2016 Winter Board Meeting Notes

Post date: Jan 19, 2016 4:23:21 AM

This post is an account of the actions taken by the KASP Executive Board during the 2016 Winter Board meeting. If you haven't already found it, I suggest you take a quick read of my previous post which outlines the general purpose of the KASP Retreat. The post you're reading now is much more specific about the discussions and actions taken by the Board. These are not the official meeting minutes, as those will not be available until our next meeting (Spring 2016) after they are read by the secretary and approved by the Board.

Friday Night (1/15/2016)

• • Officer Reports

    • President (Ashley)

      • Called the meeting to order at 20:12.

    • Secretary (Susan)

      • Read the minutes of the Fall Board meeting.

      • A few minor grammatical errors were noted, and the minutes were approved.

    • Treasurer (Jaime)

      • Distributed reimbursement forms to Board members.

      • The KASP Board members get reimbursements for mileage and 1/2 of the cost of hotel room.

      • Board members also get certain meal costs paid in advance (the dinner preceding this meeting and the lunch planned for Saturday are paid by KASP.)

    • Past President (Andy)

      • Gave a brief farewell speech, in which he thanks the board for the 8 years of service he's seen as a Board member.

      • Andy also noted that he wants to again be involved with the KASP Board, but there no open positions currently which he could fill.

    • President (Ashley)

      • Discussion about children's fund collected at the Fall Conference. Donations were lower this year. We typically collect $200-250, but this year we only collected $97.

      • The Board voted to round the donation to $100 and submit the money to NASP. Andy volunteered the $3 difference.

    • President Elect (Kyle)

      • Nothing to report

    • Secretary (Susan)

      • Nothing to report (already gave the secretary's report from the last meeting).

    • Treasurer (Jaime)

      • Will wait till tomorrow to give the financial status of KASP.

      • Noted that if you complete the reimbursement forms that evening, she'll get the reimbursement check written by Saturday.

    • Communications Director (Brandi)

      • Brandi noted that she's received a couple ideas for nominees for several KASP awards, but there is still plenty of time to submit other more names.

      • She notes that the new submission system is working better than the past; already have more nominations than we had by the cut off date last year.

      • Discussion followed about how to better publicize the award submission process; Kathy said she'd like to see it as an ongoing newsletter item. Andy said it's currently on the website, but it's not easily accessible.

      • Discussion about needing a committee to help decide the award winner.

      • Brandi noted that award nominations are kept on file, so that they may be considered the next year, if anyone wants to nominate them again. In this case, the nominator won't need to submit all information again, but only add new information to the original nomination.

    • Executive Director (Keely)

      • Not present.

      • (Kelly's husband, Jim, was recently involved in a vehicle accident. She is taking care of him at home.)

    • Editor (Patty)

      • Not present.

    • Associate editor (Kathy)

      • The newsletter has not been sent out (published online).

      • Kathy notes that she wants to get more recurring items in the newsletter.

      • Kathy asked Kyle for the President's Message for the next edition.

    • Regional Directors

      • Central Region (Judy)

        • Judy did not attend the meeting, but did share information with Kyle beforehand.

        • Kyle shared that the Central Region held their first regional meeting (at least for a few years). There was a good response.

      • Northeast Region (Lisa)

        • Not present. No report.

      • Southeast (Jason)

        • Held 11/12, in the middle of School Psych Awareness Week.

        • 24 people attended, plus 3 speakers. One speaker discussed Functional Analysis Assessment, one speaker discussed dyslexia and treatments for reading disorders, and the third speaker discussed crisis intervention.

        • Jason also shared that he had survey results from the meeting which he would distribute tomorrow for the Board to review.

      • Western (Dave)

        • Not present. No official report.

        • Kyle did report that the Western region did have a regional meeting this year. This makes the 3rd year in a row!

    • NASP Delegate (Jim)

      • Not present. No report.

      • (As mentioned earlier, Jim has recently been injured and not able to come.)

    • SPAN (Betsy)

      • Reports that she sends out the information as she receives it from NASP.

      • Betsy noted that the new website will help to share information.

    • Conference Chair (Judy)

      • Passed out a typed report.

      • Very few poor ratings on the speakers on fall 2015 convention. However, there were problems with the hotel and we won't be going back.

      • Judy suggested that we may try to spend the next few years in the center of the state for future convention locations. We've been in the Northeast region for a while.

