Nov. 17-18, 2006
Palm Springs, CA
1. I. Call to order by President Perez at 9:13am
2. II. Roll Call: Brian Aguilar, Anita Blanco, Joy Brittain, Steve Calhoun, Olga Diaz, Marsha
3. Dupree, Caren Fernandez, Michelle McKelvey (Figueroa), Karmi Minor-Flores, Silvester Mata,
4. Tomasa Mauricio, Robert McCune, Gustavo Oceguera, James Oda, Melissa Padilla, Lydia
5. Perez, Cesar Velasquez, Michele Scott.
6. Absent: Keith Powell, Jeannine Slater
7. III. Approval of Minutes
8. Motion: Ms.Blanco
9 Second: Mr. Mata
10. Motion carries: Unanimous vote
11. IV. E-mail vote taken prior to meeting: FAC request regarding insurance policy.
12. Motion: I move the WESTOP Board of Directors approve the request to purchase insurance
13. from the quoted company (GNW Evergreeen Insurance Services) with $3000 coming from the 14. approved WESTOP budget and the remainder from reserve.
15. Second: Ms. Blanco
16. Discussion: On file.
17. Motion carries.
18. V. Reports
19. A. President, Ms. Perez
20. Please make every effort to submit reports on time. They need to be posted on the
21. website in a timely manner. Highlights from report: NorCal and SoCal PDS already
22. completed. CenCal next month, PIC in April. Technology Training- January 8-9th:
23. Supplemental training with University of Washington (in the evening). Attendance will be
24. limited to WESTOP members and open to other training attendees as space is
25. available. Recognized the efforts by Senator Boxer’s office giving TRiO participants
26. certificates of participation.
27. UB proposals- submitted by November 6th deadline. Comments- negotiated rule
28. making proposition (regulations for ACG and smart grants, but were), thanked Mr.
29. Aguilar for helping formulate the letter. Conference- Mr. Garcia sent in report.
30. Conference dates, Feb 18-21, registration already up. Need clarification on deadline for
31. call for proposals. COE- next meeting Dec 12-17th, in Miami.
32. B. CFO, Ms. Padilla
33. Report on file
34. Reconciliation- Could not figure out how to handle different events on C-vent. 2004
35. taxes completed, working on 2005 taxes, anticipate completing them soon, membership
36. rolling in. 313 members already registered (membership).
37. Checking balance: $38,570 and Maximizer account balance: $90,393.00 as of 11/16/06.
38. Travel budgets- Not available because some additions/edits need to be made.
39. C. President-elect, Ms. Brittain
40. Report on file.
41. No report on elections.
42. Membership: Add Ms. Dupree to Elections committee.
43. D. Strategic Planning, Ms. Perez
44. Position vacant with Mr. Martinez-Saldana’s new position.
45. Motion: Ms. Blanco- Approve Mr.Oda as Strategic Planning Committee Chair
46. Second- Ms. Diaz
47. Discussion- Clarification on term.
48. Motion passes.
49. Motion: Ms. Blanco- A motion be made to COE to make a change in the COE bylaws.
50. Ms. Dupree to include regional representation on the Budget and Finance Committee.
51. Second- Ms. Dupree
52. Discussion- Can we get copies of bylaws? They are on the COE website.
53. Reasons why there isn’t regional representation, what kind of arguments can we
54. forsee? In light of recent statements made at the Annual Conference, regarding
55. use of funds, Mr.Oxendine making a comparison not necessarily an accusation, the
56. concern: being fiscally responsible, would like to see an itemized budget, how COE staff
57. members are using monies,. Current Board members are not preview to what is
58. included in the budget? Our association has not been represented in the past.
59. Motion carries: Unanimous vote
60. Ms. Perez will forward request to COE Bylaws committee.
61. E. 2007 Conference- Ms. Perez for Mr. Garcia
62. Report on file.
63. As Chair he should not be Chairing any committees, if concerned about certain
64. committees, please e-mail him and cc Ms. Perez.
