MIDTESOL CONFERENCE CALL, FEB

You can contact if you have anything to contribute. Infor about our conference, Newsletters, brochures, membership applications, pictures? JM – can send electronic copy of newsletters or a box of already printed ones. SW – send the hard copies. MB –

How many are left over? JM – 20-30, so that would be fine. BS – have a little basket of candy or something to get people to come to the table. (MB – higher quality candy).

MBHave we in the past sent ICLC as a check for a contribution? DM - $150 check. SW

Will send DM the name of the contact. (Kim Pollard) BS. They’re trying to get the program to press. In the past MIDT> has been in the program for sponsoring a program. So check on that. DM – we’re in as sponsoring the reception. DM will take care of it.

MB – TESOL Matters just came out. What MB knows about a UN tour – we can reserve

A tour time. No numbers about people who want to go, so can’t do anything yet. Transporation could be a problem. UN is across town.The tour is $13 or so, and I have $500 for the event. Not worth trying to get a bus. Reimburse people for car fare? Or have a meal afterwards? JR – If I were all by myself, I probably wouldn’t go if I had to get there myself. Maybe put a limit on those who can go. ML – maybe go by taxi in groups. Or have people give MB the taxi bills of individual. FC – is the date determined? MB –

Not yet. A Thurs. or Fri. would be best, maybe. She look at Thurs. or Fri. late afternoon. JM –need to streamline finding people. MB – I could stand there with cash and dole it

Out. Meet at MIDTESOL table and leave from there. You can pay for all 3 cabs. BS –

This is a great bonding opportunity. Maybe go for a meal on your own after the tour.

MB – thanks a lot for the input. JR – don’t forget there’s the president’s reception on Frid. So this will probably be on Thurs.

Maybe something should go to the membership to contact MB about the tour - if they’re intending to go. MB – I’ll take to BT about this. (how we can send info out by Email to

Everyone). A Group email is not a good alternative. FC – have members give an alternative email – like K-12 members give a hotmail address. MB what would it cost to send a postcard to everyone? WE – could we put this in the next issue of TESOL Matters? The next one will be cutting it close to this conference. WT – is it possible to get from TESOL a list of the MIDTESOL members who are going? JM – sometimes k-12 People won’t know they can go until only a couple of weeks before the conference.

MB - temporary solution, send the message to WT to send if it’s a mass message. MB will send the UN invitation to Bill E.

VP report – Jennifer Johnston. JJ – I’ve been making plans for TESOL. MB and I will be going to the affiliate leader’s workshop on Wed. morning and also affiliate events on Thurs. afternoon and Fri. morning. I’ll go to those as the liaison. I have a question for

Dennis – what kind of receipts or paperwork you need for reimbursement? MB– we pay 80% up to a $1000 for JJ and 60% for MB up to $1000. MB – could you send us a check in advance and we’ll send back what we don’t use plus the receipts. Can the board

make a motion to do that? JR – that money didn’t come out of the general fund last year, but was somehow donated. So it didn’t come out of the MID. Fund last year. BS – the board needs to be fiscally responsible. If we do give a check in advance, there should be some accountability. We accounted for what we spent last year. BS – there should be something “legal” in advance to cover the Board. BT – we need to set up a procedure.

DM - Jan, could you send me a form? Then DM will draft a motion. We can vote on the motion by e-mail.

MB – ______asked last time if there were still $350 for the newsletter editor to attend

the conference. JR – yes it’s a policy that was already there. The same thing is also in place for the web master. It just needed to be requested. We don’t have to vote on it.

MB – we could send JM a check in advance, could we not? BS – but receipts still need to be turned in. The same procedure should hold for the pres. And VP as well. MB – so Dennis will collaborate with Jan and get something worked out. JR and DM will get on it next week. It’ll get sent out. The board should respond to MB.

