The regular meeting of the Washington Geographic Alliance (WGA) Board of Directors was called to order at 6:49 p.m. by Tim Scharks in the home of Richard Kennedy and Heidi Morgan, 18825 6th Avenue SW, Normandy Park, Washington.
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, and Secretary Richard Kennedy of the NGS's Grosvenor Council.
Absent: Director Pat LeRoy of St. Francis of Assisi School.
A motion to approve the draft minutes of the Board of Directors meeting of June 9, 2009 was made by Tim and seconded by Meghan. The motion passed unanimously.
Tim's action item related to the NCGE Convention is on tonight's agenda. The order for shoe covers for use at the Puyallup Fair has arrived and is in Tim's possession. Tim has yet to send Richard a completed monthly donation form along with a cancelled or voided check. The survey of last year's Summer Institute attendees is pending. Tim emailed Pam Love of Camp Fire USA on June 9 declining their request to use our giant map outdoors. Tim has emailed a copy of the 2009/2010 NGEF PowerPoint presentation to all board members. Writing institutions that do not grant credit for AP Geography asking them to do so is pending. Tim reviewed the 2009/2010 NGEF planning grant application. Tim has yet to contact George Scarola of the League of Education Voters to request their support for the WGA endowment. Tim has yet to schedule meetings to discuss endowment funding with Judy Hartmann, Executive Policy Advisor for K-12 Education.
Richard emailed all board members a copy of their action items. The 2008/2009 NGEF program grant application is on tonight's agenda. The 2009/2010 NGEF planning grant application was submitted on July 6. Catherine Ballay of NGS mentioned that our application was the 11th one received. Richard is still working with Chase about automatic withdrawal programs. Susan Howlett has submitted a statement of work. The use of an outside consultant was included in the 2009/2010 NGEF planning grant application. The role of the Geographic Education National Implementation Project (GENIP) with the Alliance's new direction is on tonight's agenda as is the draft rules for our postcard contest. Richard has yet to inform the Burke Museum about our giant Washington map. Richard will contact The Boeing Company about non-profit printing once Ms. Nomura has completed the WGA brochure. The D&O Insurance and NGS acceptance of donations for WGA are on tonight's agenda. Our proposed uses for Earth Station One and our proposed revisions to the travel and expense policy are pending.
As Pat was absent, her action items were not discussed except that her Geography in Literature lecture for the Summer Institute is complete.
Meghan's planning activities for the Giant Traveling Washington State Map are tonight's agenda. Meghan has yet to send Richard a completed monthly donation form along with a cancelled or voided check. The mailing and map lists are on tonight's agenda. The Newspapers In Education Program is still pending.
Heidi has received the mailing list from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and this item is on tonight's agenda. The attendee list from the May 11 reception has been placed in electronic format. Heidi is still awaiting the final 2008-2009 fiscal spreadsheet from GRCC.
There was no checking account activity in May 2009. The checking account balance as of June 30, 2009 is $1,271.73. There were no withdrawals during June. There were three deposits during June:
Chris Shearer of NGS stated that "NGS will be happy to accept donor-designated annual program funds for WGA and you can submit to corporations for a match. I do not think we can help with D&O coverage. I will keep the concept in mind for outlying years."
Tim has received confirmation from GRCC that registration, travel, and lodging arrangements have been made for Meghan and Pat.
A meeting of NGS Alliance Coordinators is going to be held at the NCGE Annual Conference the morning of Thursday, September 24. The 2009-2010 planning grant application contained a line item to fund the attendance of Tim and Richard.
A motion to authorize Tim's attendance at the NCGE Annual Conference was made by Richard and seconded by Heidi. The motion passed unanimously with Tim abstaining from the vote.
Copies of Morgan Nomura's completed work on the three-fold WGA brochure were given to the board members. A motion authorizing payment of $240 to Morgan Nomura was made by Richard and seconded by Tim.
Tim will send a request to GRCC to print the brochure. This is a formality, as GRCC has no color printing capability.
Richard will contact The Boeing Company, Highline Community College, and Costco about printing the WGA brochure.
On Wednesday, July 17, Richard and Heidi hosted a dinner at Anthony's Homeport at the Des Moines Marina for Danny Edelson, Vice President for Education at NGS, Bill Warren, Vice President of Foundation Relations & Government Grant at NGS, and Tim Scharks, President of the WGA. Danny mentioned that Alliances would have little contact with Geographic Education National Implementation Project (GENIP).
