MINUTES OF THE MCCPTA EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING
Thursday, November 3, 2005 at the Carver Educational
ATTENDANCE:
Officers: Cindy Kerr, Victor Salazar, Liz Wheeler, Juan
Johnson, Shirley Brandman,
Area Vice Presidents and
Cluster Coordinators: Ted Willard,
Jim Keenan, Jane deWinter, Lilo Mitz, Lori Merrill, Phil Kaufman, Suzanne Weiss,
Carley Lee, Deborah DeMille Wagman, Linda Kuserk, Karen Smith, Carroll
Lovelace, Marney Jacobs, Deborah Steven Panni, John Leach, Rosanne Hurwitz,
Ellen Paul,
Steve Crowley, Susan Joyce
Thomas, Mark Rother, Susie Scofield, Alies Muskin, Sally Taber, Chris Barclay
Committee Chairs: Vicki Rafel, Meredith Walters,
OPENNING BUSINESS:
Call to Order: MCCPTA President Cindy Kerr called the meeting to
order at 8:15 PM.
Agenda: Additions to the agenda were: adding draft language
for the directory motion as requested by the delegate assembly; nomination of
the committee chair for cultural arts; and calendar.
The discussion of the
formation of an equity committee and the Roscoe Nix naming will be moved to the
December executive board meeting.
The earlier start time for
Delegate Assembly by moving to a 7 PM start time to allow for more time for
programs was to be discussed tonight. It would allow for a half hour program
with time for question and answers without rushing. It was acceptable to the
group to drop it from our agenda tonight and bring this suggestion to the
November delegate assembly. The suggestion was made to talk to locals, and put
it on the listserve and bulletin.
Meeting Minutes: The September 29, 2005 executive board meeting
minutes were distributed. Two corrections were made to the minutes. First words
(underlined below) were inserted under the meeting minutes heading so that one
sentence now reads: “A clarification will be added to the August minutes to
state that the meeting was to be held on August 4, but re-scheduled as a
special meeting due to a lack of a quorum present to conduct business.”
Second, under New Business the correct spelling of a GT committee member should
be Zoraida DeJesus. In response to a question and ensuing discussion, the
motion on a request for $150 for the third district gang summit on page 3
stands as written. The minutes were approved as amended.
Treasurer’s Report:
Juan Johnson distributed the
MCCPTA’s, Inc. Treasurer’s Reports of September 27, 2005 through October 24,
2005 and October 25 through November 2, 2005. Only 15 of 179 locals have paid
their membership dues. November 1 is the deadline for dues to be paid to the
state, and Juan wants to be in compliance with that date. One school paid last
year’s dues this week, and some over the summer. We have reserves to cover our
costs for dues.
Questions and discussion
suggested a spreadsheet would be helpful for locals to know their status. Juan
will bring one to the next meeting. The treasurer’s report will be filed for
audit.
OFFICERS’ REPORTS:
President:
President Cindy Kerr added to
the treasurer’s report by stating that she and Juan are working with the state
on the new liability coverage. MD PTA requires all councils to have liability
coverage with them. This year they have negotiated a fee of $150 (saving $100)
for locals with Nunzio. We can continue as a council to pre-pay as a council.
Riders will still be offered. Locals must send proof of coverage to be in good
standing. The coverage period will be changing to June to June, so Cindy and
Juan will work with the state on how to handle December to June.
The Blue Book (MCCPTA
Directory) is being proofed and will go to the printers soon. Cindy hopes to
have it distributed by the end of the month. Some organizations that advocate
for children have been added, such as United for All Children. Recommendations
to make the blue book better should be brought to before the executive board.
Questions were raised about using the pony instead of the mail. The pony is
being used to cut costs. The blue book is useful because we are required to
collect names for MD PTA and National PTA, and because locals can use it as a
tool.
Based upon operating budget
from last year, Cindy said MCCPTA will testify in support of operating budget
testimony time at the Board meeting on Thursday. Shirley or Jane will testify
because Cindy is not available.
Vice President – Programs:
Vice President –
Administration:
Victor Salazar asked for
cluster coordinators to look at their locals to f
Victor addressed the
miscommunication regarding his new “authority” over testimony at the Board of
Education. He does not have authority. Part of this issue may be because the
Board of Education secretary is out for health reasons, and there’s upheaval in
the Board office itself. There had been some confusion about locals not being
able to testify at the Board of Education, and being told to go back to their
cluster to see if they could cede time. Victor has been in touch with George
Margolies. On Monday he will negotiate times. Local PTAs can sign up as
individuals and identify themselves as the president of a PTA. Please get those
local names to Cindy. Those areas with boundary studies have been allotted 3
more minutes. Cindy will call Pat O’Neill tomorrow.
Victor answered Lilo Mitz’s
concern about the potential for politics at the gang forum this Saturday. Doug
Duncan appointed the advisory group and funded it as the county executive, but
he won’t be there on Saturday. Chris Van Hollen and Duncan were included
because of the joint task force report, its recommendations, and questions from
the community. Chris Van Hollen secured federal funds for the youth crossroads
project in
Vice President –
Educational Issues:
Shirley Brandman reminded us
of upcoming events: the Middle School Committee will meet on November 16 at
Shirley
Brandman made a motion that we buy a table for $600 for the Committee for
Vice President –
Legislation:
Jinhee Wilde reported that
Ida Rubin and Charles Barkley, the chairs of the House and
Jinhee
Wilde made a motion that we allocate up to $1,000 for a meet and greet with
legislators. The motion was seconded by Suzanne Weiss. It passed on a voice
vote.
The first county executive
candidate’s forum was yesterday. MCCPTA as an organization had a good showing
compared to other groups. Educational questions made it as part of the forum.
AGENDA ITEMS:
New Business:
Calendar:
Jane de Winter distributed a
letter that she drafted to Board of Education President Pat O’Neill regarding
the school calendar. If the state changes the primary election day to June,
Jane is asking that the executive board request that the Board of Education
change the start date for the school year 2006-2007 to Tuesday, August 29. The
number of instructional days remains the same, but parents and families gain an
extra weekend. Discussion stated that there is no time to take this motion to
the delegates because the calendar vote occurs before the next delegates
meeting. Therefore, the motion and the letter will come from the executive
board only.
Jane
de Winter made a motion that we accept her letter to change the start date of
the next school year based upon the change in the state primary date. It was
seconded. It passed on a voice vote.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Operating Budget:
Jane deWinter urged people to
contact their Board of Education member, and student member, to say you support
the designated time slot for testimony for clusters.
Health:
Tracy Fox asked for
completion of the health committee survey for what’s happening with Physical
Education, Art and Music in the elementary schools with the reduction in class
size. The survey is online on the MCCPTA website. The delegates received a hard
copy survey at the assembly. She’d like 1 per elementary and middle school.
CIP:
Marney Jacobs distributed
spreadsheets of CIP comments by cluster and category, actual enrollment data
and CIP committee talking points. CIP priorities were sent out on email, too.
Marney and Jim are available to help with CIP comments. The theme is “Keep it
up – maintain the CIP.” Please say thank
you and stand together. We need the Board of Education and county council on
our side. We hope the state will give $33 million to the county.
Legislation:
Tom Murphy recommended that
we look at the legislative platform from the Board of Education that was
adopted on October 24. We should look these areas. We’ll need to use it as we
form our own platform. It’s on the MCPS website if you go to the annotated
agenda.
Cultural Arts:
Cindy
Kerr offered the name of Joan Wolf Chiaverini to be the cultural arts
chairperson. Her nomination passed on a voice vote.
Bylaws:
Vicki Rafel will go through
the information article by article. There is no such thing as transitional
bylaws. The MD PTA said that the template was to go out to the bylaws chair.
Vicki thanked her bylaws
committee members, Diane Dickson, Victor Salazar, April Keyes, and Mary Ann
Bowen for their work. Vicki distributed the bylaws update and memo, including
the MD PTA Council Bylaws Form for MCCPTA bylaws. The pound signs indicate
mandatory changes and others are highly recommended. If you leave out the
highly recommended changes, MD PTA won’t be happy unless you can sell them on
it. The state PTA is trying to rearrange articles, so that articles in every
state council bylaws are consistent regardless of the
size of the council, but with the flexibility that size makes a difference in
the kind of bylaws you need. For example, we have extra articles for area vice
presidents, cluster coordinators and their nominations that aren’t in the state
format. The committee looked at the format and reviewed our existing bylaws to
integrate them.
The committee has made 4
additional recommendations:
Discussion included: tracking
changes (deletions, additions); considering each article; making amendments in
writing for the committee; voting item by item; changes made required by state
and changes made by the committee; written instructions from state (cover
letter); our written record as the cover memo and draft bylaws; MD PTA lack of rationale
for change in language from executive board to board of directors (perhaps
because it’s like other non-profits, state and national PTAs) and changes in
language by the state.
Vicki Rafel led the review of
individual articles.
Articles:
I as written
II as written (pound sign means it’s mandatory).
III as written (pound sign means it’s mandatory).
IV As
written this mandatory section includes some of sections that had been in other
articles previously. Cindy noted that PTA council in good standing in section 1
was added by vote at the last convention. This language goes to locals, too.
V As
written the purposes of MCCPTA has only section 2 that is mandatory (melding of
ours and MD PTA).
Section
1 is what’s been in our council bylaws forever. Section 2 is new and is
mandatory, with some of section 2 having slightly different wording.
VI As
written for officers and their elections (one change since the blue book was
printed is the Vice President for Legislation)
Section
4 a. is mandatory.
A
minor change to section 3 is changing dropping a motion from the floor to, “When
there is only one candidate for any office, that election may be held by voice
vote.” Changes are there because of MD PTA changes in wording. In Article VIII
section 1 in our blue book it reads, “These officers shall be elected by ballot
at the Annual Meeting.” This shows that the intent remains the same in the
merging.
If
someone thinks the wording of a section is a significant departure from what’s
there, then they can make it as a motion to include that as among the changes
in amendments.
Section
4 b. “Only members of a local PTA whose National,
state and council PTA dues are paid shall be eligible to hold office. All
officers shall have served at least one (1) full year as a local PTA officer of
one (1) full year on the PTA council board of directors.” This is part of state recommended language,
so if we change it we must be prepared to explain why we didn’t do what they
recommended.
Section
4 b. Credentials for voting require a local PTA membership in a unit that is in
good standing. Delegates and executive board members need to know that this
will be enforced, so they need to know if their schools are in good standing.
Article
VIII Section 4 in our blue book reads, “Only members of a local PTA in
This
applies to locals, too. We’re supposed to follow this.
Audits
are part of good standing, too. We are in good standing since our audit is in process. The State hasn’t started to enforce the audit
yet, since they don’t know how they will enforce all of their requirements. MD
PTA will enforce bylaws and dues. We review the local audits and only send on
those that have problems.
This is the set of bylaws the
committee recommended. If it’s not acceptable, then we explain it to the state.
Additional discussion included: use of a red line copy for changes; outlining
changes for recommendations noted or side by side comparison; using software
“compare write” to produce a third document; MD PTA telling us that the format
was focused on coming into alignment so all councils used the same language; and
our current bylaws not matching line by line or section by section with the
state. Additional issues of changing the name from the executive board to board
of directors; adding in a removal from office; term limits; quorums; and
attendance requirements were only mentioned, but not discussed tonight due to
time constraints. The committee will work on noting changes. We will put bylaws
on the agenda for next month and will possibly have a special meeting devoted
to bylaws.
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was
adjourned at 10:07 PM.