DM – the treasurer’s report. We have deducted another $3000 from the “current balance” approximately. MB – let’s not forget the $500 for the MIDTESOL tour.DM will send a revised report to MB. DM – $600 is for an invited conference speaker and this includes the expenses. And the plenary speaker gets $1000 plus up to $600 in expenses. KK - The postcards for the IA conference (our conference in northern Iowa coming up)– should I pay for them and send to you the bill? DM – yes. People forward me their receipts. BS - can they send you the bill have you pay directly if that’s appropriate? DM – sure. BS – if it’s a big expense, maybe get an estimate and send it to Dennis. MB – KK, stay in close touch with DM.

KK and DM – that’ll work. JR. I know Leslie had problems last year about a payment to Tan Tara. DM – they billed me and I paid them, so we got it cleared up.

KK _ when do speakers get paid? DM – they get paid at the conference.

Past Pres’s report – Jan Rodriguez. We did pull together a brochure. We’re looking for some photos which will show our versatility. I’ve sent the brochure off to Sarah to use at the Iowa conference in Feb. I’m working on the 30^th celebration with Susan.. Will let you all know When it comes together. BS – what is being planned on the 30^th at the conference in the fall? JR – maybe doing something at the reception. Do some videotaping. BS – maybe have an anniversary cake (talk to KK about it). JR – Susan and I will be in contact with Katya. CS – What about sending the best presentation from the fall conference to Iowa? CS hadn’t heard anything about it. JR – I need to get back with KK and find out who was voted as the best presenter. KK – I have the info and will check on it and get the info back to Courtney. CS – Then I will get that information to Dennis to communicate on how that’s going to handled.

Committee reports –

KK – 2008, Oct. 17-18 in Storm Lake, IA. Rooms are reserved at 3

Different hotels at different prices. Fri – 56 rooms, Sat. 80 rooms, Sun. 52 rooms. The place has been reserved for a year. Got an ok message from the plenary speaker. She said yes, then no, then yes again. Dianne Larson Freeman from the Univ. of Michigan. The invited speaker, Carmen Sosa from the Iowa Dept. of Education. the ESL coordinator - I sent her an invitation just recently and haven’t heard from her yet. She has some health problems (cancer), so it is iffy. So I would like some other names of someone local who is making a difference in our profession. BS – we don’t have to have an invited speaker. Is this different from a workshop speaker on Friday, which we have had. It maybe easier for Carmen S. to do an 1 hour presentation than a morning workshop. If you want a workshop speaker, you may want to do that in addition. KK – will the presentations be on Fri. or Sat.? BS – it would be best to have Dianne LF on Sat. Then have CS on Friday. KK – do we pay anything for pre-conference speakers? JR – pay the registration, I think. MB - it would behoove us to do some Fri morning and afternoon workshops. That would help attendees get there, if that were available.

BS – you need to set up the workshops up pretty soon. You want to publicize this, so people should know what’s available. At least one workshop should appeal to the K-12 folks. JM – In Iowa, are there AEA people who would do that? (Area Education Agencies). BS – we might want to see what’s good at the ICLC conference and get some good ideas there. MB – when will we have the board meeting for this conference? BS – either opposite a workshop on Fri. or on Thursday night. I guess it depends on what else comes up. MB – Asking KK, do we have a date for our summer board meeting? We’ll put that under new business.

KK – I talked to Leslie about her opinion of a deadline for proposals. She suggested August 1^st. Will that work? JJ – That didn’t work great because people aren’t back to their office yet. Maybe the end of Aug. or Sept. 1^st. KK – Okay, Sept. 1^st. Will we still have enough time to review them and post the information on the web? MB – our plan is to send the proposals sent out to leaders of each intrasection electronically. Then that leader arranges the reviewing within that group – perhaps having two readers for each group. That shouldn’t take too long since there won’t be a huge amount of proposals.