      • Karen Apgar will be the speaker during the upcoming Spring conference. It will be more of a workshop format, especially in the afternoon.

      • The "call for presentations" for the Fall 2016 conference will go out in February.

      • Judy submitted a proposal for her position as the Conference Chair. (The Board has previously asked her to submit a position description). She noted that many things have changed over the years from when she took the position.

      • Judy submitted her verbal notice for resignation within 2-3 years. Judy said she would continue until after Kathy's year as President.

      • Discussion followed about how much knowledge Judy has about conference preparation, and how it will be difficult to find a replacement. Ashley stated that the function of the Board cannot be dependent on who is on the Board. It was noted that KASP needs to have a plan in place for offices (this the reason for written position descriptions and standard operating procedures. KASP needs to be sustainable.

    • University Trainer Representative (Jennifer)

      • Jennifer thanked the board for allowing her to serve this year. She will continue to support KASP and NASP. She has worked to solidify her relationships with other university trainers.

      • Kyle reported that KU will be serving as the host of the University Trainer and Student Representative during his tenure as present. He has been in contact with KU and is working to secure a new University Trainer and Student Representative. Kyle noted that he also has a back-up trainer representative, in case the primary is unable to commit.

      • Jennifer will work with them to ensure that the transition is better for the next time.

    • Student Representative (Alyssa)

      • Alyssa did not attend in person, but was able to attend via video conference.

      • Alyssa thanked the board for the great learning opportunity.

  • Old Business

    • Regional redistricting. Ashley reminded the Board that we had previously discussed the possibility of creating new regional boundaries which are more congruent with cooperative/interlocal district boundaries.

    • Ashley asked Jason to start on that process, since it was Jason who brought up the issue before. Jason agreed to make a proposal and have it ready by the Spring Board meeting.

    • Jason also suggested a listing of which district falls into which region; a list in spreadsheet form would be more useful than the map we're currently using. Several members agreed this list format would also be useful.

Meeting recessed at 21:17.

1/16/2016 (Saturday)

• • New Business

    • President (Ashley)

      • Called the meeting to order at 08:16.

      • Passed the President's gavel to Kyle. Paused for a photo opportunity. (The photo Jason took is below). The official photo was published on the KASP Facebook page.

      • Ashley also proposed a new "Presidential Award." Ashley explained it would go to a person that the President found to go above and beyond the expectations held of their position on the Executive Board. Everyone agreed to create this award. Ashley promptly gave the inaugural Presidential Award to Brandi.

    • Treasurer's Report (Jaime)

      • We are down a little money since this time last year.

      • Typed treasurer's report was shared.

      • Our $50,000 CD matured this year and was reinvested at 1.5% interest. Jaime noted this is expected to earn about $800 in interest per year.

      • Discussion about membership fees.

        • Although the Board had previously agreed to raise the dues, through closer review of our Constitution and Bylaws, the Board realized such a change must be approved by the general assembly. In order to change the membership dues, it must be put to a vote by the general membership. It was discussed that the most convenient way to complete this task will be to send out an electronic ballot.

        • Even if we raise the dues by $20 per year, KASP would still have the lowest fees in the nation.

      • Discussion of budget.

        • Jaime asked to see if there are budget lines which need to be adjusted.

        • Web development will be increased to $5,200, an increase of $700 per year. This is in alignment with the additional funds which will be needed to pay for two websites for a while.

        • All other line items were approved without changes.

      • Discussion about reimbursement of the Executive Manager for conferences.

        • Board voted to approve these costs, especially since the Conference Chair is reimbursed. Vote passed. Also will be utilizing contracts for these positions in the future.

  • President (Kyle)

    • Kyle asked Jennifer to begin the discussion about Strategic Planning for KASP.

      • Jennifer began the discussion about the challenges of being a new board member. The following is a condensed version of Jennifer's facilitation and Board discussion. The entire Strategic Planning session took over three hours, so a detailed account is not reposted here.

        • There are personal connections which help, as are guidance documents, as are getting started at the base of something new. However, new Board members still need guidance.

        • Jennifer posed a question: how often is the strategic plan reviewed?

        • A budget should be based on the strategic plan, not just how it's been done in the past.

        • KASP has previously purchased USB drives for each Board Member position, but these drives are now missing in many cases, rending them obsolete. The Board will move toward a Google Drive account to pass on the documents and needed information for Board positions.