65. Registration open on C-vent: There is a concern on the number of registrants, but from
66. previous experience it should pick up. Question on deadline for when membership
67. needs to be paid in order to get member rate on registration.
68. Mr. Bee and Ms. Chan will be meeting this week to discuss registration materials,
69. please send them to Mr. Garcia and cc Ms. Perez with ideas on items for
70. Speakers: Arnold Mitchem accepted invitation to come.
71. Invitations have been submitted to Nancy Pelosi, George Miller (an advocate we want
72. to bring on board) Lynn Wolsey, CA Senators , Kevin Johnson, basketball star, works
73. with St. Hope’s Academy in Sacramento, knows a lot about educational equity.
74. Panel- educational panel, what people are doing at different levels, potential panelist
75. (Mr. Martinez-Saldana, Sue from NASP, looking for other WESTOP members). Will
76. take place on Tuesday afternoon.
77. Resource development- College Board possibly underwriting an event.
78. Monday Night Activity- Bus trip to San Francisco, similar to other activities done in
79. previous conferences. After dinner, a continuation of activities such as a poetry night.
80. Question about pre-conference. Ms. Scott also spoke with Mr. Garcia to offer assistance
81. he may need. Ms. Perez contacted Ben Botello to do a pre-confernece. Will need to
82. do a separate registration since C-Vent is already up and running. Need to think about
83. a day conference. Ms. Blanco suggested College Board, Ms. Fernandez suggested a
84. technology conference, can something be done with such short notice, Mr. Garcia may
85. have something lined up. Please check your e-mail, so we can approve any contracts,
86. etc. Michele and Lydia will be in contact with Romeo. Executive committee will be
87. making decisions if anything needs to be approved.
88. F. COE Fund Development, Ms. Diaz
89. Report on file.
90. Does not have WESTOP luggage tag, was lost in transition to meeting. Wanted to show
91. Mr. Garcia as a possible item for attendees. Bears- One for each region (dress), would
92. like to increase price to $11, will have special for package deals ($40 a pack). Bears will
93. say “WESTOP.” Suggestion: let members know they will be available at the
94. conference. Pictures will be posted on the web site, may be pre-ordered. Trophy for
95. Chapter Challenge- trying to work with trophy company to get a trophy that represents
96. our region. Trophy will go to winner and then it will be brought back to the next
97. conference and given to the next winner.
98. Comment- Duties to raise funds towards fair share should be for the entire year, not just
99. the conference. There is a dollar amount for each region, do we have a breakdown by
100. Chapters, can we have access to newly funded programs? It is our region’s
101. responsibility to raise amount. WESTOP’s share: $287,114.00. Currently at 32%.
102. Arizona- Recommendation made for Chapter presidents to sit in on conference call with
103. National Chair to get information on what we can do to meet Fair Share. Ideas were
104. presented on what other associations are doing. Recommendation: Get CA breakdown
105. from COE. Currently: AS 109%, AZ 55%, CA 29% ($206, 000), FM ?, HI 29%
106. ($16,550), MI 195% ($871), NV 47% ($14,809), Palau 0 % ($3,485)
107. G. Communications, Ms. Blanco
108. Report on file.
109. 3c: in lieu of Newsletter, for this year there will be two (one per semester).
110. 4d: marketing plan still on track for completion by the end of November. This plan will
111. help other committees, provide materials, ideas.
112. V. e.: Fact book for entire region of WESTOP, we still need info on what we don’t
113. have (gender, alumni, quotes) will be soliciting within the next two weeks, asked
114. Chapter Presidents to help to support the effort.
115. VI: communication with membership
116. VIII. h: COE ad, did it end up in the booklet, were there any comments? not many.
117. Quick facts, can share with everyone.
118. Get in touch with Ling, to look at what we can do to prepare new Board members.
119. IX. Blueprint for action
120. X. start sending her pictures of events, update on what’s happened so far.
121. H. Legislation/Education, Mr. Aguilar
122. Report on file.
123. Mr. Stephen Domigues will be putting something together indicating what the
124. change in Congress means for TRiO. Key members: Mr. Miller (CA) in the House, Mr.
