Board of Directors’ Meeting
December 8-9, 2007
Embassy Suites
251 Gateway Blvd. South San Francisco

The meeting was called to order at 9:12 A.M. by President, Michelle Berry. She welcomed the board member, Bob Chapman, and Kern Council’s new representative, Barbi Lapp. Members in attendance include:

SCTE Representative , Carmen Carrillo
Resolutions Chair, Kathleen Cecil
FACET Representative, Cathy Cirimele
Member-at-Large, Bob Chapman
Member-at-Large, Carole Clarke
GSDCTE Representative, Carrie Danielson
Vice President, Charleen Delfino
Member-at-Large, Susan Dillon
Treasurer, Anne Fristrom
Convention Consultant, Kermeen Fristrom
CDE Liaison, Mary Ann Goodwin
Member-at-Large, Tish Griggs

Convention Coordinator, Teisha Hase
CATE Chair 2008, Nancy Himel
Member-at-Large, Cheryl Hogue-Smith
Kern Representative, Barbi Lapp
Upper Representative, Shelly Medford
CCCTE Representative, Liz McAninch
Past President, Maureen Rippee
TUCATE Representative, Carol Surabian
Secretary, Lorraine Tracey
Membership Chair, Joan Williams
CCCC Liaison, Bill Younglove

Absent: Richard Hockensmith, Member-at-Large; Carol Jago, California English Editor;

Jane Marlink, CWP Liaison; Debra Martinez, CTA Liaison; Anne Sahlberg, Redwood Representative and Martha Zaragosa-Diaz, Policy Analyst.

Delfino moved and Hogue-Smith seconded the approval of the September board minutes with corrections. MOTION CARRIED.

A Motion was presented by A. Fristrom and Karpowicz seconded that the agenda be approved. MOTION CARRIED.

McAninch moved and Clarke seconded that Barbi Lapp be ratified as Kern representative to the CATE board. MOTION CARRIED.

An invitation was extended and Berry will attend a CYRM meeting January 12 in Sacramento.

Berry also created a letter to regional legislators inviting them to attend the Long Beach 2008 Convention.

Berry announced that the board resolution which was created at the September board meeting resulted in the withdrawal of the current version of reauthorization for NCLB.

Kudos and thank yous to Dunstan, Himel, Griggs, P. Fristrom, A. Fristrom, Hogue-Smith, and Rippee.

Important announcement: All Board members must submit their annual reports by December 31^st. Send to mmbb@sonic.net. Include all you did for CATE for the year. Use the following format in the text of the e-mail.

Berry was privileged and honored to nominate Maureen Rippee for the Secondary Section Nominating Committee.

Berry visited Sonoma State University student teachers. She shared copies of the California English and CATE membership information.

Announced that board reports for CATEweb need to be sent to Delfino as facilitator for CATEweb postings. Defino asked that they be sent as an attachment.

NCTE Liaison Report: Attended affiliate meetings, talked with publishers about attending CATE 2008, attended annual business meeting, as well as the awards ceremony. The awards were given to Sheridan Blau, Distinguished Service Award; Carol Jago, California English honorable mention; Akiko Morimoto, Richard W. Halle Award for Outstanding Middle Level Educator; Carol Booth Olson, UCIWP Director, the Alan C. Purves Award; Dave Eggers, CATE’s nominee for the NCTE/SLATE Intellectual Freedom Award; and Carrie Danielson and Pirette McKamy Teacher of Excellence Awards.

Rippee received forms and digital pictures for two open positions for the CATE elections.

The 2008 Distinguished Service Award Committee of past presidents reached a decision, and a name was presented to the board. The Distinguished Service recipient will be honored during the Saturday night banquet at CATE 2008. Classroom Excellence and Award of Merit nominees were submitted before the meeting. All award nominees who are approved will be notified by President Michelle Berry, and honored at the convention.

