AEOE Southern Council Meeting

Sept. 19, 2004, 11am-3pm

Location:  Kris PamintuanÕs house in Mountain Home Village

 

Meeting called to order @ 11:22pm

In attendance:  Helen, Debbie, Dave, Kris, Jason, Laura, Maggie

 

 

I.               Newsletter

a.     Deadlines

                                               i.     Winter newsletter out by Dec. 1st.  Nov., 15th = deadline for submissions, draft to bard by Nov. 22nd

                                             ii.     Spring newsletter out by Feb. 15th.  Deadline for submissions is Feb. 1st, draft to board by Feb. 8th.

                                            iii.     Summer newsletter out by May 15th.  Deadline for submissions is May 1st, draft to board by May 8th.

b.     Articles

                                               i.     Board member responsibility to write 1-2 articles per year as part of the job description – all of us need to write articles!!!

                                             ii.     Also, find other people to write articles.

                                            iii.     Articles that havenÕt been written yet

1.     Michael – Acorn Naturalists

2.     Tamara – consumerism & the AEOE auction

3.     Debbie – Nike shoe recycling

4.     Other ideas:  naturalist knapsack of tricks, naturalist book reviews, childrenÕs book reviews, CT writing an article about incorporating outdoor ed into classroom, why we choose organic shirts, choices AEOE makes about decisions about how we run conferences, meeting a naturalist – interview w/ someone from different programs, article about analyzing AEOEÕs environmental footprint, what we can use to do with kids

c.     ItÕs great that we go through our system of checks to proofread & edit the newsletter – it makes it more complete, more professional

d.     Article commitments:

                                               i.     Helen will gather things that naturalists can use

                                             ii.     Jason will e-mail Tamara about consumerism & the auction

                                            iii.     Maggie will resend two articles that can be reprinted, & will do a book review, Maggie

                                            iv.     Debbie will write the Nike article & naturalist teaching tips

                                             v.     Kris will write articles(s) once sheÕs done w/ school in Dec.

                                            vi.     Laura will write about activities

e.     Folding-fest in Redlands was great – maybe we could do it again!

 

II.             Environmental Educator of the Year

a.     This is an award that will be given at the conference

b.     Discuss nominations

                                               i.     So far, we have one official nomination, one verbal nomination, one Howard Bell award that would be better for EEYA

                                             ii.     Deadline for nominations is Oct. 12th

                                            iii.     Article about winner will be written for the winter newsletter

c.     Award?

                                               i.     Paper certificate (Kris will create & frame the certificate)

                                             ii.     Helen will get gift certificate from Acorn Naturalists for $25

                                            iii.     Maggie showed us her award from GSEEC & suggested $50 gift certificate

 

III.           Conference Discussion

a.     Workshops

                                               i.     Not too many yet, but the ones we have seem good

                                             ii.     We need 20 workshops

                                            iii.     Starr Ranch will do 1-2 workshops

b.     Entertainment

                                               i.     Mill Creek Expedition – tentatively available, yes for now, during registration on Friday – 5pm-7pm

                                             ii.     RhyminÕ Reason – are coming, would like to MC the open-mic program Sat. eve.

                                            iii.     Quite time is 9:00pm – we need to respect the people who live there – maybe we could do quiet singing, storytelling – no drumming after 9pm!!!

                                            iv.     Night Hike/Astro round table

c.     Registration

                                               i.     No one has registered yet J

                                             ii.     Helen will send the updated membership database to Jason to use

d.     Saturday dinner [UPDATE – Maggie is taking care of buying dinner supplies.]

                                               i.     Catering was more expensive than we thought – still looking into options

                                             ii.     Helen e-mailed Zay for an estimated budget

                                            iii.     $6.50/person seems reasonable to us, + the $5/person/weekend fee for using Starr Ranch = $11.50 total/person – we are still within budget of our $20/person conference fee

                                            iv.     We need to make sure that there isnÕt a lot of trash generated by caterers – we need to make sure that they use recyclable containers (no Styrofoam, etc.)

                                             v.     Caterers need to be ready to serve @5:15pm

                                            vi.     We should bring serving utensils, couple of rolls of paper towels

                                          vii.     Dishwashing set-up at the sink

                                         viii.     We will take out our own composting – Michael?

e.     Set-up/Signs

                                               i.     Sign at top of hill @ entrance/mailbox, sign partway down pointing them in the right direction

                                             ii.     Helen will do signs

1.     ÒPlease park close togetherÓ

2.     Reassuring signs ÒAEOE ˆÓ

3.     Big shiny sign

4.     Signs up in neighborhood??? – Helen will confirm w/ Sandy

f.      Merchandise

                                               i.     Helen will bring some stuff, Zay has more stuff but wonÕt be at conference [CORRECTION: She will be there Saturday or Sunday]

                                             ii.     What about a generic AEOE t-shirt?  w/ official AEOE logo on front, AEOE written out on back; something subtle, something we can wear anywhere, anytime! – yes!  Maggie & Zay can coordinate the work on it?

g.     Reimbursement

                                               i.     ÒXÓ amount for performing, ÒXÓ amount for travel

h.     Publicity

                                               i.     Michael

                                             ii.     Maggie will put stuff on website

i.      Carpooling/Raffle – Prizes?

                                               i.     Encourage carpooling

                                             ii.     Opportunity drawing for carpooling or evaluations, prizes given

1.     Laura said she will look into Acorn Naturalist for prizes [UPDATE – these have been acquired]

j.      Evaluations

                                               i.     Laura will get in touch with Northern about evaluations

k.     Election

                                               i.     When?  How?