125. Kennedy (MA) in the Senate. Heather Valentine requested conference call with CA folks
126. for December 4th, interested in strategizing to get in contact with big players. Please let
127. him know if you are interested in participating. Have done two sessions on advocacy.
128. Will put presentation on web site. Will try to stagger it, will revise materials.
129. Submitted CA state initiative grant, Ms.Blanco submitted one for AZ. AZ proposal
130. included providing interns/fellowships to do some of the work on contacting
131. congressional representatives. Did not get all the money, so it will be modified.
132. The CA initiative includes a one day summit meeting to present what TRiO programs
133. are, number of students served, money involved. Hope to have this as a model so other
134. Chapters can have some options. Working with Mr. Saldana and Mr. Garcia on who
135. should be invited. Need to get information from programs, need to put together a survey
136. to gather information for sharing with other organizations.
137. Letter sent to the Department of Education communicating our interest on the four
138. meetings they had regarding regulations. Interested in finding out what can we do to
139. make sure we are aware of these types of events, if not getting information from COE.
140. The CollegeBoard would like to have a roundtable session on how they can improve
141. their services, etc. , critiques, break down barriers re: access, feedback in regards to
142. our student population. Developing a relationship with Collegeboard, can serve as a
143. resource for possible speakers.Looking to see what Collegeboard can do to reach out to
144. our student population.
145. I. Professional Development, Ms. Scott
146. Report on file.
147. Change to technology training dates to January
148. Following up on surveys, will work with Mr. Garcia to see how this can be
149. incorporated into the conference.
150. J. Public Relations, Mr. Powell (Absent)
151. No report available
152. K. Research, Mr. Calhoun
153. Report on file.
154. Will work with Mr. Garcia to see if we can get Tom Mortenson to present at the
155. conference. Will be working with McNair to see how many students are working with
156. Social Sciences to see if they can do research for us.
157. L. Technology, Ms. Fernandez
158. Report on file.
159. PI Chapter now has a representative on committee, need SoCal member. Survey is still
160. open if they want to complete it. Working with Ms. Scott on the technology conference
161. (6:30-8:30pm) database and web design are possible topics depending on interest.
162. January 22nd- deadline for submitting dues to get membership rate. Easy to set up a
163. survey, through C-Vent so they can include their e-mail address. Station will be set up
164. to add members to listserv. Ms. Fernandez and Ms. Brittain will work together to figure
165. out what they can do. Cesar Alvarez will be the listserv Administrator and Ms.
166. Fernandez is the second. Will be working with Karen Morrell to send something out to
167. let members know about partnership, Ms. Blanco offered to help with advertising.
168. M. WESTOP Fund Development, Mr. McCune
169. Report on file.
170. Have flyer for Cruise raffle. Raffle tickets will be $10.00. Will be doing a second round of
171. follow up with potential donors.
172. N. Bylaws, Mr. Mata
173. Report on file.
174. Passed out revised proposed changes for Article VIII and Article IX. This is the first
175. official reading of our proposed bylaws changes. This is what Chapter Presidents
176. should present to their members. Looking ahead at 2nd reading- clarify 8.2 line 8
177. change to “and/or”, Mr. Mata reviewed changes made at committee session yesterday.
178. Make sure Article VIII is 4 pages long. Line 43 section 8.6 same language as:
179. Article IX: 9.13d line 231 grammatical correction, line 231-243
180. Changes will be sent via e-mail.
181. O. SoCal, Mr. Oceguera
182. Report on file.
183. Just completed PDS, about 70 members attended. May be keeping PDS in Palm
184. Springs (not going to Ventura anymore). Our President-elect did a great job. Please
185. give him feedback on hotel. Treasurer on board. Next meeting will be January 19th.
186. VI. Chapter Reports
187. A. Arizona
188. Report on file.
189. B. Central California
190. Report on file.
191. PDS is coming up, inviting Nevada members. Scholarship Committee change. Ms.
192. Mauricio will be forwarding him New Member presentation used in the SoCal PDS.
193. C. Nevada, Ms. Dupree
194. Report on file.
195. Lost a few members, got state initiative grant (student leadership conference and TRiO
196. Day). Will be working with Senator Reid’s )Senate Majority Leader) office. Clarification
197. needed on comments sent to Department of Education.