MB – You won’t know until the presentation is done whether it was a quality presentation or not, but MID. is a venue for grad students and others who haven’t had a lot of chances to present. BS – maybe have a graduate student forum and have them do presentations. Lots of grad students will come to hear Diane LF. DM – maybe have

Diane offer an informal session for grad students, a special perk for grad students. She wouldn’t have a prepare, but just visit. BS – hopefully she would be receptive to that idea. MB – would you ask DLF about this when you correspond with her? KK – yes.

KK – I sent emails to two different companies which deal with registrations dues and things like that. One company charge $2500. For every registration participant, they charge $15. The company name is Event. The other company is Activa or something like that. There is a percentage for every person who registers, but it’s about $3-$5. BT – will either of those handle purchaser orders through the institutions? KK – I don’t know. My univ. said they couldn’t do this. JR – Leslie had problems with the purchase orders, I think. MB – I have no experience with this. BS – I really don’t think that the conference planner should have to be responsible for dealing with all the ins and outs of registration. Leslie did it last year on her own, (I don’t know how!)

JM – I’ve heard a lot of people saying it was hard because we didn’t take credit cards last year.

DM – We are going to have to look at how to handle all of this.

BS – if we can get a company that we like the just use it year after year, that’d be good.

That way the wheel doesn’t have to be invented year after year. Lots of people expect to pay on line.
KK – I’ll send the information about the two companies to the whole board.

DM – we need to get together a group (not limited to the Board) to research this who knows something about it.

JM – I’ll volunteer to look into it a bit. My husband and I own a business and we have

To deal with things like that.

MB – are you willing to take a leadership role on that?

KK – I’ll send the info to Jennifer only.

KK – Shall I reserve some hotel rooms for Thursday as well? How many?

BS – Rooms for anyone going to the workshop and the board on Thursday.

BT – The big night is Fri. night, not Sat. night

JM – Airports in the area?

KK – Sioux City and Omaha.

BS – When Diane LF makes her arrangements, have your thought about her

KK – will be this additional expense for the conference?

BS – it’s part of the $600. We need to have someone meet her at whatever

airport she come into. Line up someone up ahead of time so then we’ll know what

airport to send her through. Give DLF some options, with her input. She’ll have her favorite airlines, etc.

Report from Membership –

Bill T. – we had at the last conference meeting a total of 360 membership. Now we have

A membership of 213.

We did a membership audit. 16 people asked to not have membership renewed. An addition 24 people with no contact information, whose membership expired. There are 109 whose memberships expired and haven’t renewed. They have been renewed. There were a group whose memberships expired at the end of the conference. We have 16 people life members.

Courtney S – awards committee. No report. I had a question about the Iowa conference. I didn’t get that information. Our pat on the back and travel award – should the nominations be sent out with the call for proposals?

MB – put the announcement on the registration forms? How was the announcement distributed? On the web site, too. And on the registration forms.

JJ – don’t we also have an award to send someone to the TESOL Academy in the summer?

BS. We used to. No one has applied lately.

CS – the TESOL Academy isn’t listed in my book.

BT – Email Cathy Howland about this?

BS - are they still doing the TESOL Academy?

JF – yes, they are.

JR – if people are still on the board, they are not eligible for a pat on the back award.

Cherl Easton would be a good candidate.

MB – do we want to put some information and request for nominations in the next newsletter?

JR. – I got some info from C Howland. I’ll get it to you, Courtney.

MB – send the info to Jennifer Morrison to insertion in the next newsletter (deadline is March 15) – a 250 word recommendation as to why this person deserves this, etc.

JM – the money came from TESOL for the TESOL Academy.

MB – get hold of Jenn. Johnson, our connection with TESOL.

JJ – I”ll explore this and let you know what I find out.

JM – the people who won travel awards had to submit their article to the newsletter because part of the award was that the would do this. Their monetary compensation was dependent on sending their article to the editor and having it put out. Is that still what we want to do?

MB – I submitted an article, so did KK. I think it’s a fine idea. It should be continued.

JM – we can’t pay people who get travel grants at the conference because we won’t have the article.