1.     We will have an election for the chair-elect, but donÕt have any nominations as of right now!!!

2.     We should encourage people at the Fall Conference to get involved

3.     Possibility of co-chairs

4.     Nominations at the conference for chair-elect & activities coordinator

                                             ii.     Sunday breakfast Board meeting, anyone interested in participating will be invited to attend

                                            iii.     Pop-up box on website about chair-elect

                                            iv.     No official election held at conference – weÕll do it via e-mail or phone conference?

l.      Other

                                               i.     For next year, we should charge more – Northern charges more, held in Yosemite, they also provide breakfast – perhaps $25 or $30 initially

                                             ii.     Too late for Odwalla donations, sorry

                                            iii.     Tour of site in truck if possible

                                            iv.     Do we have anyone who can lead bird-watching or yoga?  Jason & Kris will check with Heather, Shilene, Carl

                                             v.     Jason will check w/ Diann about a gourd workshop or something else

                                            vi.     Who is Mark Freedman?  Earth Expedition, heÕs a teacher in Long Beach, really interested in participating, Helen will e-mail info to Laura

                                          vii.     Strategic Plan – Michael will do something about that (the people who attend that may be interested in participating in AEOE)

 

IV.          Vision/Strategic Planning Update (16 hours of information in a nutshell)

a.     Main idea is to figure out specific strategies & goals that AEOE wants to reach for, including internal & external stakeholders

b.     Feedback on vision, mission, strategies on how to get there (actions), SWOT analysis, etc.

c.     Wordsmithing committee is putting planning meeting info together to be sent out to internal & external stakeholders

d.     Final input will be organized, put up to the board for final vote

e.     Everyone working on all this is connected & working on different parts & pieces

f.      Any e-mail about strategic planning has ÒStrategic PlanningÓ in the subject line

g.     General idea is to take our limited resources & find our niche in CA, coordinating with external resources rather than working at odds with other external resources

h.     Debbie is interested in being part of it, possibly as the chair? Would like more info, direction before diving in – she has approval if she chooses to do it.  After discussion, she agreed to volunteer to be the Strategic Planning Committee Chair!! J

i.      Clarification of terminology

                                               i.     Southern board is actually ÒSouthern CouncilÓ

                                             ii.     Northern board is actually ÒNorthern CouncilÓ

                                            iii.     Statewide Executive Board is actually just ÒAEOE BoardÓ

j.      Clear vision & goals will help us align with external resources without compromising our own ideals

 

V.            Software Idea

a.     Ease of communication & sharing of files

b.     MaggieÕs proposal is that AEOE purchases new software for anyone who needs to use it for AEOE business (newsletter, treasurer, etc.) – if that person is in the job for more than a year, that person should just be able to keep the software; possible multiple licenses so that the software can be used by more than one person

c.     WeÕll keep this in mind

 

VI.          GSEEC – report by Maggie

a.     AB1548 – Education & the Environment Initiative that is now law

b.     They are looking for feedback & comments about it (links on the AEOE website)

c.     Textbook curriculum adoption: initial criteria = no more than 25% hands-on; new criteria = no less than 25% hands-on

d.     Jenny Rigby is principal person involved in collecting info

e.     They want to create & disseminate a model curriculum

f.      Modification of textbook adoption to incorporate environmental ed

g.     Not modifying state framework

h.     Environmental principles = fundamental truths, widely accepted environmental concepts – how do these principles help achieve mastery of the science standards

i.      Website www.calepa.ca.gov/education/ab1548  – also on the AEOE website

j.      This is part of one of the initiatives in the California Plan for Environmental Ed

k.     Next step is to get this into the frameworks which wonÕt be revised for a few years

l.      How we can get involved – review & comment on draft, help promote field reviews, participate in outreach sessions, encourage people to participate in all this stuff; www.seer.org

m.   Jenny Ruiz showed video of outdoor schools that can be used for promotions

n.     Letters to governor – on AEOE website – call for involvement

o.     Independent evaluation through EETAP – evaluation of GSEEC workshops at AEOE conference overall score ranged on scale of 5 from high of 4.12 to low of 3.48 (content provided) – consensus that this was important – many link diversity with biodiversity (this raised questions with the evaluator, but we donÕt know what questions) – 44 new subscribers to the listserv from the conference – observations:  topic too broad, comments too broad – are we really impacting the core membership of AEOE – how can we be more specific in defining diversity in EE – how do we bridge from good intentions to effective actions – off to a good start but plenty of work to do – important to establish more contacts – suggested that EE leaders meet to bridge diversity gap

p.     NWF & Urban Corps are working on leadership clinic for youth  -- looking at having it in Central CA area – having it be small – train leaders to go back & train their people

q.     Idea = creating longitudinal experiences for kids

r.      Nomination from GSEEC leadership – Nicole Hernandez, NWF

 

VII.        Other Business

a.     Idea – organize motions/decisions made at past meetings (Kris is willing to work on this after Dec.)

b.     When referring to the Sierra ClubÕs Inside the Outdoors, refer to it as ÒSierra ClubÕs Inside the OutdoorsÓ – distinguish between ITO & Sierra Club

c.     This is the last meeting that Helen will be facilitating

d.     At statewide meeting, decision was made that there would be just membership person for the whole state

e.     Is there a way to have an online membership form?  Form could be linked automatically to the database – one issue is that we donÕt have the way to collect money online – PayPal may have some scary issues, including no itemization

                                               i.     Memberships that Jason receives w/ registration will have to save that money, update the membership database, give Zay the money

                                             ii.     Maggie is willing to look into ways to make this happen

 

VIII.      Adjournment

a.     Meeting officially adjourned @ 2:13 pm

 

 

ACTIONS:

 

ARTICLE COMMITMEMTS:

 

DECISIONS:

 

RESOURCES: