Minutes of WVTESOL Business Meeting

WVTESOL Annual Conference

RESA III Building, Dunbar, WV

March 15, 2003

The minutes of the previous annual meeting were read and approved.

The Treasurer, Nancy Person, read her report. As of 3/12/03, there was a balance of $1103.82. Today she collected $387 and there is an invoice outstanding of $28. The treasurer’s report was approved.

The secretary reported on membership: there were 35 attendees at the conference and we have a paid membership of 42. We need 50 members for affiliation with the national organization. Dara Shaw explained that we had submitted an application for national affiliation with the understanding that we had already met the 50 mark. Therefore, current members are encouraged to try to increase the membership. The secretary’s report was accepted.

Clark then mentioned the executive board meeting, which had taken place earlier (at lunch time). He said that the minutes of this meeting would be posted on the website. The minutes of an earlier board planning session are also available on the website. Pam Makricosta asked who is on the board. Clark explained that our constitution lists the president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, and three representatives of interest areas (Adult Education/Literacy, K-12, and Higher Education). In addition the previous president is allowed to sit in, without vote. He also explained that the vice-president automatically moves up to the presidency after one year.

Cathy Shank then talked about the WV Adult Education Association, which has an annual meeting in the fall. Last year we put ESL-related sessions on the conference agenda. We are now trying to form an affiliation between the two groups, with mutual links on our websites. By forming this alliance, there will be two opportunities for presenting at a conference during the year. Anyone interested in presenting at the WVAEA conference should contact Cathy.

As his last piece of official business as president, Clark thanked Cathy and RESA for hosting this conference, Donna Moss for being our keynote speaker, the participants for coming to WVTESOL and all the members for choosing him to serve as president. Then he turned the meeting over to the new president, Dara Shaw.

Dara asked the members to share their ideas with the organization. She thanked Clark, Cathy and all the others who have been working to get affiliation with the national organization. She stated that this is her main goal right now: affiliation with TESOL.

The secretary distributed ballots. Nominations were made from the floor for unfilled positions. The following were elected:

Vice-president: Aslie Berhie

Secretary: Bob Hong

Treasurer: Ben Haymond

Rep to K-12: Kathy Willis

Rep to Higher Ed: Susan Braidi

Rep to Adult Ed/Literacy: Cathy Shank

While the election results were being tallied, Dara drew numbers to win door prizes: books from publishers. She mentioned that it would be nice to thank the representatives of the publishers if we meet them at conferences; this will encourage them to continue to donate books to our organization.

With the announcement of the election results, the meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Susan Walsh, outgoing secretary