January board meeting minutes -

							           FLORIDA FOREIGN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION, INC.
                         BOARD MEETING
                HILTON CLEARWATER BEACH RESORT
                   SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 2010
                             8:30AM

                                   Minutes

Present: Pam Benton, Sylvia Black, Jeanette Chavez, Lisa Podbilski, Sherry
Zacharkiw, Geoffrey Revard, Elias Lorenzo, Mieko Avello, Alysse Rasmussen ,
Judy McDermott, Fernando Mayoral, Gudrun Martyny, Becky Youngman, Linda
Markley, Tamara Salgado, Betty Green, Livia Wein, Janet Kucerik, Sylvia Amaya,
Yee Chen Robson, Juan Carlos Morales, Annamarie Tijerino, Gale Jones, Karen
Begley, Jean Scheppers, Louis Lillard. Jacqueline Cinotti-Dirmann, Marcela Van
Olphen

   I.     Call to order:     8:35am                           Fernando Mayoral
          A) Welcome and Introductions: Betty Green elected Historian
          B) Agenda update – Add discussion of Teacher of the year and
          Student Awards
   II.    Approval of Minutes: Amend section 06 – 250 students participated,
          reformat minutes to be standard, Regions 6, 12 and 8 add CFFLAN.
          Motion to approve by Benton, Second by Lillard. Carried.
   III.   Meeting guidelines and procedures                   Jean Scheppers
   IV.    President’s Report
          ACTFL 2009 Convention:                             Fernando Mayoral
          Speaking up for languages….the power of many voices.
          San Diego, CA. Nov. 14-16
                  Strategies for supporting Foreign Language, sharing
                    enthusiasm with community, be aggressive with politicians
                    and school board.
                  Apply these strategies and ideas for our next Conference
                  Encourage financial support of FFLA through donations and
                    grants.
                  Sunbiz.org: list of private organizations to contact for
                    support
                  Internet is a powerful way to connect. Facebook?
IV.   Executive Director’s Report                          Gudrun Martyny
              FFLA Website: Database, Website went live on Thursday
                January 14, 2010. FFLJ – Members only access. Begin a best
                practices platform. Register for Conference and renew
                membership online. Join online.
              FFLA will gift donated printer to Oniel Martin in appreciation
                for his work on our website.
              FFLA Presidential Election via Survey Monkey. Three votes
                accepted via email. New President for 2012 is Cheryl
                Thingvold. 2009 conference penalties paid and contract
                signed with World Golf Village.
              Financial statement presented. 467 active members as of
                1/1/2010. Need recruitment. Incentive for joining? Detach
                membership from conference registration.
              Conference Vendors requesting meeting space/break room,
                food in exhibit hall, and scheduled workshops around
                exhibitor breaks to increase traffic in exhibit hall. Survey
                exhibitors?
              Attrition charges from conference reduced from $31,000 to
                $10,000
              Financial Statement. Explanation for 2010: many categories
                will show a 0 balance such as the bank fee, State sales tax
                0, tax penalties 0, storage 0, and the income tax preparation
                will be only 250.00. Postage reduction by sending emails.
 V.   Old Business
      A. SCOLT 2010 Convention: Communication beyond the classroom.
          Winston-Salem, NC. April 15-17
              FFLA with be represented by Linda Markley
      B. Presenter, Best of Florida, 2009
              Sylvia Amaya reports that team has met and things are
                going well.
      C. 2009 Conference Evaluation Report                Judy McDermott
              Evaluations were overall positive.
              Request for more exhibitors and articles.
              Most rated breakfast “good”.
              Paella at Spanish Luncheon not well received, perhaps due
                to unexpectedly large numbers. We can set a timelier
                deadline for reservations in the future.
              Breakout sessions well received. College student presenters
                received highest marks.
              Kinko’s took responsibility for the quality of the printing.
              Presenters in general were well received.
      D. Financial Report                                  Gudrun Martyny
                Motion to approve Financial Report with explanatory
                 narrative by Cinotti-Dirmann, Second Revard. Carried.
                Round of Applause in appreciation for all of Gudrun’s hard
                 work.

