MINUTES OF THE ASSEMBLY OF DELEGATES
85th AATF Convention, Intercontinental Hotel, Chicago, IL
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Sunderland introduced Marie-Simone Pavlovich for organizing the 2012dictéewho presented prizes to the winners.
Attendees (Official Delegates designated by *)
*Catherine Daniélou(AL); *Nadine Salahub (AZ); *Jennifer Deacon (AR); *Ines du Cos de La Hitte and *Marie-Magdeleine Chirol (Southern CA); Ann Williams (CO/WY); *Deanna Scheffer, *Cheryl Thingvold and *Charles Ward(FL); *Robin Jacobi, *Kristina Beck, Eileen Walvoord, and Rosalie Gentile (Chicago/N IL); *Randa Duvick (Northwest IN); *Jacqueline Labatand Genedi Shamburger (LA); *Karen Kuebler (MD); *Joyce Beckwith, *Janel Lafond-Paquin, *Stephen Kiley, and *Catherine Ritz (Eastern MA); *Cass Gorkiewicz and *Luciana Jeler (Detroit MI); *Dan Noren(MI); *Donald Dziekowicz (MN); *Lorena Fonseca (MS); *Katie Madigan(GKC MO); *Suzanne Hendrickson (GSL MO); *Melanie Adams and *Nora Kelting (KS); Abbé Guillet (Central NY); *Polly R. Duke, *Debra Popkin, and *Diane Paravazian (Metro NY); *Elizabeth Atkinsand Madeline Turan (Nassau NY); *Madeline Turan(Proxy) (Pays du Nord NY); *Nancy Wolman (Suffolk NY); *Leslie Bradshaw and Jane Romer (NC);*Jayne Abrate (Proxy) (ND); *Richard Emchand Fred Toner (OH); Bernadette Takano (OK); *Christine Gaudry-Hudson (Proxy) (Lehigh Valley PA);*Rita Davis, *Susan Ledieu, and Sister Mary Helen Kashuba (Philadelphia PA); *Katrine Pflanze (Western PA); *Christine Gaudry-Hudson (Susquehanna PA); *Joyce Beckwith (Proxy) (RI); *Bruce Byers (SC); Will Thompson (TN); Janet Smith (Houston TX); Steven Daniell, *Marie Schein, and Aleta Jo Lubbers (North TX); *Erik Perry (UT); *Amy DeGraff (VA); *Catherine Ousselin, *Sheryl Meservey, and Edward Ousselin (WA/AK/AB/BC); *Justin Frieman (WI).
Introductions (Sunderland)
Sunderland welcomed everyone and thanked the Local Committee members for their hard work. Sunderland asked each attending Executive Council member to stand and provide a brief introduction.
*Approval of Agenda / Montreal minutes / Resolutions (Sunderland)
WILL THOMPSON MOVED TO APPROVE THE AGENDA OF THE DELEGATE ASSEMBLY. STEVEN DANIELL SECONDED. MOTION CARRIED.
JANE BLACK GOEPPER MOVED TO APPROVE THE MONTREAL MINUTES. MADELINE TURAN SECONDED. MOTION CARRIED.
ChicagoAdministrative Details & Preliminary Report (Abrate)
Executive Director Jayne Abrate reported that there are over 400 in attendance for the conference with 30 exhibitors. She provided historic background information on the Intercontinental Hotel and commended keynote speaker Dennis Stroughmatt. Abrate thanked the Local Committee. The committee worked in advance, setting up excursions and events, and worked during the convention at the registration desk and acting as hosts to the events.
Abrate reported that the 2013 convention will be held in Providence, RI with the theme “Le Français: langue du 21e siècle.” Beginning in September people may submit proposals on-line.
Executive Director Report (Abrate)
Abrate said that the national headquarters office is housed at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, IL. The association pays for salaries and benefits, supplies, and telephone but does not payfor rent, utilities, or maintenance.
Awards, Contest, Scholarships, Scholarships & Grants, Individual Awards, Chapter Award, *Honorary Members
Abrate said the AATF continues to be able to offer members several benefits of membership. She pointed out that this year’s award winners are listed in the Awards Banquet Program.
