Board Meeting Minutes

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aXNwbGF5OmlubGluZS1ibG9jazt2ZXJ0aWNhbC1hbGlnbjptaWRkbGU7Zm9udC1zdHlsZTpub3JtYWwgIWltcG9ydGFudH0udGItYnV0dG9uX19pY29uOjpiZWZvcmV7Y29udGVudDphdHRyKGRhdGEtZm9udC1jb2RlKTtmb250LXdlaWdodDpub3JtYWwgIWltcG9ydGFudH0udGItYnV0dG9uX19saW5re2JhY2tncm91bmQtY29sb3I6IzQ0NDtib3JkZXItcmFkaXVzOjAuM2VtO2ZvbnQtc2l6ZToxLjNlbTttYXJnaW4tYm90dG9tOjAuNzZlbTtwYWRkaW5nOjAuNTVlbSAxLjVlbSAwLjU1ZW19IH0g

Board of Directors Minutes & Agendas

Iowa Reading Association
Full Board Meeting
January 13, 2024 @ Zoom

January 13, 2024
Taken by: Monaliza M. Chian
Reviewed by: Diane Bean and Jill Swanson

Call to Order– President Tony Pieper called the meeting to order at 11:04 am.
Roll call: Diane Bean, Monaliza Chian, Wendy Matson, Soh Meacham, Mary Pieper, Tony Piper, Dawn Schectman, Kari Straub, Jill Swanson, Nancy White, Nancy Wright,
Approval of meeting notes: Tony Pieper acknowledges that the board has reviewed the meeting minutes, which have been approved by the corresponding committee members (see below).
Full board minutes (September 30, 2023) – approved by Nancy White and Jill Swanson
Executive board minutes (November 11, 2023) – approved by Megan Benson and Jill Swanson
Approval and/or additions to the agenda: All board members have reviewed the agenda. Before moving to approve the Agenda, Tony solicited questions, comments, and additions to the agenda. No one responded. Tony called for a motion to approve the agenda. Diane made the motion, and Soh seconded it. All voted in favor, and the agenda was approved.
Appointment of Committee to approve minutes: Diane Bean and Jill Swanson volunteered to be on the committee to approve the minutes.
Officer Reports: Everyone acknowledged that they had read the officer reports (Executive Board Members, Regional Directors, Committee Reports. Tony welcomed questions or comments to the officer reports. No comments or questions were raised. Tony expressed his appreciation for completing and reviewing the officer reports prior to the meeting and wanted to provide time for discussions.
1. President – Tony Pieper
2. Past President Report – Tony Pieper
3. Pres Elect Report – Megan Benson
4. Vice President Report – Soh Meacham
5. State Coordinator – Dani Wagaman
6. Director of Membership – Julie Anderson
7. Treasurer – Jill Swanson
8. Secretary/ Publications/ Correspondence Report – Monaliza Chian
9. Executive Director – Nancy Wright
10. Discussion
  1. When Tony asked for any questions or comments, one quick question was raised about the challenge of some not being able to see the agenda, and it was explained that there was a minor oversight of having everyone have access to see the document. It was more of a curiosity, and it was explained that is how one has to remember to make sure certain functions are set for Google to work the way one wants it to.
  2. Then Tony went on to the regional reports. It was raised that two councils are now inactive, and it was asked about what their plans might be.
  3. Tony explained that one council was having difficulty with not having enough members to take leadership positions, so he suggested that members be directed to join his local council. Nobody had joined from that area. For the other council, Tony had not heard from any members as of yet. He sent an email to the leaders but has not received any responses yet.
  4. Another question as to what is our next move regarding the inactive councils.
  5. It was ascertained that in most organizations, in such cases (e.g., inactive councils), the treasury must return to the parent; however, this does not happen very often, according to Diane.
  6. Nancy Wright confirmed that disbanded councils must return their funds to the IRA and agreed that, most often, the treasury does not return to the IRA. In fact, one of the disbanded councils followed this protocol.
  7. Tony shared that he directed the leader of the inactive council to consult their local by-laws on what they needed to do when he was presented with the same question.
  8. The question was what the IRA by-laws say about it. Tony suggested that we can refer to the by-laws now. Kerry mentioned that Northeast indicates to refer to the IRA by-laws and assumed that all the local council by-laws are similar, given that they were written at the same time.
  9. The IRA by-laws were shared on the screen and Tony will email the by-laws for later review.
  10. A question was asked about how many current active councils there are, and it was ascertained as five, given that there are five councils participating in the writing contests.
  11. Tony asked other questions before moving on to the committee report.
  12. There were no questions regarding the committee report.
Regional Director Reports:
1. Northeast – Diane Bean
