MINUTES
TENNESSEE FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING ASSOCIATION BOARD
FEBRUARY 1, 2014
Present
BERGQUIST, FRANCILLE
CLARK, STEPHANIE
EASTERLY, PHILIP
GIBSON, BECKIE
GLOSSON, JULIE
GOLDEN, JULIE
LANGE, SUZANNE
LI, JOAN
LONG, ED
MALDONADO, ALLISON
NABORS, JASON
NIXON, ALLISON
PECCOLO, MEREDITH
ROSS, PEGGY
SOLOMON, DANIEL
TAYLOR, BETSY
THOMPSON, WILL
WARRICK, JOY
WEAVER, JANE
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I. CALL TO ORDER
Betsy Taylor called the meeting to order at 10:05 a.m. She introduced Alex Smirnov, our TEA liaison, who offered his greetings.
II. WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS
Betsy Taylor welcomed everyone to our first board meeting of the year, and asked everyone to introduce themselves. She asked for corrections to the contact information for all board members.
III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING
Betsy asked for corrections to the September 2014. Jane Weaver moved for approval; Allison Nixon seconded. Approved.
IV. OFFICER AND LIAISON REPORTS
Treasurer: Francille Bergquist reported that we are somewhat lower compared to where we’ve been in the past. We are looking for ways to cut our expenses, especially at the conference.
Local Liaison: Beckie Gibson reported on the conference costs to the board. This year we did lose just over $2,000 at the conference. She explained that the choice of a conference location involves determining meeting space, sleeping rooms, and food and beverage. Meeting space is tied into the number of sleeping rooms and meals in the contract. We have a contract for 2014 and 2015. We do get lots of benefits from the Marriott.
Meeting space: We started with 5 rooms at one time, now we have 7. Sleeping commitment is 156 rooms. We are responsible for any rooms that we do not sell [$119 per room plus]. There is a service fee and sales tax (“plus plus”). The Marriott let us out of part of our commitment that we did not fulfill this year.
Food and beverage: We are contracted to sell $13,000 in food and beverage. We know that the breakfast is expensive, but we only charge $1.00 more than the Marriott minimum. Half of the price of the workshop is food [c. $20 per person]. We generally fall short because not enough people eat at the meals, or eat at the hotel but not at one of our functions, which does not count to our total.
There is a set-up fee that allows us some flexibility on our sleeping rooms. We paid $3,250 in set-up fee this year which gave us a big break on our sleeping room commitment.
AV cost: $5,000. We are allowed to bring in some materials, but are supposed to rent LCD projectors, although they let us bring some in. We rented two this year.
Our clientele does not realize that our $45 registration fee does not cover the costs per person, even if we add on the $20 dues. TFLTA pays for the plus/plus on the meals, not the members.
Beckie announced that Betsy Taylor will take on the responsibility of liaison after the end of her board term.
One question is whether or not we can fit into a smaller venue.
Our registration numbers have been slightly down. In 2009 we had 359 attendees, and we are still over 300. Our workshop numbers were down, and that is the one area where we make money. We definitely need proposals for workshops in each language; we can only offer what’s proposed.
Is there a way for the registration fee to include at least one of the meals? If there is one cost including registration and meals, schools are more likely to pay. Betsy mentioned that the officers have discussed this. Which meal would we include? There are good rationales for each of the meals. Could we attach breakfast to the hotel room? Could there be a single flat fee for one meal included with registration? We will need to look at the numbers to see if this would be cost-effective. We need to reach the entire state of Tennessee to market the association and the conference. Beckie will write up something for the newsletter that will explain the situation without casting the conference in a negative light. Could there be incentives such as prizes for simply registering for the conference? We could experiment with an intermediate step the first year with the option of breakfast or lunch.
There are people who only come for one day, but we don’t have exact numbers on this. We had 56 for breakfast last year, and there has been a steady decline in the numbers attending.
Secretary and Webmaster: no report.
2nd Vice President: Julie Hopson passed around a list asking for people to volunteer to serve as a presider.
1st Vice President: Meredith Peccolo passed around a report from ACTFL, which she attended in November. She mentioned the new “Can-Do Statements” published by ACTFL that can be downloaded. There is also a new advocacy website with a promotional video that sounds very promising. Our Best of Tennessee recipient is Kayla Watson, and she will present at SCOLT in 2015; Jay Salato will present at Central States in 2015 as well.
2014 Conference: Kris Climer will be our dinner speaker. Alyssa Villarreal from Memphis will be our Saturday keynote speaker. Meredith has started receiving proposals, but needs many more before the May 1 deadline. She passed around a list for people to submit ideas for sessions and workshops.