CATE members can vote one of three ways in 2008. Voting in the elections will begin at the Annual Business Meeting and on-line via CATEweb. The slate of candidates and ballots for the election will also be published in the April issue of California English. Because the convention is in March, the time to return the ballot by mail will be truncated in order to count the votes for submission to the CATE Board for approval in May. Mail-in votes must be postmarked by April 25, 2008. Nominations from councils have been submitted for the following offices: President, Vice President, Member-at-Large Middle, Member-at-Large College, Member-at-Large Unspecified. The following Council Representatives will also be on the 2008 slate: Angus Dunstan, Capitol; Liz McAninch, Central; Patricia Griggs, FACET; Anne Sahlberg, Redwood; Carmen Carillo, Southland; Barbi Lapp, Kern; Carol Surabian, TUCATE; Shelly Medford, Upper and Ron Lauderbach, San Diego. Nominations by petition can be made up to one minute before the start of the Annual Business Meeting on Sunday, March 9, 2008. All candidates will be given the opportunity to make a brief statement at the meeting. Candidates’ photos (digital) as well as written statements (100 words maximum) should be submitted to the Past President as soon as possible, but no later than immediately after the business meeting. Statements might include the candidate’s educational philosophy, and the reasons they wish to serve on the CATE Board. Each CATE member is entitled to one vote for the candidates of their choice. See the CATE By-Laws Sections 6:18-22 for details about the election process.

Rippee moved and Hase seconded that the awards received by Rippee be approved.

Rippee moved and Chapman seconded that CATE accept the nomination of Akiko Morimoto as winner of the Distinguished Service Award for 2008. MOTION CARRIED.

Thanked Hogue-Smith for writing a proposal to send ten members of her department to attend CATE 2008.

Tracey announced that the board directory edited after last meeting is being circulated for any corrections, etc.

Himel announced that Kelly Gallager and Michelle Green will be the speakers at the pre-convention.

Limited free shuttle service will be available to the hotels for Long Beach. Contact P. Fristrom if you are interested. This service will be available from John Wayne, LAX and Long Beach Airports.

Delfino reported that some committees are in place. Taylor Mali and Gail Sukiyama have agreed to be speakers for the Convention.

Capitol Council: Dunstan reported that Capitol needs a high school presence and that plans are in the works to get a new president.

Redwood Council: No Report. Williams reported that writing entries were submitted.

CWP: Hase reported: CWP will be updating the English version of the Parents booklet. Armenian translation will be addressed as translators and editors are in place. A Chinese booklet and Hmong DVD are moving forward. A new NWP Executive Director will replace Richard Sterling in January. Her name is Sharon Washington.

CCCC: Younglove reported on the October 6^th Curriculum Coordinating Committee meeting in Sacramento. CTA made a packet available with information about the status of API, AYP, CAHSEE and reauthorization of NCLB. A copy was made available to the board for perusal. Speakers presented in the afternoon. CCCC President, Brad Huff, iterated that strategic objectives would be formulated for the Committee.

Policy/Censorship - DUNSTAN, Carrillo, Cecil, Danielson Goodwin, Rippee, Younglove

Dunstan moved and Chapman seconded that the changes to Policy 4.1 – 4.4 as presented be approved. An amendment to the motion was to add 4.2.3 the CATE policy/censorship chair shall be the CATE representative to SLATE. MOTION CARRIED.

The committee agreed to sponsor a session at CATE 2008 titled “What’s Going On.” The session will feature four speakers spelling out the major issues they see facing language arts teachers in California, followed by a moderated discussion and audience questions.

A board resolution was discussed and forwarded to the Resolutions Chair. Several possible resolutions for CATE 2008 were briefly discussed and a couple of additional topics were suggested to the Resolutions Chair.

The committee recommends that two documents be removed from the Webpage for revision and updating: Core Values and Ethics Code.

Convention Coordinating - HASE, Berry, Delfino, Dillon, A. Fristrom, P. Fristrom, Himel, McAninch, Hogue Smith, Tracey

Hase moved and Rippee seconded that the revisions to Policy 7.0 be approved. MOTION CARRIED.

CATE 2008 update: Scheduling still needs to be addressed. The location of the New Teacher Reception will be moved. Bring publisher’s gifts to convention. For 3 weeks the online registration was down. Some forms did not make a smooth transition. CTA is going to sponsor a Friday morning continental breakfast for $6000. The schedule of the awards was discussed as well as the two minutes for

CATE 2009 update: A tent (10,000 sq. ft.) will be used in Santa Clara for the exhibits.

CATE 2013 bids were received from Hyatt Regency Monterey, Oakland Convention Center/Marriott; Marriott Santa Clara, Hyatt Regency Santa Clara, and Fairmont San Jose. South Lake Tahoe is building a Convention Center and it should be completed in 2010. Decision to be made in May.

Leadership - SURABIAN, Allen, Chapman, Cirimele, Clarke, Griggs, Lapp, Karpowicz, Medford, Williams

Revisions of Policy 4.5 – 4.7 were reviewed. Policy 4.6 will added later in the meeting.