Danny's greatest concerns for the WGA are finding a new host institution and expanding the size of the board of directors to 12-15 persons from K-12, colleges, and the local community.
The next step is to generate a list of names and addresses for additional board/steering committee members. Tim volunteered to generate such a list by the next board meeting.
Ten copies of the legend for the giant traveling Washington State map were made at Costco. Morpac Industries, Inc. donated the printing and laminating costs of $22.78.
Meghan took the ten copies along with the draft of the giant traveling Washington State map. She request that two additional copies of the map legend be made. Heidi volunteered to do so.
Heidi created a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet containing the contact information for those who attended our reception before the NGS Live! lecture. As this information is confidential, it is limited to WGA board members. Heidi will email this list to board members. Tim will invite these persons to join the WGA.
Heidi received a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction containing the contact information public schools. As this information is confidential, it is limited to WGA board members and may not be used for commercial purposes.
The spreadsheet contains just over 2,000 elementary, middle, and high schools in Washington State. Its data will be used to prepare mailing labels for our WGA brochure.
Meghan mentioned that the brochures should be addressed to "Principal" or "Social Studies Coordinator." She will have a mailing list for Catholic schools in Washington State by the next board meeting.
The 2009 Summer Institute was held at the Kent campus of Green River Community College from July 6-10, 2009. Nine teachers from around the state attended, three of whom were already teacher-consultants from previous Summer Institutes.
The Institute featured field trips to Orting/Enumclaw and southwest Seattle; one morning was spent working with the Giant Map of Washington. Participating teachers composed lesson plans, including some to accompany the Giant Map.
Attendance was lower than the previous two Summer Institutes, which is cause for concern. A number of factors may have played into the decreased attendance:
Tim reported that our order for a case of 300 shoe covers (men's size 6 - 10) for $19.98, placed by GRCC, has been received and is in his possession.
Richard requested an initial allocation of 22 tickets from Stan Cross, Educational Building Superintendent at the Puyallup Fair.
We will be exhibiting at the fair from Sunday, September 13 through Tuesday, September 15. The booth must be staffed from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tim volunteered to compile a list of persons to staff the booth. Three shifts of volunteers per day are recommended. Tim volunteered to help with setup on Sunday morning and teardown on Tuesday evening.
Richard will send Stan Cross accurate measurements of the map. Richard was unable to get a response from NGS on an ad on the carrier sheet to publicize the giant map's appearance at the Fair. The August 2009 issue of National Geographic Magazine appeared with an advertisement on the cover sheet.
Green River Community College has elected not to host the NGEF grant in the 2009-2010 academic year. The board has previously discussed the option to use our §501(c)(3) status to serve as an independent organization. We will have to use this option until a new host institution is located. Tim is working with the National Geographic Education Foundation to locate a new host. He will also write Danny Edelson about locating a new host.
In light of the national economy and the implications of the Alliance Network "ReVision" plan, unspent funds from our 2008/2009 NGEF Grant needs to be reallocated. Previously, a budget revision form was to be completed. The Foundation's Grant Manager, Catherine Ballay, informed us that we should instead complete the second round of 2009-2010 grant application and explain in the budget narrative where the rollover funds will be used. The application is due September 14, 2009. We need a volunteer to complete the program grant application.
The board consensus was to allocate our remaining funds for:
Richard proposed the following rules for our postcard contest:
It was the consensus of the board to adopt the above proposal. Meghan will assemble by the next board meeting email addresses for the district curriculum developers statewide.
Richard presented the following information. Science On a Sphere (SOS)® is a room sized, global display system that uses computers and video projectors to display planetary data onto a six foot diameter sphere, analogous to a giant animated globe. Researchers at NOAA developed Science On a Sphere® as an educational tool to help illustrate Earth System science to people of all ages. Animated images of can be shown on the sphere. Details are at http://sos.noaa.gov/.
Meghan reported on a research institute for educators at the Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) in Seattle. She plans to have a WGA presence at the next institute in July 2010.
At the institute, Meghan spoke with the representative for The Newspapers In Education Program. They are still interested in working with us if funding can be found.
The discussion of the Steering Committee Member job description has been moved to a future meeting.
The next regular meeting of the WGA Board of Directors will be held on Tuesday, September 1, 2009 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 September 1, 2009