The Dorothy S. Ludwig Excellence in Teaching Awards has been supported by Robert Ludwig in honor of his late wife. With his passing, he has left the AATF $25,000 to continue to support the award. Four annual awards are offered for outstanding teachers at the elementary school, middle school or junior high school, high school, and higher education levels. The purpose of the award is to recognize teachers who have demonstrated excellence and commitment in the teaching of the French language and French and Francophone cultures and literatures. Each award winner receives a certificate from the AATF, a one-year complimentary membership in the AATF, a cash award, and a one-year subscription to Le Français dans le monde.
The ISE Language Matters Award is sponsored by Intercultural Student Experiences to award a teacher who strives to provide authentic cultural and speaking experiences for his/her students. It includes a cash award from ISE.
The Outstanding Chapter Officer award is sponsored by CERAN Lingua and recognizes an outstanding current or immediate past Chapter President or Treasurer. It involves a stay at one of their programs.
Each year, the AATF awards $5000 in Small Grants to members or chapters to undertake worthy projects related to the teaching or promotion of French.
The AATF, Concordia Language Villages, and the French Embassy offer the Outstanding Administrator Award. The AATF provides travel funding for the student winner. This award was created to recognize an administrator (principal or superintendent) who supports the study of languages, in particular French. It offers recognition to the winner and provides a stay at Concordia Language Villages for a student in the school/district.
Abrate reported that for 2012 we were able to offer nineteen scholarships. Members are encouraged to apply for these.
The AATF Outstanding Chapter Award was created in 1999 to honor those chapters who have generated the largest percentage increase in membership from one fiscal year to another.
The late Walter Jensen has provided funding for the AATF to offer a scholarship for study abroad to a future teacher of French. This income funds one $1500 scholarship per year to help a student pay for a semester or year's study abroad.
This year’s nominees for Honorary Members are keynote speaker Stroughmatt and Jack McCord, Director of the Chicago Alliance française.
JNCL Report (Abrate/Sunderland)
Abrate said the association is a member of various regional associations, of ACTFL, and JNCL-NCLIS. Abrate and Sunderland have attended ACTFL, Central States, and the Northeast Conference. Abrate also attends SCOLT. The AATF is usually represented with a session and an exhibit booth. JNCL-NCLIS is our lobbying association in Washington. The AATF is a founding member of JNCL-NCLIS. Long-time Executive Director J. David Edwards retired and has been replaced by Dr. Bill Rivers.
In recent years the economic turn-down has affected all levels of education. This also affects language associations. The regional associations have been hurt the most because their income comes solely from their conferences. The AATF’s revenue is mainly from member dues. JNCL-NCLIS receives its income from associations in the form of dues and contributions. Several associations have cut back their contributions. Abrate reported that the AATF is financially healthy. We have an endowment fund with nearly $1.5 million. In addition to membership dues, we also receive income from the SHF, French Review subscriptions and advertising, National French Contest, Outstanding Senior in French and Excellence in French Awards, and sales from our materials. Abrate reported that the association has been able to keep the same rate of membership dues to members. We have reduced postage costs by communicating more via e-mail.
French Review (Ousselin)
Editor-in-Chief Edward Ousselin reminded the assembly of the passing of Christopher Pinet and his many years of work for the French Review. He announced that the October 2012 issue will include shorter rubrics. Ousselin encouraged middle and high school teachers to read the issues and to look for the focus on the classroom rubric. For the next special issue, Ousselin asked people to submit. There will be a specific section in that issue that will be 1000-2000 words.
National Bulletin (Goepper)
Editor Jane Black Goepper reminded the assembly that the National Bulletin is their publication. Its purpose is to present association news, deadlines, and information. It is also the venue for members to submit articles for publication. Goepper announced that her current e-mailaddress is .
NFC Report (Narug)
NFC Director Lisa Narug reported that more than 97,000 students participated in Le Grand Concours 2012 with 3,000 teachers registering students. She reminded the assembly of the new member promotion.
