Florida Foreign Language Association, Inc.
Virtual Board of Director’s Meeting via GoToWebinar
Saturday, May 11, 2013
New Spaces, New Realities: Learning Any Time, Any Place
In attendance: Cheryl Thingvold, Dr. David Gurney,Deanna Scheffer, Fernando Mayoral, Frank Kruger-Robbins, Gale Jones,Gudrun Martyny,Jacki Cinotti-Dirmann, Jan Kucerik, Sara Kolhoff, Dr. Susan McDonald, Lisa Podbilski, Pam Benton, AlysseRassmussen, Dr. Betty Green, Ginger Lin, Melissa Morgado, Sheila Mansier
I. Call to order 9:04 am by Pam Benton
Approval of minutes from January 2013
(Dr. David Gurney and Fernando Mayoral) moved of the minutes. Passed.
II. Review of Meeting Procedures Jan Kucerik
III. President’s Report Pam Benton
Changes to the Board:
a. NozuMako new AFTJ President
b. Opening in Region 3: due to Linda Villadoniga retiring
c. Opening in Region 5: due to Lisa Podbilski moving out of state
d. Executive Secretary opening
Advocacy Team/JNCL:
Dr. Vivian Bosque, Pam Benton and Linda Markley all representing FFLA on ACTFL’s advocacy team (there is a link on ACTFL’s website). Pam stated that the email is the best way to reach law makers nowadays.
Begging for dollars:
Pam Benton is in the process of drafting a letter to exhibitors than normally support FFLA. She has also received some in-kind donations.
Sessionsat ACTFL:
Deadline was January 9. The top 7 rated workshops from FFLA were submitted to ACTFL. The Host Committee selected the remaining sessions and passed them onto ACTFL.
Pam Benton will send out the list of sessions that were selected for ACTFL.
Scholarships to ACTFL:
11 scholarships were given for ACTFL; the list is posted on the FFLA website
Hall of Fame area of FFLA website:
Pam Benton has been working on this area of the website and is preparing a video that includes information about MVTs (Most Valuable Teacher) and HoF(Hall of Fame) to play at the exhibit hall and hospitality room during the ACTFL conference.
Awards area of the website:
Pam Benton revamped the teacher awards area of the FFLA website.
Lisa Podbilski spoke on the Student Scholarships Award Winners: elementary, middle, high school and college. Photos are being gathered and will be put on the FFLA website in June.
If anyone is interested in taking over the Awards Committee, please email Pam.
SCOLT Conference:
A big Florida presence at the conference and FFLA was well represented.
Pam Benton, Ester Gonzalez-Wright and Linda Santiago’s session on flipped classroom was selected as Best of SCOLT and will be presenting at ACTFL.
Go to to view their presentation.
IALLT Conference Exhibit Booth:
IALLT Conference will be the held during the second week of June in Ft. Lauderdale, hosted by Pine Crest. Pam Benton will be in attendance.
LouisLillard’sprojects (current working on two projects):
1) University of Phoenix, 4 credit online courses in Spanish during the summer for certification renewal. Information is on Facebook and will be posted on the FFLA website soon. Florida teachers can do this for free or for a huge discounted price.
2) Louis started a club/group for foreign language students who want to be foreign language teachers and asked if these students could join FFLA, perhaps if they could pay the student membership fee, they could feel connected with FFLA (but not attend the conference).
Toni Theisen, ACTFL President, asked to identify Florida students so she could to do a plenary session in order to talk to students about 21st Century learning as well as how successful we are in the state of FL, what could we be doing differently, etc.
Facebook: Thank you to those who are posting on the FFLA Facebook page.
(JackiCinotti-Dirmann andFrank Kruger-Robbins)moves to open membership to K-12 students
Susan McDonald expressed concern about such a wide/open motion.
Pam Benton suggested a friendly amendment with the working limited membership/junior or associate membership.
JackiCinotti-Dirmannaccepted the friendly amendment with the word “junior.”
Motion: Open junior membership to FFLA to K-12 students with details to be provided later to Jacki Cinotti-Drimann and LouisLillard. Passed
IV. Executive Director’s Report Gudrun Martyny
All Executive Director’s documents are posted on the FFLA website under the Board Members section.
Our only income this year is from memberships. If a school district registers 10 teachers, they get 10% off.
2014 FFLA Conference will begin on Thursday. The FFLA Board meeting will be on Thursday; Friday will be Pre-Conference; Saturday will be the main conference day; Sunday the conference will end around noon; FFLA Board meeting Sunday afternoon. Dates of Miami Conference (Hilton): Oct. 16 to 19, 2014.
Please send Gudrun Martyny photos from the 2012 conference, especially award recipients, etc.
Jacki Cinotti-Dirmann mentioned that we need an official photographer for FFLA.
(JackiCinotti-Dirmann and Dr. Betty Green) Moved to accept the financial report
V. Committee Reports
Board Restructuring Committee: Pam Benton would like to table the work of that committee until next year after ACTFL.Much research is necessary before we move forward.
