1996-97 NVATA Board of Directors

NVATA Board Conference Call Minutes
March 18, 1997

 

  On March 18, 1997, the NVATA Board of Directors conducted a conference call from 4:30 to 5:50 p.m. Eastern. All board members were on the call. Jay Jackman and Larry Case were also on the call. The minutes of the conference call are as follows:

  1. Opening Comments - MeeCee Baker began the call be asking Dr. Case some questions. The questions and answers were:
    1. MeeCee Baker: What are the plans for providing the "partnering" and "communications" functions at the newly proposed ag ed headquarters?

      Dr. Case: FFA¹s proposal to NVATA and The Council provided for 40 days of partnerships work at the new headquarters. Communications work can be handled through contracted services. These are still open issues. They must be careful about giving staff false hopes of staying in the Washington, D.C. area. Justification for needing more than 40 days of partnerships work at the headquarters must be provided before FFA will agree to support more.

      Dr. Case said he wants to work on these issues more with Rosco Vaughn and Jay Jackman.

    2. MeeCee Baker: AVA has indicated there may be 2,500 square feet of office space available in the AVA building in early 1998. What are your concerns about locating the ag ed headquarters in the AVA building?

      Dr. Case: The concerns are political in nature. There could be a perception problem. Regarding legislative matters, AVA positions and USDE positions do not always agree. Location of the ag ed headquarters at AVA is an option, although not the first choice from the federal perspective. At this time, energy is being spent on establishing USDE in Washington, D.C. as the headquarters for FFA, not on the location of the ag ed headquarters.

      Dr. Case continued by saying he and Rosco Vaughn had had another discussion on language for the agreement regarding the location of the ag ed headquarters. They will be delivering this new language to Jay Jackman, Bernie Staller, and Coleman Harris soon.

      3.
  2. Diversity Committee Recommendations - MeeCee Baker referenced the discussion from the March 14, 1997 NVATA board conference call regarding the recommendations from the Diversity Committee from the 1996 NVATA Convention.
    1. Intern Program - Financial woes will preclude a minority internship program unless sponsorship can be secured. Jay Jackman does have plans to hire a summer intern in 1997 to help with some of the writing tasks needed for the 1997 NVATA Convention; however, this will be a local (Virginia Tech) undergraduate or graduate student with excellent writing skills without regard to race/ethnicity.
    2. MANRRS Conference - Paul Jaure indicated his plans to attend the MANRRS Conference in Baton Rouge this year.
    3. List of Ag Educators with Experience with Diverse Students - Mike Cox clarified that this list was to be used by other NVATA members when they are looking for people with expertise working with diverse student groups. The list will be maintained at the NVATA office. Some regional lists, those completed at the 1996 NVATA Convention, are at the NVATA office now.
    4. H. O. Sargent Award - Applications for the H. O. Sargent Award will be distributed at the regional leadership conferences.
    5. Diversity Workshop at Convention - It was pointed out that NVATA had a diversity workshop at the 1996 NVATA Convention in Cincinnati. NVATA will continue to plan diversity workshops for ag teachers at the National FFA Convention and at state, regional, and national ag teachers¹ association meetings.
    6. Diversity Article in News & Views - Susan Crank (OH) has agreed to write a diversity article for the May 1997 issue of News & Views. A similar article may be submitted to the Ag Ed Magazine.
      7.
  3. PAS Conference Report - Tom Kremer reported:
    1. There were five applications for the awards program that NVATA sponsors for PAS. The winning applicant this year was Paul Martin from Iowa. Only one winner was selected this year.
    2. Tom Kremer spoke, representing NVATA, at a breakfast and during the program. Several controversial issues were discussed; Tom was pleased with the outcome of the discussion.
    3. PAS members are pleased that NVATA is starting an outstanding postsecondary and adult agricultural education program award.
    4. PAS members are pleased with the NVATA summer professional development workshop series.
    5. The 1998 PAS Conference will be in Virginia (Williamsburg); 1999 in Missouri; 2000 maybe in California - not all details worked out yet.
      6.
  4. Regional Leadership Conferences
    1. Locations and Dates - All locations and dates were reported accurately.
    2. Travel of President, President Elect, and Executive Director - MeeCee Baker will attend Region V and VI; Duane Fisher will attend Region III and IV; Duane will try to attend Region I; Paul Jaure invited either MeeCee or Duane to attend Region II; Jay Jackman will try to attend all six by traveling on Agri-Entrepreneurship program funds; Jay would like to be on the program at each regional conference for one hour - 30 minutes on Agri-Entrepreneurship and 30 minutes on development of teacher portfolios.
      3.
  5. Common Agenda Items
    1. New Business - The items for new business to be presented at the regional meetings were approved as: (1) Dues Increase; (2) Office Location; (3) 1997 AVA/NVATA Convention Agenda; (4) Golden Anniversary Celebration; and (5) Leadership Handbook.

