MASS-CUE Governing Board Meeting 7-10-87
Minutes
Alan November, James Modena, Algot Runeman, Gail Ross-McBride, Martin Huntley

President Alan November called the meeting to order at 10:58 A.M.

It was agreed by consensus that as long as all board members could get quick access to the membership file, it was immaterial what form those files were in.

Alan moved that we produce printed matter, whenever possible, with laser printers to maintain a clear image of excellence. There was a brief, positive discussion, no dissent.
Passed 5-0

Jim gave a report of his progress with the tax exempt issue.  For tax purposes, formal beginning of MASS-CUE is February 13, 1987, the date of our incorporation as a Massachusetts corporation. Jim's report included a description of the forms we must submit with rationale for the information on them. We submit current budget figures and projected budgets.  Jim feels that a 20% increase annually is probable (no notable dissent). One interesting item of concern is whether we qualify as a "public" or as a "private" foundation.

Alan moved to spend up to $1000.00 for lawyer and accountant fees in order to complete our tax exempt application. Jim should also review forms with Alan. If officers must all sign, then it should be President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary. If only one signature is required, it should be Treasurer, since Jim is preparing the papers. All discussion concerned the desire that we expedite the process.
Passed 5-0

Alan reported that Betty Bjork will, indeed, coordinate the effort to establish MASS-CUE's institutional membership.

Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill has been selected as the site of the spring 1988 conference.  If possible, the conference will be a weekday conference.  It will coincide with the vacation week of the college.  John Marion will provide conference oversight at this time.

Alan reported that he has had 30 responses for presentations at the fall 1987 conference (Foxboro).  It was discussed that we need to be alert to the issue of "teacher" vs. commercial presentations.  Gail should be the contact for any commercial presenter.  All commercial presenters should pay for a table even if it is not used.  A commercial presentation should not have the free exposure that a working educator has to present his/her experiences and expertise.  There was consensus that we should be careful to not overbalance our conferences with commercial presentations.  No specific percentage was determined. 

Alan moved that all commercial workshops be labeled clearly in our program packages and that a company has paid for a table.  Martin amended the motion to add that commercial presentations be printed in a block in the program and be kept physically together in a group of rooms to help conference attendees to recognize their status.
Passed 5-0

Alan moved that the conference schedule be ready for printing by August 1, 1987.
Passed 5-0

Alan suggested that we make it a practice to make a call for papers about 6 months ahead of a conference, noting that national conferences plan about a year ahead.  This year that will mean that we send out a call before the October conference to prepare for the spring of '88 and that we announce in March for the fall. March -- October  /  September – March

Governing board calendar.
The following dates are set for the Governing Board meetings, attempting to have "one a month" during much of the year. August    -    none
September 1, 1987   10:30am   Gail Ross-McBride's house
October 23, 1987     4:00pm   Foxboro (before conference)
November 23, 1987    4:00pm   Wellesley Middle School
December -     none
January   -    TBA
February  -    TBA
March 14, 1987       4:00pm   Essex CC (before conference)
April     -    TBA
May       -    TBA
June      -    none
July      -    TBA
August    -    none

Regional organization structure.
Martin moved that we create a regional structure of membership for MASS-CUE to ease communications.
This motion came on the heels of the statehouse experience.  It would be useful to have a clear idea how we should organize state balanced activities.  Regions based on the State Department of Education would provide consistency.  It may be wise to split the central region in half (north and south halves) because there are more school districts in the central region than in the others.  We should also start organizing a phone tree to quickly spread the news of events that come up suddenly as the need for calls to senators and reps did this spring.  Martin submitted regional lists of "Local Education Authorities".  These will be distributed to all board members by Algot.
Passed 5-0 (John Marion later agreed to spearhead the effort to set up the phone tree aspect.

Martin also moved that the regionalization be done by school address, not home address.
Passed 5-0

Lucille moved (from agenda) to promote a Kids Computer Art Fair with display of work at the spring conference.  There should be no winners in a contest sense.  Alan will try to find a school artist/computer user who will coordinate this effort and form a committee.   This contest should in some way be linked to the October conference to perhaps be, in part, MASS-CUE's contribution to Computer month.
Passed 5-0

Lucille moved that mailing of MASS-CUE materials should be a duty separate from membership services.
Passed 5-0

Lucille moved that we move ahead with getting our bulk mailing at the address where the mailing is to be done.
This motion is agreed to but may be contingent upon the determination of our tax status, mentioned earlier.

Jim moved that we find a permanent centralized address for MASS-CUE.
TABLED

Jim moved that we research and try to get liability insurance for the board against the possibility of accidents, etc. at conferences and against the potential of employee theft. The details of locating an insurer are to be left to Alan.
Passed 5-0

Job description drafts are due from all board members at the September meeting.  Describe what the current job holder does in addition to the "ideal" for the position. List additional needs for assistance in the form of member input and support (committee?), secretarial support, and anything which might require support from outside MASS-CUE (corporate backing). Each board member should produce copies for each of the other board members.  Based on these job descriptions, Alan would like to revisit the idea of adding board members based on the observed need created by the excess work that may need to be done at the board level beyond what the current board can handle.
Passed 6-0 (Lucille arrived to vote on this motion.)

Algot, as secretary, should write a synopsis of the major board actions to be reported to the membership (Newsletter?)
Passed 6-0

(For the record, Computer Coordinator Sig chairs are Martin Huntley, Linda Colvin and John Marion.)

Meeting was adjourned at 1:14 P.M.