President: Betsy Taylor asked that the board start the first committee sessions. She asked for committees to work on having a folder for each committee so that there is better continuity on committee work.
V. COMMITTEE REPORTS
Finance: No additional report.
Membership: Will Thompson reported that the committee discussed the dues renewal mailing that we will do this month for people who haven’t renewed for 2014. Will is going to work with Betsy Taylor on the mailing.
We will have an exhibit table at SCOLT at no cost to the organization. We will have brochures, membership forms, and other information about the organization available. Will is going to recruit people to help staff the table. We also now have a TFLTA tablecloth.
Nominations: Jason Nabors has agreed to be the chair of the committee. They have names from last year and others submitted since.
Jacqueline Elliott: Dan Solomon reported that they have not had many nominations in recent years. They discussed having more post-secondary people present at the conference to encourage their participation in the organization. The committee discussed changing the eligibility criteria. They will consider changes to propose at the May meeting.
Joyce Ward: Julie Glosson reported that with Patsy Lanigan’s absence, they did not have access to current nominees. There are no new nominees. They discussed ways for getting the message out to school administrators to encourage nominations. We could send the information to principals. They would like a message in the next newsletter.
Best of Tennessee: Reported earlier.
Public Advocacy: Jane Weaver reported that Daniel Paolicchi has sent some information about having a video produced about the conference. Could we have a link on the TFLTA website for teacher resources? Will can create a link, but it would be better to have some material ready before doing so. Members of the committee have suggestions for content. She reminded the board that there are printed brochures on reasons for studying a foreign language [for use at SCOLT and other meetings].
Publications: The newsletter has a new format. We will include photos from the conference in the newsletter, which we haven’t done before. Information can be sent to Peggy Ross. The committee discussed member accomplishments other than our typical “kudos”: publications, presentations. Peggy reported that David Sigsbee, a former board members and JE recipient, passed away this week. Peggy also reported that Pattie Davis-Wiley asked that she report that there are 12 submissions to the journal, with a projected publication date of May 2014. The Facebook group has 216 members. The website has a link for submitting proposals on the homepage. There is a Twitter account maintained by Kris Climer.
ACPDS: Allison Maldonado reported that the committee discussed having a database to reach more people who need to come to the conference. At least they should have a list of principals (discussion about how to proceed with this). They also discussed the variance in the number of applications and how many they can fund. Last year there was an issue with some recipients not attending the conference.
Hall of Fame and Special Projects: Julie Glosson reported that there are no new nominations. She is soliciting information about our most recent honoree, William Heflin, for inclusion on the website.
Foreign Language Week: Allison Nixon reported that she has a proclamation from the governor. FL Week is March 2-8 this year. This needs better advertising. How can we disseminate this information? A good question to ask is “What are you going to do for FL Week?” We could publish photos and ideas in the newsletter and on the website. We could encourage schools and teachers to put information in publications and newspapers. We can have the proclamation on the website.
She also reported on the poster contest. All the submissions will be going to Allison Nixon. They discussed the low level of participation, and would like to promote the contest more. It is not a conflict of interest for committee members to have their own students participate. The announcement could be an entire page in the newsletter.
VI. OLD BUSINESS
SCOLT 2014: March 13-15, 2014. We have a slate of 10 TFLTA sessions. Dolly Young is representing us at several functions. Stephanie Clark is representing us as TOY. Meredith White is BOT.
ACTFL: Betsy Taylor reported that Kelly Scheetz had been the chair of a committee that advocates for FL. Kelly has had to step down due to other responsibilities. Now our second VP will become the chair of that committee, since that person is regularly scheduled to attend ACTFL. Betsy solicited names of other people who would be interested in serving on this committee. There is also a movement at a grass-roots level to interact with legislators (inviting them to classrooms, for example).
TN Licensure Standards Revision: We were represented on a committee, but there has not been any recent news on this subject.
VII. NEW BUSINESS
No new business.
VIII. ANNOUNCEMENTS
The East Tennessee Workshop is coming up on March 29, 2014 at Farragut HS.
SCOLT: Memphis, March 13-15, 2014
CSCTFL: St. Louis, March 20-22, 2014
TFLTA: Franklin, November 7-8. 2014
ACTFL: San Antonio, November 21-23, 2014. ACTFL will be returning to Nashville in 2017.
Upcoming board meetings: May 10, September 13, at TEA Building
Meeting adjourned at 1:20 p.m.