2014 Winter Board Meeting – Nashville

The Horace Mann League of the USA

Minutes and notes for the meeting of Thursday, February 13, 2014.  The meeting was held at the Omni Hotel, Nashville, TN

Meeting called to order by Joe Hairston, President at 2:05 pm.

Members present:  Joe Hairston, Gary Marx, Mark Edwards, Evelyn Holman, James Harvey, Steven Ladd, Stan Olson, Charles Fowler and Jack McKay.

Nominees: Laurie Barron and Steven Webb
Past President:  Spike Jorgensen

Minutes: October 6-7, 2013

Moved by Stan Olson, seconded by James Harvey, that the minutes of October 6-7, 2013, be approved.  Passed.

Strategic Plan Review

  • Recruitment and Retention:  Review recent data.  There were sixty-two new members in 2013.  There are 89 retirees taking advantage of the $50 annual fee.  Discussion followed about the need to become even more strategic in recruiting, retaining, and engaging HML members.

  • International Indicators for Education: James Harvey reviewed highlights of the presentation about the International Indicators for Education of the ten industrial nations.  Discussion followed about strategies to present the data to members, the public, and the media. A suggestion was made that a “webinar” be developed to acquaint the membership about how to present the index to citizens and the media in the local community.  Commendation was expressed to James Harvey for being the lead author in the project.  Gary Marx, Charles Fowler and Jack McKay are contributing authors.  An HML team is doing a session during the March ASCD Annual Conference in Los Angeles.  We also discussed a possible meeting with the Learning First Alliance as we present the finished version of international indicators.

  • Affiliation with other associations supporting public education.  No action taken during the last four months.

Membership information:

Discussed membership trends.  There are 538 paid members.  Discussion followed about the importance of continued efforts to recruitment new members to sustain the health and vigor of the League.  Past practices have been to have each board member submit twenty names per year.  It was suggested by besides the letter of nomination, that a personal contact be made with each nominated person – a follow-up phone call or visit.

Corporate Partners

Mark Edwards reviewed the list of corporate partners.  Mark express that there is a willingness of the seven partners to continue to support the League in the future. The partners for 2014 are:  Discovery, Pearson Foundation, Promethean, Cisco, Follett, Istation and Hobsons.  Corporate partner will be presented a token of appreciation at the luncheon for their support of the League.  Commendations were expressed to Mark Edwards for his continuing efforts to engage corporate partners in supporting the League’s activities.

Financial Update:

Jack McKay reviewed the proposed income and expenditures for the 2014  year.  Anticipated revenues are $47,000.  Expenditures are estimated to be $46,000.  The reserve is $11,184.22 (Certificate of Deposit).

Communications Update:

The three primary means of communicating with the members are:

  • The weekly publishing of the “HML Post.”  Emailed to all members on Monday mornings throughout the year. The HML Post has between 6 and 10 articles linked to the original source on the web.
  • The “Cornerstone” Flipboard magazine is updated daily and available on the web.  The Cornerstone has been 15 and 20 selected research and articles per week.
  • The Pinterest site contains a variety of quotes, images and posters related to learning and leadership.

Legal Issues Reviewed:

Two courts cases were briefly reviewed:

“Boobies” Speech Case related to student rights and apparel.
Student search and administration’s right to inspect a backpack for a gun.

Summer Board Meeting

Discussion centered on the purpose and expected outcomes of a summer board-planning meeting.  Taking into consideration, the timeline for presentation of the Index, the school year and board member availability, the availability of Linda Darling Hammond and other faculty, the other issues that need to be addressed by the Board, it was determined that the summer board meeting will be on June 19-21, 2014, at or near the Stanford Campus.

A sub-committee was formed to deal with the planning of the summer board meeting:  Gary Marx, Joe Hairston, Steve Ladd, Evelyn Holman, Laurie Barron and Jack McKay.  Besides the Index presentation, the summer board meeting will be held to deal with membership recruitment, membership engagement and how the League can lead in restoring public education as the “cornerstone” of a democracy.

Annual Meeting Preparation

The timeline was reviewed and assignments made to cover for the board members unable to attend because of weather conditions.

Planned discussion topics:

Board Advisory Council.  Joe Hairston suggestion an idea of how to keep past presidents, awardees and some current board members involved in a different manner.  Would it be practical to have two groups: one that would be a working board – those involved in decision and activities.  The other would be an advisory/honorary board that would be made up of those who support the purpose of the League, but are unable to participate in the meetings or be directly involved in the projects.  It was suggested that a set of parameters be suggested for each group.

The Common Core:  Steve Ladd opened the discussion on how the common core is viewed on the west coast.  While the standards are a good idea, the impact on the classroom, the use of the data and the funding to retrain faculty are still providing challenges.  Equally important was the arbitrary level of the standards and the possible ulterior motive of proving that public education is failing.

Membership Engagement:  Gary Marx led a brief discussion on about membership recruitment and retention.  How do we compete for and keep educational leaders?  How do we broaden the diversity of the membership – from educators to parents and community leaders?  How do we periodically engage our membership in shaping the agenda? How do we capitalize on the talents of the board and membership to make the HML a stronger association in representing the purpose of public education?  Attracting and keeping talent depends on engagement.  Current school leaders expect to have their voices heard and want to make a difference.

Meeting was adjourned at 5:00 pm

Submitted by Jack McKay