MEADE Meeting Minutes
Submitted by: Kathy Jacques
Subject: MeADE Members Meeting
Date: Wednesday, 01/21/2009 7:00PM
Attendees: S. Barth, K. Jacques, W. Drew, C. Hale, B. Smith, L. Pelletier, J. Courtois, R.. Gels-Birch, S. Bouchard, C. Young, L. Gordon, P. Ranucci, M. Sirois.
1.Minutes of October 2008 business meeting approved.
2.Committee reports:
Strategic Planning: S.Barth; committee met 01/14/09 and agreed to split the strategic planning committee & the conference planning committee. This will allow the planning committee to focus on the annual conference and have a committee with time to focus on strategic planning. There is a draft strategic plan that will be circulated to chair members and finalize the plan over the next couple months to be presented at the April 2009 meeting. During the Spring and Summer the committee will begin work on a 3 year strategic plan which will be presented at the annual conference meeting in October 2009.
Conference Planning: Laura & Jen report; announced the members of the new conference planning committee. High marks overall on the October 2008 conference evaluations and mediocre responses to the facility itself. We have a contract for the October 2009 conference at Point Look-Out just north of Lincolnville. The dates are Sunday October, 4, 5 & 6th. This facility meets the committees’ criteria to try and find a more northern facility. The registration dates will be moved up the conference is 3 weeks earlier than prior years. The units have kitchenettes that may be desirable for families to accompany conference attendees.Visitpointlookout.com is the website to get more information on the conference facility. Wednesday February 4th at 7:00PM is the next conference call for anyone who wants to join the planning committee meeting. The committee is accepting ideas for conference themes.
Membership: Kathy; committee to meet in February. 85 paid members for 2008. Barbara Smith has more information on members who paid dues at the conference in October. Some discussion of how to track members and when their dues are due & when they paid.
Finance: Cindy, Jen & Barbara will meet and do the 2008 book audit on Monday January 26th.
Legislative: Mary Fleming not present. S. Barth to “call Mary.
Communications & Public Relations: Rena Gels Birch; The MeADE brochures are complete and are available to order from the MeADE website. The orders will come to Rena’ attention, there will be shipping & handling charges. Committee will look at ways to increase membership awareness of these brochures. Sandy mentioned idea to have a newsletter. Some discussion on doing email newsletter to make people aware of events or areas of interest.
Bylaws: Bylaws are now up to date on the MeADE website
Nominating: Louise Pelletier; Nominating committee reported that the following officers were elected for 2009: Sandra Barth, President; Sheryl Bouchard, President-Elect; Wendy Drew, Treasurer; Kathy Jacques, Secretary.
There was a discussion of email voting, a bylaw change would be required by April if
email voting is going to be used this year. Lou would like to have this in place for the
next voting cycle. Committee will pursue this further.
At this point there was discussion about our current teleconferencing company, costs and comparison shopping recommended by some in the group. Barbara has not been able to contact anybody at this company. The fee for service is being auto-withdrawn from our checking account. Wendy offered to check into this.
3.Old Business:
AADE Educational & Research Foundation: March 2nd is the application deadline for scholarships. Members may not be aware that this foundation money is available for grants to go to the National Meeting. A motion to send in $250.00 to the foundation was passed unanimously.
AADE is also requesting local chapters donate a silent auction item to raise further monies for the foundation. L.L. Bean gift certificate was suggested.
Student Scholarships/fundraising to assist MeADE member(s) to attend National AADE meeting. Wendy’s suggestion was to set up a drawing for 2 national registration fees. Each time a member attends a MeADE meeting they get a ticket. If you attend 4 meetings you get 4 chances to win. Details need to be worked out. Kathy Jacques, (membership chair) will contact Wendy Drew.
4.New Business:
Cindy Hale discussed that MeADE has been a good partner in transitioning the responsibility for the annual conference with MeADE being responsible for approximately 75% of the annual meeting and DCPC responsible for approximately 25% of the annual meeting. DCPC is being asked to move away from the professional aspect of their work. DCPC is also asking MeADE to look at what role it would be willing to take on in the New Instructor Program. This Program is offered in the Spring & Fall. DCPC would like to have some feedback from MeADE members. DCPC is also looking for volunteers to help with the updating of the Curriculum for 2009. An e-mail for volunteers will be sent out to the membership. An exploratory committee consisting of Cindy Young, Sandy Barth & Wendy Drew will meet with Cindy Hale to discuss the needs of DCPC regarding the New Instructor Program.
Dues Collection: The AADE presidents’ newsletter announced that they expected to have automatic deposit of dues to local chapters starting in January. Former MeADE presidents were in habit of sending out dues payment reminders.
Next meeting is April 3, 2009 it will be a dinner meeting at the Senator Inn in Augusta. The board will meet prior to the general membership. If the grant and speakers come through as planned there will be CEUs provided for this meeting.
No other business- meeting adjourned at 8:00 PM
Upcoming Dates:
April 3, 2009: Spring MeADE meeting at the Senator Inn, Augusta, ME
July 15, 2009: Wednesday, Summer membership Conference Call
August 5-8, 2009: AADE Annual meeting in Atlanta, Georgia
October 4-6th, 2009: MeADE Annual Conference; Point Lookout, Northport