MB – I got paid after I submitted my article.

DM – Why don’t we write into the award that they present a finished copy of their article at that time?

BS – they get the certificate, but don’t get the check until they do the article.

MB – We decided no paper, no money.

Courtney – (ill ) signed off.

Web master – absent

Newletter editor – Jen Morrison. Please send me articles if you have them.

Publ. Liaison – Lyn Miller. I haven’t received all my materials from Margaret, but I will be getting those. I’ll be chatting with Diane LF’s pulisher to make sure we get those.

Historian – Susan Schindler absent

Rules and Regs – Roberta (bBerty) Morgan. I will forward the amendments to the Constitution to MB. She can then forward them to the entire board. We can put them in the March newsletter, and also in the Sept. newsletter . Also, we noted there were 4 Board scheduled in our by-laws, but last year we had 3. Should be change our bylaws to indicate that we can have 3?

MB – we talked about having a teleconference before the conference just to check in.

There wasn’t a final decision on that. How about we talk about this at the June conference?

KK – the June meeting suggested a teleconference 6 weeks before the conference. The newsletter deadline is 9/15. We should set the date in June for a teleconference time.

DM – Needs to sign off shortly (12:15)

MB – Jen Mor. Asked if there could be a credit card for the newsletter editor. Has to put money out upfront to get things published.

JM – Conference chairs have the same problem. I front $450 out of my own personal account. It is a strain to even have to wait a couple of weeks.

MB – if we could open an account we wouldn’t have to pay any interest since we pay it off right away. But we change treasurers occasionally, but the treasurer should be the person who pays the bills.

DM - who determines what is appropriate to be charged?

BS – needs to be researched. I had a TESOL credit card as conference chair.

DM – paying the bill is not the issue. How to get it set up is the issue. Jennifer, could you research this?

Jen and MB will research this at the TESOL conference.

MB – we talked about having a bank account with no charges.

Dm – I’ll get on that. Maybe I can get a debit card that works with no charge.

Dennis signing off – 12:25

Socio Pol – Barb S.

Need ideas of issues that might be presented at the fall conference.

Iowa report Sarah Wait

Valerie will be in touch with Sarah.

Mo. Rep – Tom Reidmiller is working on an IEP breakfast at the conference.

Jen. Mor – K-12. Not too much to report.

Suzan VW – nothing to report.

Interest section leader - Sandy Fox – community colleges were confused about who can go to a CC According to their paperwork. Funding is way down.

Teacher training. Francey Looking at ESL certification which varies from state to state. A topic for the conference?

MB – some taken care of already.

Need to give area affiliates our websites and get theirs. (MO, ARK, KS, ILL, Etc.) She will keep going on this.

Planning the 30^th anniv. We’re working on it.

BT has brought the category of “Retired Professional” to our membership, which could be at a reduced rate. Two people had talked to Bill about this. (We are at $12 a year.)

JM – some people want a discount on everything when they get to a certain age. Maybe $10 instead of $12. It’s more of a symbolic thing than anything else.

JR – I agree with Jennifer. It keeps people in touch with what we’re doing. They

will get the newsletter. Maybe even drop it to the student fee of $7.

RM - there has been some discussion about raising our membership. Are we going to consider raising the membership soon?

MB – I don’t remember any serious talk about raising our rates.

JM – TESOL has retired categories, so there is a precedent.

MB – let’s discuss the retired category and leave our membership for later.

BT– what are the requirements a retired person should meet?

MB - What does TESOL have for requirements?

BT – Would support the retired category. They are knowledge base for us.

JJ – TESOL says contact members at TESOL. Org to see if you are eligible.

Have to be a member for 5 years )(see tape0.

Rm – do it on the honor system.

MB – I agree with the honor system

BT – I agree with that.

BT – propose that we establish a retired category of membership called retired membership for persons who have retired from the field and were members of a TESOL affiliate at the time of their retirement and that fee for retired membership be the same as it is for students’ membership fee.