        • Jennifer posed another question: What is a strategic plan? Board members gave thoughts about the purpose of a strategic plan.

        • Discussion about ESSA and how the new laws impact school psychs. Must advocate legislators to protect/expand our role in schools.

        • Jennifer posed other questions: What does KASP mean to our members? What do we do? Host conferences. Offer PD options. Support students. Maintain professional guidance systems. Prepare our members for potential legislative action, although not recently. Now have a connection with Colleen Riley at KSDE.

        • KASP should not be seen as advocating just for our profession, but for the students we serve. It will take more than just Board members to make changes at the state level; need to involve all KASP members. Do general members know what the strategic plan means/is?

        • Jennifer proposed another question: What do you want membership to say about KASP? What will our priorities be?

        • Jennifer noted that revising an existing strategic plan can be more difficult than writing a plan from scratch. We looked at a list of ideals and determined the perspectives with which we most identified. Most everyone said that vision without action is pointless. What does the general membership of KASP think the Board does?

        • Ashley proposed that some KASP members attend a the Kansas school administrators conference and present about what we do to the state leaders. She also spoke about "PD Packages" that her district uses to give to admins information about ways to address specific needs within the district. Kathy echoed that her district psychs gave presentations for their schools about the evaluation process.

        • Question to consider: how is our action related to our mission? Discussion about how KASP's organization and structure was very weak in 2006. We have rebuilt since then, and now ready to move onward.

        • Continued to strategic theme development. Promotion of the profession and promotion of our supportive systems to members. Priorities are communication and action. Must be data driven. Accountability. Continue to be focused on students.

        • Discussion about what board members should be doing - advocating for kids or the profession? Service on the board should be based on needs of the region, not necessarily our personal opinions. It can be difficult to serve on the Board if our constituents have strong opinions rather than our own personal opinions.

        • Review the SAFE-R results. New members (and returners) didn't have the knowledge to respond to the questions. Kyle reviewed the responses to the membership survey.

        • Long discussion about reviewing the strategic plan. Breakout groups. Kyle brought everyone back together and started the discussion about how to revise the document. Jennifer takes notes on the notepad. Kyle will be putting these into the final copy and sharing with the Board and the general membership.

    • Kyle shared information about Google Drive.

      • Due to length of the strategic planning discussion, Kyle cut this short.

      • He stated that we will use Google Drive in the future to maintain files and communication.

      • He will send information to Board members via email about this. He also included a handout with simple instructions for getting started.

    • Ashley discussed the need for a Master Calendar for all Board positions.

      • This will help new Board members know when certain things need to be completed during the course of the year.

      • Ashley presented the idea for the draft calendar.

    • Ashley discussed the new website.

      • Based on feedback from other stats school psych associations, Ashley would like the Board to consider using a service called Wild Apricot to host our website.

      • This format is a modern format, which allows for customization and many drag-and-drop features. The benefits of this platform were discussed.

      • Ashley demonstrated some of the features of the platform.

      • The cost will be about $70 per month. Domain costs will be separate.

      • Primary benefits of this site will allow for ecommerce, membership database management, multiple account managers, and email services.

      • The Board agreed to move forward with this venture. Ashley would like to create website advisory group which will determine the next steps for web development.

    • Breakout Sessions

      • I attended the Regional Directors discussion. We helped Desiree to get started. Kyle joined our group. Discussed process of collaboration with members in our regions.

      • The newsletter group reported on their calendars. Discussion on when to request articles from officers, recurring topics, resources, summary of the minutes.

      • The newly formed website group shared initial goals for the website. Some of the current goals: Copying information from our current site to the new site, creation of online discussion forums, finally hosting online webinars, social media links, information about important legislation/current events, job board, membership lists, award winners listing, and information about how to obtain an NCSP.

    • Kyle shared quarterly goals for the organization.

    • Kyle shared information about the Spring Board meeting.

      • The next meeting will May 5th. The Board will meet the night before the Spring Workshop, rather than immediately after as in previous years.

      • No meal will be provided to the Board members this time, so plan to eat in advance of the Board meeting.

    • The Board set the registration costs for the Spring Workshop

      • $50 per KASP members.

      • $100 for nonmembers.

      • $40 per participant for a team of 3 or more (member or nonmembers).

Meeting adjourned at 15:22.

The image below shows Past President (Ashley) passing the gavel to the new President (Kyle).