198. D. NorCal, Ms. Slater (Absent)
199. Report forthcoming
200. E. Pacific Islands, Ms. Minor-Flores
201. Report on file.
202. American Samoa College requested official letter from Ms. Minor-Flores to make the 203. PDS official. PDS- a week event due to travel concerns.
204. VII. Financial Affairs, Ms. McKelvey
205. Report on file.
206. A. Action Items
207. FAC request regarding insurance. Realized that not all options were explored. Higher
208. end option was the one discussed and approved. Options:
209. 1. Umbrella $5 million, someone falling at a conference, special events ($1804)
210. 2. Premium $3million limit (4733, 2200) Premium 9600
211. 3. Premium $7000, includes HI and Guam
212. Ex- Az, 1300 participants for TLC, WESTOP Conference 1000, looking at 500-1000 per
213. event, this is the most economical because of the number of events we have per year.
214. No limit on number of events.
215. History of insurance- we had liability insurance but insurance company would not
216. cover liability because of events happening throughout many states. Needs to be
217. addressed and covered with all Chapters. Recommendation: Add something in FAC
218. manual to address issue.
219. Executive Committee will be working on Policies, Procedures, Protocol.
220. B. AZ Chapter Budget Revision
221. Motion: Mr. Velasquez: Recommends that the BOD approve the Az request to move
222. $800 be moved from the TRIO Luncheon to the Education and Legislation Committee
223. budget to meet the State Initiative Grant criteria.
224. Second: Mr. Oceguera
225. Motion Carries: Unanimous Vote
226. VIII. Unfinished Business
227. A. 2009 Annual Conference Site
228. Conference committee made a recommendation to select the Sheraton for the 2009
229. conference. Room rates are better, concessions very similar, meeting space would be
230. in different levels whereas in the Sheraton, they can be in one floor. Other possible
231. option: The Carefree: location not very accessible, ADA concerns, hotel may be too
232. spread out.
233. Motion: Approve to move ahead on a contract for the 2009 WESTOP conference in AZ
234. at the Phoenix Sheraton as recommended by the WESTOP Ad Hoc Conference
235. Selection Committee.
236. Second: Mr. Calhoun
237. Discussion: Hotel opens Fall 2008, will it be ready? There are already groups
238. scheduled to be there prior, if the hotel is not ready, we can go to another hotel, but may
239. not be able to get as many concessions. Sheraton $10-$20 for cab from airport,
240. concessions will be matched with what the Waikoloa will be giving us. Room rate: $185,
241. if signed before the end of the year. Banquet room and meeting room are more than
242. adequate. There would be a clause dealing with the possibility that hotel building may
243. not be complete.
244. B. Thank you- Ms. Conwell
245. Received e-mail from Darlene thanking us for reimbursement.
246. C. New Business
247. 1. Travel Agent Kit
248. Magnolia Travel Agency: will forward information to conference committee so
249. they ca give a recommendation on whether or not this would work for our
250. association. Information will be forwarded.
251. 2. Ms. Scott- Possible fund development, just got information kit, will review it
252. and will bring information to next Board meeting.
253. 3. Motion- Ms. Fernandez: Move to have Cesar Alvarez as the Administrator of
254. the new WESTOP listserv which will be hosted by the WESTOP server.
255. Second- Mr. Velasquez
256. Motion carries- Unanimous vote
257. 4. COE Third Seat- After Mr. Martinez-Saldana’s vacancy, had to decide what to
258. do, one option was to leave the seat vacant and have Ms. Perez and Ms. Brittain
259. each have 1.5 votes, another option would be to fill the seat and have more
260. representation on the COE Board. Ms. Perez would like to fill the seat. Her
261. recommendation is Ms. Mauricio, since she already sits on the Executive
262. Committee.
263. Motion- Mr. Velasquez. Move to approve Tomasa Mauricio as Jose Martinez-
264. Saldana's replacement on the COE Board for the remainder of his term. Ms.
265. Mauricio’s travel budget will come from the remaining Past-President travel
266. budget.