2. Northwest – Julie Anderson
3. Southwest – Wendy Matson
4. Central – Tony Pieper
Committee Reports
1. Awards – Mary Pieper
2. Budget – Jill Swanson
  We will keep praying for the money god.
3. By-Laws, Policies & Procedures – Tony Pieper
4. Creative Writing: Short Story and Poetry – Kari Straube and Dawn Schectman
  We are down to five councils. We may need to revisit this initiative and its structure, given the decreasing number of participants and the limited number of council representations.
  There were some conversations regarding whether to open to non-members or should keep locals, or skip local contests and go straight to state contests.
  It is a complex issue, and we need to continue to discuss in our meetings for the rest of the year.
  Tony invited Kari and Dawn for other ideas and expressed his appreciation for their work in this initiative.
5. International Project – Tony Pieper
6. Merit Council – Heidi Stangl and Wendy Matson
7. Nominations– Nancy White
8. Grow A Local Council Grant – Nancy Wright
Old Business
1. State-wide book study update – Nancy Wright
  Five members participated in the book study. We are only doing one book this year. We started in October and were meeting via Zoom once a month, and the last assignment is due in April.
  1. Discrepancy between statewide and local book study registration fees
    1. Depends on the university associated with it
    2. Instructor’s compensation can also be the cause for the discrepancy.
    3. The instructors’ compensation goes to the local councils to help the treasury.
    4. It was raised that book study instructor’s compensation to generate income.
    5. Asking for more work and must meet the required hours to meet the state requirement for the credit.
    6. There are also restrictions on the minimum number of registrants. For example, AEA News requires a minimum of 10 for an instructor to be compensated, while Green Hills just requires 5 participants.
2. State-wide Google site for leaders/webcasts update – Dani Wagaman
  Tony shared her report on behalf of Dani.
3. Social media coordinator update – Dani Wagaman
  (see her report about her meeting with Emily)
  Dani will most likely send the Zoom link for the March webinar.
4. 2024 Leadership workshop location
  It is our hope to have the leadership workshop at the public library. We will find out from Dani whether we have the date reserved.
5. 2024 Iowa Reading Association/Iowa Association of School Librarians conference planning – Megan Benson
  1. Megan was not able to join us. Tony shared her report on her behalf. All keynotes are secured and came in under budget. (See her report for the full report.
  2. Tony will continue to push for more proposals and will reach out to previous presenters and through AEAs.
  3. It is important to note that an exhibitor does a break-out session in the program. It was suggested that it should be at least in the description of the presentation. It is a good idea to put the affiliation of the speaker’s name to give them credit and a way to recognize their affiliation.
  4. The proposal asks the submitters to identify whether they are affiliated with the IRA or IASL
  5. Different from last year, we are going to have six rooms available and offer six breakout sessions each time. Last year, we had close to 300 attendees. Our hope is to surpass this number this year.
6. 2025 Iowa Reading Association/Iowa Association of School Librarians conference planning – Soh Meacham
  Presentation of the Survey and Cost and Loss Analyses
  Soh shared the results of the survey, and based on the two charts, provide enough reason to keep the venue at Ames, given that 61.7% prefer the location to be at Ames and 43.9% (about 47 members) indicated that they will not attend the conference if the venue is moved to Cedar Falls.
  
  The calculations for the projected cost and the potential loss of participants can cause an estimated $10,340 in revenue decrease if we decide to hold our 2025 conference in Cedar Falls.
  
  Soh explained that she specifically designed a simple survey to not overwhelm the participants. The survey asked just a few questions to generate members’ thoughts about the change in location and their intent to attend or not to attend should we move the venue.
  
  Considering the survey and the cost and loss analyses, Soh strongly recommends staying at Ames for the 2025 Annual Conference at this point. Soh added that we can perhaps revisit this idea in the future, but at this point, there is no merit in changing the venue. Soh then solicited other ideas or opinions.
  
  Diane also mentioned that many conference attendees are not members and that there are more suburbs around the area. Given that we are no longer as big, we can also consider different venues, including hotels in Ames.
  