Surabian moved and Cirimele seconded that Policy 4.5 – 4.7 except for Policy 4.6 be approved. MOTION CARRIED.

At the two minutes for CATE, mention will be made of the leadership opportunities. Leadership cards will be at the tables for the General Sessions (Friday/Saturday mornings). The leadership team will collect the cards as teachers leave the venue. It was suggested that there be some way to identify people by council. Possible suggestions include putting the council name on the nametag or using different colored stickers to identify the council. Leadership opportunities include bringing potential members to board meetings. Suggested continuing with this as this has been a successful use of resources. Elections for 2009 include Secretary, Membership Chair, MAL Secondary, MAL Unspecified, and MAL Small Council. A Virginia Reid applicant has been forwarded by FACET. Rippee will bring the name up for a vote under Old Business. The remainder of the meeting was spent sharing ideas for retaining and increasing membership in local councils.

Executive/Finance - DELFINO, Berry, Dunstan, Fristrom, Punky Fristrom, Hase, Goodwin, Rippee, Hogue-Smith.

Defino moved and Dunstan seconded that the changes be made to Policy 5.0 as presented. MOTION CARRIED.

Delfino moved and Hogue-Smith seconded to offer a lifetime membership in the amount of $250. MOTION CARRIED.

It was suggested continuing to look into insurance to cover CATE for loss of finances

Rippee moved and Hogue-Smith seconded adjournment of the meeting. MOTION CARRIED.

Rippee moved and Hase seconded that Elizabeth Keenan from FACET Council be nominated for the Virginia Reid Award. MOTION CARRIED.

Member-at-Large, Unspecified – Carrie Danielson and Carol Clarke Member-at-Large, College – Cheryl Hogue-Smith Member-at-Large, Middle – Karen Brown Vice President – Charleen Delfino

Delfino moved and McAninch seconded the nomination of Bob Chapman as a nominee for President of CATE. MOTION CARRIED

The writing prompt for the writing contest this year concerned some of the councils. The issue was that it generated very personal responses.

The presidents asked that the CATE President write a letter of congratulations to NCTE awardees who are CATE members or closely connected to CATE.

Publications - MCANINCH, Carrillo, Cecil, Chapman, Cirimele, Clarke, Dillon, Himel, Younglove

McAninch moved and Delfino seconded that the changes to Policy 6.0 be accepted. MOTION CARRIED.

Himel offered to create a literary map out of fabric for NCTE. Individual councils will supply list of authors connected to county areas. Chapman will send Himel a copy of NCTE map.

McAninch moved and Ciramelli seconded that $250 be allocated out of miscellaneous expenses to Himel to produce a California Literary map. MOTION CARRIED.

Writing contest winners will be invited to CATE and those who attend will be recognized at the CYRM luncheon.

Jago had sent a report and possible call for manuscripts include: Advice to new or young teachers, relevance of the high school curriculum, and Safety/Propriety.

Is it possible to create a link to a list of exhibitors? Add hotel link to registration window.

Membership - WILLIAMS, Allen, Danielson, Griggs, Lapp, Karpowicz, Medford, Surabian, Tracey

Highest priority of the committee is to select a membership gift. Selected the flatpen/bookmark to go with theme, Writing the Wind, Reading the Waves. Williams will research further. Danielson is working on the Powerpoint presentation. There is a need for council pictures to be sent to her. The presentation will be shared at the membership booth. CATE booth plans include expanding the map with the counties. A volunteer will bring flowers to the booth. Baskets will be provided to hold the flat pens/bookmarks. Hockensmith agreed to provide a projection screen for the booth and Williams to arrange for power.

The Committee recommends that Councils be identified clearly on their nametags to build membership. Plans are to assign different colors to councils - using stickers with colors to help with identification. This particularly will support small councils in building their membership. Williams will contact Akiko Morimoto for Read/Write rhinestone pins and will sell Lucinda pins. At May 2008 meeting, a plan to distribute the money collected for Lucinda pins, will be formulated.

Goals: 1. Create Procedures for conferences High priority will be to create a document as to what to do at any kind of meeting where membership is an issue. Plans are to have it completed by the end of the meeting in May. 2. Create a clearer communication with councils and members. Identification of councils at the Convention will be a big step forward.

Surabian moved and Clarke seconded that Policy 4.6 be added to Policy 4.0. MOTION CARRIED.

Hase asked the names of the Resolutions Chairs be sent to her for room assignments for CATE 2008.