267. Second- Ms. Fernandez
268. Motion Carries- Unanimous vote
269. 5. Mr. Aguilar: Back in May, a motion was made to provide scholarships for
270. students, not necessarily TRiO students, did research and found that there are
271. other scholarships with similar purpose and because of our current financial
272. situation (limited budget), would like to rescind motion.
273. Motion- Move to rescind motion that created scholarships.
274. Second- Mr. Velasquez
275. Discussion- None
276. Motion carries- Unanimous vote
277. 6. Concern that COE has not been able to inform us of relevant issues, do we
278. need to rethink and communicate to COE that our needs are not necessarily
279. being met? May need to be clear with them as to what we need to be informed.
280. Open Forums can be used to get feedback on proposed initiatives, opportunities
281. for us to comment on how we run our programs, the Department of Education
282. took the opportunity to discuss the TRiO regulations, cost of education, etc.
283. This would have been a great opportunity for us to participate in the discussion,
284. notice was published in the federal register at a very busy time for us, TRiO
285. personnel were not aware of the event until after the fact, this is something that
286. COE should have been aware of and should have notified TRiO personnel, how
287. did this opportunity fly underneath the radar during this time? COE seems to be
288. selective when passing along information, how do we make sure that we are
289. effectively being served, informed? We need to inform them that we are
290. concerned about the situation.
291. Refocus of COE will be on the core services because of the 25% cut in their
292. operating budget. Ms. Perez will send Heather Valentine a letter requesting a
293. meeting for the December meeting to discuss this. Also need to let us know that
294. we can do to address it at the COE Board level. Training Grants- how does this
295. affect us since it should only impact the Training aspect. Some of the positions
296. were on multiple sources. Focus will be put back on the basics, lobbying,
297. advocacy. Board members would like like further clarification on the impact of the
298. loss of the 25%. Ms. Perez will talk to Jean regarding this.
299. Decisions are made at the national level through committees. If we are not
300. represented in a particular committee, our viewpoint may not be heard. Usually
301. when things like this come up, they are usually handled by the Governmental
302. Relations Committee which is Chaired by Arnold Mitchem The way things are
303. done is to approach COE staff members.
304. Another concern is the way the budget is presented. It is shown to the Board as
305. a summary, no detail presented. What is the best way to approach this because
306. there may be more people who are interested? What is the most appropriate way
307. to get more detalied information? Board members do get a line item budget, but
308. the description of what that is, is not provided. Need to remember that should any
309. suit be brought forward, the COE staff are not responsible, it is the responsibility
310. of the Board. A yearly audit is presented to the COE board for approval. Charge
311. for Ms. Perez to request a copy of the budget? Asking COE to be accountable,
312. especially when considering Fair Share, would like to know where the money is
313. going. Ms. Perez will present concern to COE to get additional clarification.
314. 7. C-Vent: We have a situation in which only one e-mail address can be present
315. during one time regardless of how many and what other evens are going on. One
316. more e-mail can be provided for free, but we are thinking that each Chapter
317. should have their own e-mail address, this amount ($170, discounted rate from
318. $500), would be added to Chapters’ contribution. Will explain to Chapter
319. members that this is an additional administrative fee. Needs to be included in
320. Chapter budgets.
321. IX. Announcements
322. A. Next BOD meeting, January 12-13 Kona, HI Marriot Waikoloa. Meeting format will be
323. similar to this one (Bylaws, BOD structure, committee meetings). Room rate guaranteed
324. three days before and three days after. Need dates you will be there so she can secure
325. the rooms with the hotel. Need e-mail by Wednesday at the latest.
326. B. CFO, Ms. Padilla: When making request for travel reimbursements and sharing
327. costs, be aware that you need to submit different requests and need to split costs.
328. X. Adjournment
329. Motion- Mr. Velasquez
330. Second- Ms. Diaz
331. Meeting adjourned at 2:50pm.
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