  Approve venue location
  Tony shared the information shared by Soh and surmised that it might look as if Ames is a better venue for the next conference. Additional comments supported the decision to stay at Ames. Tony expressed his appreciation to Soh for her work and for gathering the information that would allow us to make an informed decision. Tony explained the need to make the decision as a board in this meeting about where to hold the 2025 conference. He asked Soh to confirm whether she was making the motion to keep the conference 2025 at Ames. Soh confirmed and formally made the motion. Diane seconded the motion. Tony asked for further discussion before taking the vote. The majority voted to uphold the motion.
  
  Before it was put to the vote, there was concern about whether the IRA has enough funds to cover the cost of holding it at Sheeman. A few members are optimistic that we will have enough money to cover the cost through attendees and exhibitors. We can also promote to schools that may need to spend their residual professional development funds.
  
  The question was raised whether librarians can join the IRA webinar, which will be forwarded to Dani.
  
  Dates were originally set for 2025–June 24-25, Soh confirmed. There were some discussions to change the date and move it to earlier week. The preferred dates for the conference are June 24-25, 23rd for leadership.
  
  Update about the 2025 conference
  Derek Anderson-from Ames-$2000/day; speaker for young authors. charges for traveling costs. He is a great illustrator and a very engaging speaker. Soh highly recommends him as a potential speaker. His fees may be negotiable. We would want him to be a keynote speaker, engage with the kids, and get him involved in breakout sessions.
  
  Nancy Wright suggested inviting the Book Mobile Bus from Ames Public Library. Bring the bus to the parking lot, and do something with it, including take pictures and/or selfies.
7. Iowa Reading Association website updates or concerns
  1. Logging into the “Member Only”
  2. Leadership has not been updated
  3. Binders and folders–the importance of history and whether we can add mission and vision in the future
  4. Some local councils are not updated
8. Miscellaneous
  Conference Pricing and Discount
  1. Great group brainstorming discussion on discounts on conference registration fees to generate or incentivize attendees
    - 10% is not ideal
    - 5% discount maybe, or should we do school building rather than school districts
    - some schools are sending their teachers so they can use their remaining professional development state funds
    - Principals or administrators can attend for free
    - Six or more with free registration within the district may work rather than six or more from the school building–less discount
    - Free membership with registration
    - Presenters are getting a discount from the registration
    - Registration is up and running.
      Tony proposed that we make a motion to decide how we should structure the discount for conference fees.
      
      Diane moved the motion to put in the registration form to state that for six or more registrations from a district, one registrant is for free. Jill seconded the motion. The motion is carried.
      
      Exhibitors–lists and forms are shared for potential donations
      
      Food: IRA will provide coffee for both days. One sponsor for rolls and pastry for the first day last year. This year we hope to have sponsors for rolls and pastries for both days. Box lunch is set.
      
      Mona shared the newsletter for the winter and the edited version.
New Business
1. Necessity of 2024 Board retreat prior to Leadership Workshop
  1. Tony asked whether we need to have a day of Board retreat on a Sunday and wondered if we could move the leadership workshop to Monday morning.
  2. Background for the board retreat–we did it when we had more people so we had space and time to get to know each other. But since we are a smaller group, we may not even have to do that.
  3. What is usually covered–finalize the conference and delegates, and help with the last minute preparation for the conference.
  4. This is for the Exec Board meeting at 10 am Monday; while it is not required for all board members to attend, all are welcome to attend the leadership workshop.
  5. Dani may have to reserve a space in the library at 10 am rather than at noon.
  6. Tony proceeded not to have the Leadership Retreat and Executive Meeting, which will be on Monday at 10 am in the public library. All are welcome to attend. Eliminating the Leadership Retreat will save the cost of the Sunday hotel accommodations.
2. Shared Google Drive for board members and committee chairs
  Dani suggested having a shared Google Drive to have a centralized space for our IRA documents for us to access. Diane mentioned that they use this method to their local council and it has worked for them.
3. Miscellaneous
Adjournment: 12:15:24 PM
Diane moved to adjourn, and Dawn seconded.

Announcements & Future Meeting Dates

Iowa Reading Association 2023-2024 Meeting Schedule
(all meetings via Zoom)

April 6, 2024: 10:00 a.m.- Exec Board only
May 4 2024: 10:00 a.m.- Full Board
June 23, 2024: 4:00 p.m. Board Retreat – Location TBD
June 24, 2024: 10:00 a.m. Exec Board Only and Leadership Workshop- Location TBD
June 25-26, 2024: “ One World, Many Stories” Joint State Literacy Conference with Iowa Association of School Librarians — Scheman Building, Ames, Iowa
June 26, 2024: Full Board immediately after the close of the conference

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Board Meeting Minutes – January 13, 2024

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