Massachusetts JCL

Attendance:
2002-2003 MJCL Officers:
• Mark Ivey - 2002-2003 President
• Sarah Concannon - 2002-2003 1st Vice President
• Alexandra Saridis - 2002-2003 2nd Vice President
• Alex Kopynec - 2002-2003 Secretary
• Roger Singh - 2002-2003 Treasurer
• Andrew McDonald - 2002-2003 Parliamentarian
• Ryan Manning - 2002-2003 Publications Editor
• Amanda Luong - 2002-2003 Technical Coordinator

State Chairs/Advisors:
• Tamara Bauer - State Chair
• Janet Fillion - State Chair
• Marjorie Keeley - State Chair
• Maureen Rideout - JCL Advisor for Tewksbury High School

Also present:
• Leann Walsh

Minutes:
10:43: The agenda was passed out.
10:49: Mark called the meeting to order.
10:53: The minutes of the previous meeting were accepted.
10:54: Amanda gave the Technical Coordinator's Report. She will be making minor adjustments to the layout and format of the site.
10:54: Roger gave the Treasurer's Report. We now have a Fleet Small Business Account containing $3473: $3000 from the old account and $473 from BLA's spirit fees. There is $598 remaining from last year's treasury that will be transferred to the new account. There were no outstanding debts.
10:56: Ms. Bauer did not contact schools about reimbursement for State Convention. She will call them; in the meantime, we must be cautious with spending in case schools do want money.
10:57: Twelve people were determined to be eligible for subsidies to attend National Convention. With roughly $2000-2500 available for this, a motion was passed to provide $100 to each of the twelve.
11:02: Alexandra gave the 2nd Vice President's Report. She has been making our spirit stuff instead of buying it. She went over the themes of the different days of Convention and told us what she had come up with so far. Brainstorming for Friday's Cartoon Chaos theme was planned for lunch.
11:17: Sarah gave the 1st Vice President's Report on preparations for Classics Day. Our maximum attendance is 300 students plus 30 chaperones, rotated between Higgins Armory and the Worcester Art Museum (WAM) in two groups of 150 students. At the WAM, we can rotate students between lunch and tour in two groups of 75. The fee for the WAM is $100 for a security guard (they're not normally open on October 1st, our planned date) plus the cost of lunches. Higgins Armory will charge an admission price plus an activity fee, because not all 150 students can take the tour at once. The issue of where to hold a General Assembly for all 330 people was yet to be resolved. Since Ms. Rideout was out meeting with Leann Walsh about Higgins Armory, the Board tabled the issue until their return.
11:24: The catapult contest will be held in conjunction with the Pioneer Valley Classical Association (PVCA) Classics Day again this year, on November 16 (snow date November 17). The Board discussed whether or not the contest would be open to non-MJCL members. The best idea was to allow schools to participate once without membership, but to require them to join the next year to compete again. It was also suggested that eastern MJCLers should attend the PVCA Classics Day if possible.
11:28: Mark presented a rough draft of a letter to the Yawkey Foundation, an organization that gives grants to small, non-profit educational organizations. If we move quickly, we may get a significant amount of money because the Yawkey Foundation has recently given large donations outside of its usual description and is in trouble for this. The Board reviewed the letter and made a list of suggestions. The question arose as to whether or not, because of some routine red tape we have not cleared yet, whether sending Yawkey a letter soliciting funds was legal at this time. However, it seemed unlikely that an initial approach to Yawkey would be problematic, and a motion was passed to create a letter committee of Mark, Ms. Keeley, and Alex K..
11:45: Ms. Rideout returned and discussion of the Eastern Massachusetts Classics Day was resumed. The group fee for 2 tours, including the activities, at Higgins Armory is $550. The best idea for an assembly place is to use a smaller space, like a courtyard at the WAM, and have four smaller general assemblies that rotate with the lunch and tours.
Other issues related to Classics Day: should officers be split into two groups, one for Higgins and one for the WAM? Should we make some kind of scavenger hunt for which teachers can give extra credit? How can we limit the number of kids that each school brings? One busload seems reasonable. Higgins Armory wants to limit the age range, claiming that too wide an age range is difficult to keep interested all at once in a tour. The Board disagreed- Ms. Rideout will discuss it with them. The rest of the issues will be resolved as the date approaches and things become more clear. The meeting was temporarily adjourned for lunch.
12:42: We returned from lunch and our discussion of ideas for Cartoon Chaos. Ryan gave the Publications Editor's Report: the forum will be more people-oriented this year, and it will undergo some format changes. Ryan handed out Aurelia Asks? and officer profile sheets. Officers are requested to submit regular news tidbits from their schools.
12:45: A brief return to the subject of Classics Day: since we want to require membership in the MJCL for all schools that attend, Classics Day will be backed up to October 8th to give schools more time to renew membership. Information for registration will be sent out as soon as possible.
12:55: We went through each item on Mark's list of State Convention ideas. Ms. Rideout suggested an excellent way to expedite the otherwise slow and tedious award process: give preconvention awards at the 1st General Assembly, academic and artistic awards at the 2nd, and the rest at the 3rd. The state trophy is now given as a participation award. We agreed that we should name it after Janet Rizhotte - someone will contact her husband and make sure that he is OK with this. The rest of the discussion based around Mark's list, which was handed out.
1:35: The next Executive Board Meeting was planned for August 10, 10-2, at UMass Amherst.
1:46: Changes of address were requested for next year's stationery.
1:52: It was agreed that all officers should review the constitution and think of potential changes. Office restrictions in particular are a concern.
2:02: A motion was passed to form a constitution committee of Ryan, Alex S., Alex K., Mark, and Ms. Bauer.
2:03: Submission for the T-Shirt contest are due by November 16th. A front and back design is required. The prize is a free T-Shirt and your signature on the design.
2:05: Meeting adjourned.