VI.   New Business
      A. Regional vacancies
              Region 1, Region 9; Encourage members in those regions to
                review the responsibilities and apply for the position.
                Suggestion to create “super regions” that include these two
                regions. Morales and Black will lias with these regions until a
                Director is appointed.
      B. Review Associated League Representative
              Representative of the Italian Association (FATI) does not
                attend meetings.
              Motion to suspend FATI position on the board due to lack of
                representation by Jones, second by Cinotti-Dirmann.
                Discussion ensued: Non-attendance letters have been sent.
                There is no cost associated with maintaining a FATI seat on
                the Board. Should we instate a yearly affiliation fee? Should
                we limit the time duration of the suspension? There is no
                member of FATI in the FFLA, and thus no possible
                representative in the organization. What is the next step?
                Define this motion. Specify the meaning of “suspended”:
                FATI will be removed from the Website. Jones amends
                motion to replace “suspend FATI position” with “post the
                FATI position as vacant”. Discussion continues: Using
                “vacant” is a graceful way to encourage representation.
                Should we consider instating a policy to drop organizations
                that do not send a representative to the meeting? Inform
                members/FATI of change. Morales will handle notification.
                Motion carried.
      C. Suggestions for Speakers
              JNCL, Marty Abbott, Deborah Blas: author of a number of
                books, Dr. Cediña, Alma Flor Ada, go through Santillana.
      D. Processes and Procedures Revisions
              Committee has been reviewing manual. Suggestions and
                input can be sent to Linda Markley. Website will be updated
                to include these documents in the “members only” area.
              We are trying to become more transparent.
      E. Membership list as source of funds
              Membership List. Do we want to sell the list? ACTFL does sell
                their list. To sell, NCOA list verification via post office. Decoy
                names are seeded into the list to verify proper use. List
                   rental agreements recommended. People must be able to
                   opt out. Our list is currently too small to sell. Market list to
                   vendors. Develop relationship with Conference Sponsors:
                   Give them access to membership list, send Christmas cards,
                   etc. but raise exhibit fees. One time use. Penalties for
                   misuse….after discussion, consensus is we are opposed.

Break: 15 minutes. (Distribute reports during the pause)

         F. Representation on the Board for Languages for Careers
                 NBLE.org - k12 teachers with functional purpose: e.g.
                   Spanish for International Business.
         G. Representation on the Board for Less Commonly Taught Languages
                 Motion to discuss proposal by Mary Risner by Rasmussen,
                   Second by Revard. Friendly approval. Discussion ensues:
                   (Discussion covers both F and G.) everything would be done
                   virtually. She would like to have a cyber connection with
                   FFLA, but no physical presence on the board. Are not many
                   of these language already represented? Would this be a
                   voting member of the board? Does this set a precedent that
                   may change the structure of this? President can appoint a
                   non-voting ad hoc committee for Less Commonly Taught
                   Languages for his term to allow this to take place without
                   creating a permanent position on the board. Or President
                   can appoint a special appointee. Re-evaluate in October.
                 President to appoint ad hoc committee with Mary Risner as
                   Chair. Committee to report before re-evaluation.
   VII.   Regional Directors and Associated League Representative
                Reports. (2 minutes) Reports to be submitted electronically to
      scheppej@cf.edu, submitted to FFLAN, or posted online.
      A. Region Directors
          Region 1 –no report
          Region 2 –Sylvia Black blacks@leonschools.net
          Region 3 –Gale Jones
          Region 4 –Annamarie Tijerino
   VIII. Tour of the Hilton Clearwater Beach Resort
   IX.    Lunch
          Region 5 –Marcela Von Olphen
          Region 6 –Livia Wein
          Region 7 –Louis Lillard
          Region 8 –Sherry Zacharkiw
          Region 9 –no report
          Region 10 –Becky Youngman
          Region 11 –Juan Carlos Morales
     Region 12 –Linda Markley
B. Associated Leagues Representatives
     AATF-FL since the Board Meeting and the Florida Chapter of
       AATF's largest event of the year coincided on the same weekend,
       the AATF League President sent a report to the Board during the
       week prior to the meeting.
     AFTJ (Mieko Avello) –workshop for teachers of Japanese, Contest
       in Tampa and Miami
     CAF (Geoffrey Revard) –Catherine Sturgill elected secretary of the
       American Classical League. Several workshops and student
       competitions. Preparing for state competitions.
     FAATSP (Pam Benton) –Nominations for Teacher of the Year
       League Award. Conferencia in April
     FALSTA (Alysse Rasmussen) -Conference in Tampa 12-14.
       Presenter from Edmonton Canada. Certification now required for
       ASL. National Standards for ASL out in March. Hoping to organize a
       film festival.
     FATG (Juan Carlos Morales for Lisa Pietras) -Immersion weekend
       Feb 12-14 in Orlando. April 22-24 German conference in Daytona
       Beach.
     FCTA (Lisa Podbilski) – April 9-10, Competition in Gainesville. 22
       High Schools attending.
     FFLICU (Elias Lorenzo) –Workshop for 1) teaching online, 2) how to
       partner with the Alliance Française, and 3) clickers at Central
       Florida Community College in Ocala on February 4. Interested in a
       trip to Haiti: Contact Elias Lorenzo at lorenze@daytonastate.edu
     FLAME (Tamara Salgado) Links to the FFLA website. Task Force for
       writing standards for world languages. Meeting end of February in
       Polk County (TBA)
     FL-NNELL (Sylvia Amaya) -Web site up. Encourage teachers to join.
       Strength in size.
C. Board Appointees
     Independent School Liaison (Karen Begley) -ACSI contact (Christian
       independent schools)
     FFLAN (Jackie Cinotti-Dirmann) -Delays are not working. Perhaps
       add an issue for fall. Applications of all sorts for FFLA will now be
       posted on website and not in FFLAN (members only). Notices will
       be posted on the online Calendar.
     FFLJ Editor (Betty Green) Check online or in FFLAN for submission
       information. Looking at cost saving methods for future printings.
       Journal available in print and online from now on.
     (Judy McDermott): Teacher of the Year Award given to Pamela
       Benton
          Teacher Grant Fund (Linda Markley) -Awarded a grant to Jeanette
           Chavez. Thank you to local committee and Jackie.

X.      Committees (for Conference Planning)
            Fundraising/Sponsors (For contacting publishers for
               sponsorship-will personal contact from those of us using the
               texts increase publisher donations?) – Committee leaders:
               Jackie Cinotti, Jeanette Chavez
            Conference Planning- Local committee - Committee leader:
               Louis Lillard
            Teacher/Student Awards (Our non profit status depends on our
               giving monetary awards) - Committee leaders: Pam Benton,
               Juan Carlos Morales and Linda Black
            Language Luncheons (Remember: Reservations for luncheons
               must be in advance in order to plan appropriately.) Gudrun will
               cover this as part of the local committee duties.
            Gift baskets – Committee leader: Linda Markley
XI.    Reports of committees
        Fundraising/Sponsors –Gudrun will solicit Sponsors from list of
          Current Exhibitors. Please renew personal connections with vendors
          if you know them, and request vendor follow up with Gudrun.
          Jewelry lady! Wanted. Associated Leagues, please contact vendors
          you know who might donate items, give-aways. Target large
          corporate donors.
        Conference Planning –First committee meeting: planned future
          meetings. Pre-conference workshops. Site visit with combined
          workshop? Survey members for workshop ideas. (AP strategies,
          differentiated instruction, student entertainment)
        Teacher/Student Awards –Deanna and committee will handle Most
          Valuable Teacher and Hall of Fame. Updated documents in re
          awards to eliminate confusion seen last year. Student award info
          will be online with April 1 deadline. Committee will judge
          submissions and announce by May 1. Student Made Materials
          Competitions in four divisions in the fall. Medals and certificates for
          student awards.
        Gift Baskets –Each Associated League asked to donate a themed
          basket. Regions asked to donate materials for about 6 themed
          baskets: First Time Teachers, R & R, Multi-cultural, Fun Times,
          ESOL, Business and Languages. Ask businesses if they are willing
          to donate gift cards. Send picture of any basket you create for pre-
          sales via website. We will recognize those who donate baskets.
          (FLINEF – New Teacher Basket) (FAASTP – Spanish Basket) (Betty
          and Elias – Multicultural Basket)
XII.   Announcements
                Similar Organizations with our problems have hired a manager.
                 If we would like to hear from someone like that, arrangements
                 can be made.
                Contact Elias to arrange for visit of Egyptian and Jordanian
                 teachers and students to your school. They will do conferences
                 and workshops. Language sessions.
                Next meeting is Saturday, May 15, 2010.


   XIII. 4:01pm. Motion to adjourn by Becky Youngman, second by Linda
         Markley. Carried.



Respectfully submitted by
Acting Recording Secretary
Jean M. Scheppers

These minutes will be presented for approval at the May 15th board meeting.