      Jay Jackman will develop and distribute transparencies to assist regional vice presidents with the presentation of these items.

      Regarding 1997 convention planning, it was agreed that the committee chairs, not the committee consultants (the board members), would present the committee reports at the last business session on Saturday, December 13th. It was also agreed to change the starting time of the NVATA board meeting on Monday, December 8th from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

    2. Awards - The list of the following four activities related to awards programs were approved to be completed at the regional meetings.
      1. Select regional winners for Ideas Unlimited, Outstanding Service Citation, Outstanding Cooperation Award, and Honorary Life Membership
      2. Award regional citations for Outstanding Service Citations and Outstanding Cooperation Awards
      3. Judge other regional winners for Outstanding Young Member, Outstanding Program, Outstanding Teacher, and Postsecondary All Star Team (Regions II, III, IV, and V)
      4. Complete Professional State Award Applications
        5.

      It was agreed that Jay Jackman will get the applications (OYM, OT, and OP) to the regional vice presidents by June 1 and that the regional vice presidents will get the applications and the regional winners back to Jay Jackman by June 30.

    3. Committee Work - It was agreed that previous committee reports and the minutes from the March 14, 1997 NVATA board conference call would be used for reviews of committee work and board actions on committee work. It was agreed that new committee agenda items would be gleaned from the NVATA board, the regions, and from states or individuals. Regional vice presidents will select regional delegates for each committee for the 1997 NVATA Convention (two delegates per region per committee).
      1. Conference Materials and Transparencies - The list of materials to be used during the regional leadership conferences was approved as presented with the conference call agenda. The expected attendance at the regional leadership conferences was reported by the regional vice presidents as follows:
        Region I 70 Region II 75
        Region III 100 Region IV 120
        Region V 60 Region VI 50*

        * reported by telephone after the conference call

      2. Other Notes for Conference Planning - Duane Fisher reported on a recent meeting he had with representatives from Pro Farmer. Pro Farmer is interested in doing workshops for ag teachers on the future of agriculture. Duane has arranged already with Linda Rist to have Pro Farmer conduct a workshop at the Region III meeting. Duane is also working to get this workshop offered at the Iowa state teachers¹ conference. Duane invited regional vice presidents to contact him if they would consider having Pro Farmer do a workshop at their regional or state meetings. Tom Kremer said maybe for Region IV. Jay Jackman indicated that Pro Farmer is interested in working with agricultural education and that they have tried projects with FFA and FFA Alumni, neither of which were successful. Pro Farmer is a potential major sponsor for NVATA activities (perhaps the outstanding postsecondary or adult program award) if we can have a few successful smaller activities with them.
        3.
    4. AVA Ag Ed Division Policy Committee Report - Duane Fisher presented a brief report from the meeting that occurred March 15-16, 1997. The committee agreed to ask for AVA¹s support for preserving the funding authority for a school-based ag ed grants program at USDA and for securing appropriations in fund the program. Also, the group agreed to recommend that the name for the newly proposed ag ed headquarters be "The National Institute of Agricultural Education." Duane and Tom Heffernan served on a sub-committee on policy and procedures, which recommended that the executive director of The Council be included as an ex-officio member of the Policy Committee. MeeCee Baker and Jay Jackman served on a sub-committee that developed the draft plan for the 1997 AVA/NVATA Conventions in Las Vegas.
    5. National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) Adult Education Taskforce - MeeCee Baker announced that Kevin Kremer (OH) will represent NVATA on the NPPC Adult Education Taskforce.
    6. Other Discussion Points
      1. Marc Beitia - How should we handle committee rotations given the new structure for committee chairs? It was agreed that the committee assignments for 1996-97 would be the same as they were in 1995-96.

        MeeCee asked Russell Watson to assume the responsibilities for the Member Services Committee and Linda Rist to assume the responsibilities for the Legislative Affairs Committee. They agreed to serve as requested.

      2. Marc Beitia suggested that we may need to revise the policy manual regarding committee rotations. This will be addressed in detail at the July NVATA board meeting.
      3. Russell Watson - We need a new representative on the FFA CDE Taskforce, to replace Larry Lokai. Nominations will be taken at the regional meetings.
      4. MeeCee Baker - How can we improve the conference calls? In general, the board members said they felt the calls were going well. There was some discussion to have the calls earlier in the day; however, it finally was agreed to leave the calls at 4:30 - 6:00 p.m. Eastern time.
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    7. Adjournment - The conference call ended at 5:50 p.m. Eastern.
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