Publications: Dr. Betty Green: FFLJ deadline for submission is July 30 to send manuscripts. Please spread the word.
Gudrun Martyny recommended that if it is not too expensive, she would like to distribute some copies of FFLJ at ACTFL (ACTFL board, supervisors, etc. )
Jacki Cinotti-Dirmann: FFLAN is currently in a holding pattern right now since we are encouraging members to post on Facebook. Dr. Betty Greens said we need to put out a summer FFLAN. Gudrun Martyny felt that we need to have some type of newsletter because it encourages dialogue.
JackiCinotti-Dirmann said many people do not submit information and suggests perhaps we have FFLAN once a year.
5 Minute Break
10:30Associated League Reports (1 minute maximum)
1. Susan McDonald, Latin: CAF: State forum was a success; the top school was MclaySchool (Tallahassee) and renewed contract with Windham; larger group this year. A large number of members are going to Memphis American Classical League at end of June. National Junior Classical League, smaller delegation, to Las Vegas this summer. There is a new Vice President for CAF.
2. DeannaScheffer, French: FAATF: There is a revamping of the website, and FAATF is planning on send out a survey to plan for next year.
3. Gale Jones, Spanish, FAATSP: FSSC (Spanish Conference) was from March 13-16 with 40 schools participating. FAATSP gave out 13 scholarships. The Picasso exhibit is now in St. Augustine.
4. AlysseRassmussen, Sign Language: FASLTA. Three scholarships were given away for the 2013 conference. FASLTA is working more closely with the Florida Association of the Deaf. Silent weekend is the last weekend in June. The National Conference of ASLTA is beginning of July.
5. Fernando Mayoral, College, FFLICU: At the February meeting FFLICU evaluated the mission of the organization and are thinking about reviewing the name of the association as well as the mission statement and organization documents.
6. Ginger Lin, Chinese: FCTA: Major focus has been on competition for students and FFLA conference. Pine View hosted competition in February. Over 300 students attended the competition and now looking at possibility of using a hotel to host. FCTA is trying to focus on scholarships for teachers and students.
Region Reports (1 minute maximum) Region Directors
1. Region 3 (vacant), Jacki Cinotti-Dirmann: The spring meeting will be on the 23rd and will present the Rookie of the Year and Educator of the Year awards. August 2 and 3 is the summer conference.
Region 5, LisaPodbilski: USF Startalk program is residential this year. This is the third year USF is hosting STARTALK.
Region 6, Sara Kolhoff: 3 teachers from the Pinellas County region received best of SCOLT. Summer immersion program is during the week of June 11 at Eckerd College.
Region 8, SheilaMansier: Change of command in her region: Margie Fox has retired. All teachers who teach French 1 and 2 or Spanish 1 and 2 will be required to give OPA Assessment and Year End Assessment.
Region 9, Frank Kruger-Robbins: He connected with Vista Higher learning and hosted a Saturday, March 16 half day workshop. Vista Higher Learning will provide conference bags for the IIALT conference.
VII.IALLT/SEALLT Frank Kruger-Robbins
Frank noted that everyone has promoted the conference so well already! Thank you!
Deadline for IIALT awards is on May 28. The links are on ACTFL’s website for the two awards.
VIII. ACTFL Advocacy Team Linda Markley
Go to and click on advocacy tab. Pam Benton noted that Linda Markley is at JNCL and she’ll report after her return.Linda will share her notes on the Advocacy team and JNCL at a later dated.
IX.Host Committee Report Sara Kolhoff
May 1 was the recent Host Committee meeting.
Linda Santiago will be in charge of hospitality room.
Shirts: please refer to Pam’s email for size and price information.
Awards Luncheon: Ester Gonzalez-Wright is taking the helm and FFLA will pay for all the awards recipients. Pam Benton said she is seeking sponsorship for the Luncheon and would like all board members to attend. She is hoping to get sponsorship so everyone could attend for free. Right now, it is only the awards recipients.
If Associated Leagues want their own lunch/meeting, then they can meet at our hospitality room (10 people or less). Otherwise, need to find a restaurant and meet. Perhaps have a dinner meeting at a local restaurant. Each Associated League needs to make their own arrangements.
Deanna Schefferasked if there will be a Sunday board meeting during the ACTFL conference. That is not yet known. Need to contact Vivian Bosque regarding that information.
Pam Benton’s final board meeting is Wednesday at 6:00 pm during the ACTFL conference.
Baskets: Bring baskets to board meeting on Wednesday. Mayra Merced-O’Neill is in charge of the baskets. Please email Sara Kolhoff or Mayra Merced-O’Neill stating which type of basket you would like to make.
All of FFLA’s presentations will be in the same room at the Rosen Center.
FFLA will pay for Wednesday hotel stay for Board Members. Everyone needs to make hotel reservation through ACTFL, not through Gudrun Martyny. Board Members need to present the hotel receipt at the Wednesday night board meeting, and Gudrun will cut a check for the Wednesday’s night hotel stay. You must submit your receipt to Gudrun within 7 days of the stay.
If you have a tax exempt ID from your school or organization, then you will receive the tax back. Otherwise, Gudrun cannot reimburse the tax.
FFLA Exhibit hall booth: A few FFLJ will be at the exhibit booth for people to peruse.
Baskets will be set up at the booth. There will also be a monitor playing Hall of Fame/ MVT video and a banner. Computers will be set up at booth for registration as well as business cards for becoming a member of FFLA. FFLA pens and maybe M&M’s will also be at the booth.
Board members only can “man” the booth- at least one board member needs to be present in order to collect money.
We have a huge donation of water for board members working the booth.
Donation Baskets: Some baskets will be raffled off on Friday and Saturday; the remainder on Sunday.
FFLA Shirts: Please refer to Pam’s email for sizes and prices. Send your check to Pam. They will be hand delivered at the Wednesday board meeting.
Gudrun Martyny spoke on Maria Sierra’s proposal: FFLA to give their local association a $15 rebate for each of their members who attends our conference. For example: FLENIF would submit their membership list ahead of time. The discount would only be for members not for simply any one from the region.
Goal: We are trying to get as many people as possible. That way we can build up the membership and build up conference attendance.
(Cheryl Thingvold and Dr. Betty Green) move that FFLA Provide a $15 rebate to the local association for each local association member who attends FFLA.
Cheryl Thingvold added Gudrun’s suggestion that the donation to be given to the local organization to teacher training or student support
Friendly Amendment accepted by Cheryl from Jacki Cinotti-Dirmann: Provide a rebate of 50% of the FFLA membership fee to the local association for each local association member who attends FFLA.
Frank Kruger-Robbins withdrew his friendly amendment of asking local organization to provide extension cords and projectors.
Jan Kucerik asked what constitutesa local organization.
Gudrun Martyny said that local organizations need to be an affiliate of FFLA, and its members need to be active members of FFLA. The Region Director from that area should also represent that local organization (members of both FFLA and regional organization).
Pam Benton stated that as of right now Pinellas County and FLENEF are the only local organizations that are afflicted with FFLA and the conference.
GudurnMartyny said that if the Miami association wants to be co-sponsors with FFLA 2014 Conference that they become affiliated with FFLA.
Cheryl amended her motion to include the word “affiliated.”
Motion: Provide a rebate of 50% of the FFLA membership fee to the local affiliated association for each local association member who attends FFLA.
Jacki Cinotti-Dirmann asked if there is a cost to affiliate. If not, there should be.
Gudrun Martyny said that there isn’t any, but the voluntary fee has been $100. It is up to what the organization can afford. But in general the donation has generally been $100.
(JanKucerik and Dr. Betty Green) called for the question of accepting the motion.
Vote on whether or not to end the debate on the motion. Debate ended.
Main motion:Provide a rebate of 50% of the FFLA membership fee to the local affiliated association for each local association member who attends an FFLA Conference. Passed
(Jacki Cinotti-Dirmann and Jan Kucerik) accepted the motion to refer questions regarding update of our by-laws to reflect compliance with the previous motion to the Board Restructure Committee.
AlysseRasumussen and Gale Jones questioned the wording of “an FFLA conference” in the motion.
AllyseRasumessun moved to reconsider the motion. Motion passed.
Cheryl Thingvold: reword the previous motion of Provide a rebate of 50% of the FFLA membership fee to the local affiliated association for each local association member who attends an FFLA Conference.
(Cheryl Thingvold and Dr. Betty Green)moved to provide a rebate of 50% of the FFLA membership fee to the local/regional affiliated association for each local/regional association member who attends an FFLA Conference when it is held in their region.
(Jacki Cinotti-Dirmann) friendly amendment suggestion by: Perhaps remove “local” from the motion since districts has their own local associations.
(Cheryl Thingvold and Dr. Betty Green) moved to provide a rebate of 50% of the FFLA membership fee to the affiliated association for each association member who attends an FFLA Conference when it is held in their region. Passed.
Another motion on the floor:
(Jacki Cinotti-Dirmann and Jan Kucerik)to refer questions regarding update of our by-laws to reflect compliance with the previous motion to the Board Restructure Committee. Motion carried.
X. ACTFL Board Member Responsibilities: Pam Benton
1. Preside a pre-conference workshop: Board members need to look at the ACTFL workshops (already posted online). Need a presider at each workshop- they all begin with “w” and have a number after it. Please email Pam.
2. Baskets- need to be delivered at Wednesday board meeting
3. Booth: Board members need to work 2, two hour shifts for the total conference
4. Board members need to attend Wednesday night board meeting
5. Board members need to attend the Awards Luncheon
6. Board members need to attend the FFLA General Meeting
7. Board members need to assist with Hospitality Room as needed
Please reserve a room ASAP for ACTFL; purchase t-shirts; arrive Wednesday during the day before board meeting.
(Dr. Betty Green and Fernando Mayoral) move to adjourn.
Adjourned at 12:06 pm