 NGEF PowerPoint presentation to all board members.
7. Will write institutions that do not grant credit for AP Geography asking them to do so.
8. Will assist Richard with the budget preparation.
9. Will contact George Scarola of the League of Education Voters to request their support for the WGA endowment.
10. Will work to schedule meetings to discuss endowment funding with Judy Hartmann, Executive Policy Advisor for K-12 Education.

Pat

1. Will meet with Meghan on June 17 to plan activities for the Giant Traveling Washington State Map.
2. Will send Richard a completed monthly donation form along with a cancelled or voided check.
3. Will bring the CD prepared for Tim containing photos of students on the giant North America map to the next board meeting.
4. Will prepare Geography in Literature lecture for the Summer Institute.

Meghan

1. Will meet with Pat on June 17 to plan activities for the Giant Traveling Washington State Map.
2. Will send Richard a completed monthly donation form along with a cancelled or voided check.
3. Will contact the Seattle and Spokane Archdiocese requesting the mailing addresses of all state Catholic schools in electronic format.
4. Will make a list of the maps for sale at http://www.natgeomaps.com./ that are suitable for our purposes.
5. Will keep in contact with Dana C. Twight of the Newspapers In Education Program regarding our interest in a one-time article.

Richard

1. Will email the board members a copy of their action items.
2. Will complete the NGEF budget revision form.
3. Will complete the 2009/2010 NGEF Grant request.
4. Will continue working with Washington Mutual, now Chase, about automatic withdrawal programs.
5. Will work with Susan Howlett to draft a statement of work.
6. Will contact NGS to ascertain the role of the GENIP with the Alliance's new direction.
7. Will draft and distribute to the board proposed rules for our postcard contest.
8. Will inform the Burke Museum about our giant Washington map.
9. Will contact The Boeing Company about non-profit printing once Ms. Nomura has completed the WGA brochure.
10. Will follow-up with Chris Shearer of NGS on the D&O insurance and the acceptance of gifts for WGA.
11. Will write NGS to describe our proposed uses of the Earth Station One globe and equipment.
12. 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 contact the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction requesting the mailing addresses of all state public schools in electronic format.
2. Will put the attendee list from the May 11 reception in electronic format.
3. Will request at the end of our current fiscal year an updated spreadsheet of our grant moneys held by GRCC.

Respectfully submitted,

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

Approved August 4, 2009

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