Narug reported that the NFC is NAASP approved. Maintaining this approval is important because some schools are not allowed to participate in activities that are not on the approved list. Along with the benefits, there are a few restrictions: (1) we cannot award cash prizes on the National level; (2) the opportunity to participate must be offered to all students, even those of non-members. Non-member pricing is twice as much as for members.
Several have asked why the exam is not administered on-line. Narug reported that many schools do not have on-line testing opportunities or they are limited. The cost to implement and offer on-line testing is not feasible at this time.
Narug thanked all of the NFC administrators for their work and reminded the assembly that these are volunteer positions.
Membership/Recruitment (Abrate/Sunderland)
Discussions of strategies for recruitment followed adjournment.
Commissions (Romer)
Jane Romer reported that we currently have ten active commissions. She directed the assembly to look in the program to see pictures and names of the commission chairs.
Sunderland remarked on the restructuring of the commissions. She noted that the following commissions need chairs: Colleges/Universities, French for Business and International Trade, Middle Schools, and Student Standards. Contact Sunderland to submit a project for one of these.
Regional & Chapter Issues
Each region submitted reports. Several chapters offer immersion programs. Sunderland reminded the regional representatives to attend regional and state conferences, and she asked chapter leaders to invite them their meetings. Sunderland indicated that regional representatives need to visit every chapter in their region during their term.
Budget Presentation & Motions(Abrate)
Abrate reported that we have maintained a financial balance for the past five years. She indicated that the Montreal convention provided over $60,000 in income. She said that we had a good number of people attend and more exhibitors than normal. Also, we were offered a 75% discount on our audio/visual costs. And we will receive a VAT tax refund from Canada.
Membership dues are the number one source of revenue, nearly $400,000 annually. Other sources of revenue are the NFC (as much as $75,000) and the SHF (approx.. $20,000). We also receive revenue from the French Review(advertising and subscriptions). Expenditures include dues to JNCL and FIPF, funding toward awards and scholarships, honoraria, commissions, National French Week, and the Leadership Program. We also moved to take $25,000 from the endowment fund to cover the expense of adding a secretarial staff person to headquarters.
Technology Report(Abrate)
Abrate reported that the national Web site will be newly designed in the next year. She mentioned that we had to change hosting companies last year that took some time for transitioning. She announced that the AATF has Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts. There were 3 to 4 chats in the past year, which we plan to continue. She reminded the assembly that we do not allow advertising on our Facebook account.
Nominating Committees(Toner, Abrate, Sunderland)
Fred Toner, Chair, thanked the Vice-President nominating committee members for their work. He announced the slate of candidates for Vice-President (term 2013-15) will be Steven Daniell (North Texas) and Rebecca Fox (Northern Virginia).
Abrate and Sunderland announced the slates for Regions II, IV, and IX. They are as follows:
The slate of candidates for Region II Representative will be Marie-Christine Massé (New Jersey) and Mary Leptak (Westchester).
The slate of candidates for Region IV will be Catherine Daniélou (Alabama) and Peter Machonis (Florida).
The slate of candidates for Region IX will be Ann Williams (Colorado/Wyoming) and Molly Krueger Enz (South Dakota).
Sunderland thanked Abbé Guillet for her work on the council as she completes her 3-year term as Region II Representative.
Leadership Project (Duvick)
Duvick reported that the second Leadership Fellows Program was a success with ten participants in attendance. Sunderland noted that funding is being set aside for next year and that each chapter is asked to commit up to $400, as the chapter treasury permits.
Future Conventions
Abrate announced that the 2013 annual convention will be held in Providence, RI; the 2014 one will be in New Orleans; and the 2015 convention will be held somewhere in the province of Quebec.
Reading of Motions and Resolutions
IT WAS MOVED TO DISPENSE WITH THE ACTUAL READING OF THE MOTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS. MOTION CARRIED.
IT WAS MOVED TO APPROVE THE MOTIONS. MOTION CARRIED.
IT WAS MOVED TO ACCEPT THE RESOLUTIONS. MOTIONAL CARRIED.
Sunderland announced that during the second half of the meeting there will be a workshop on membership recruitment and chapter organization.
IT WAS MOVED TO ADJOURN. MOTION CARRIED.
Submitted by Darla Phoenix, Administrative Assistant
December 21, 2012