SECA Executive Board Meeting

July 23, 2015

Little Rock, Arkansas

Present: Kathy Attaway (President), Carol Montealegre (President-Elect), Marti Nicholson (Fiscal Officer), Anita Dailey (Secretary), Glenda Bean (Executive Director)

President Kathy Attaway explained that the purpose of the meeting is to prepare a proposal to present to the Board of Directors regarding the future direction of SECA.

Considerations include the role of state representatives to grow membership in the states and to promote greater participation. This could include preparation of a calendar of due dates for State Representatives to promote greater participation and we may need to revisit the expectations of reps at state conferences. Carol recommended the SECA office send a letter to state boards describing the expectations of SECA reps.

Discussion included a wide range of possible board changessuch asat large chapters, at large memberships, changes to by-laws, chapter responsibility and management, and insurance.

Executive Committee Proposal to the SECA Board of Directors:

  • New chapter/affiliate charters will be developed for all affiliates that choose to remain a SECA affiliate.
  • State affiliates may choose to relinquish their 501(c)(3) designation and become a subordinate organization under SECA’s tax exemption umbrella. SECA would have requirements for these new subordinates that would include meeting the thresholds of filing the required paperwork including budget, minutes, and tax filing. Affiliates could choose to retain their current independent 501 (c) (3) designation if they can meet reporting requirements.
  • For affiliates that cannot meet the capacity thresholds set out by NAEYC and would no longer qualify for affiliation with NAEYC, SECA will provide administrative support for one year without charge to the affiliate to assist in the transition from dual to non-dual affiliate. If the affiliate chooses to continue administrative services through SECA beyond the first year, a fee schedule will be available.

SECA is committed to the structure as it stands in supporting local chapters and state affiliates.

North Carolina’s position was discussed. If the full board agrees, and North Carolina submits all required application requirements, the group will be reinstated as an affiliate under SECA’s current (501)(c)(3).

Discussion – Home visitors and Faith Based

SECA could offer trainingon Child Development regionally for home visitors and create a membership specifically for home visitors.

Executive Committee Proposal to SECA Board: Create a specialty home visitor membership at an annual fee of $30. This membership would initially be available only through the SECA office. Discussions could occur at the state affiliate level to determine if the affiliate wishes to offer state membership as a component of this membership. Those negotiations would occur on a state by state basis.

Lab School initiative: Carol announced that she had been working with Mary Jamsek of Texas to host a meeting in Tulsa for directors of Lab Schools to collaborate on the viability of lab schools on college campuses. Mary will send out hand written invitations.

Carol has asked that a tea for State Presidents be held in Tulsa with CarolMontealegre, Kathy Attaway and Nancy Cheshire hosting.

Faith-Based Initiative: Glenda shared thatshe will be meeting with Caleb Gayle of the George Kaiser FamilyFoundation to discuss the Foundation’s early childhood initiatives in Tulsa and the possibility of incorporating a special session into the 2016 conference to highlight the initiative. Their current efforts include a community wide faith based initiative.

The group broke for lunch at 12:30pm. The meeting resumed at 1:45 pm to discuss the proposed budget with the discussion led by Marti Nicholson.

Executive Committee Proposal to the SECA Board: Adopt the proposed budget as presented with the following modifications:

  • Recommend a $100 a month raise for Maurena with associated taxes and retirement contribution and reconsider her professional growth in February.
  • Create a marketing line item in the budget and utilize remaining funds to create a zero-based budget.

Carol requested ordering cup shaped pins for new members as part of a member campaign. Teapot pins were suggested as gifts to past presidents. Kathy suggested talking with a publicity firm when we start pushing membership.

Glenda recommended that the 2017 conference be focused on the issue of generational poverty and this conference be presented in conjunction with Dr. Cathy Grace who is developing a Teacher Preparation Center at Ole Miss that will focus teacher training on working with children of poverty. Glenda also proposed the possibility of hosting the conference in Mississippi be explored. Plans could include a Research Symposium prior to the start of the conference with the regular SECA conference content presented as usual.

Terms of board members and the orientation of new members were discussed. Jeff Leffler’s term as a Member-at-Large will conclude in June 2016 and nominationswill be needed next year to fill the position. The position will be advertised in a future issue of Dimensions of Early Childhood. New board members Barbara Backus (Florida), Deniece Honeycutt (Arkansas), Cathy Waggoner (Tennessee) and Tricia Platt (Kentucky) will attend a brief orientation by Kathy prior to the beginning of the full board meeting later this evening.

The current Editorial Committee composition was highlighted and a discussion concerning the option of putting a current SECA Board member into the chairmanship was held. A change to the current SECA policies would be needed to allow Board members to serve on committees. This will be presented to the Board for action on the October Board conference call.

Articles published in Spanish in Dimensions of Early Childhoodare greatly desired to expand the outreach of SECA and fulfill a need in the early childhood community but is challenging because of the compressed timelinerequired. Glenda presented a document developed by Mari Riojas-Cortez (Dimensions editor) and Wilma Robles-Melendez (Editorial Committee) that presented several options. (Appendix A) The Committee determined that a reasonable timeline with reliable people to insure the product is qualityis necessary before we can move forward. The hope is to have the first issue ready for or immediately after the Tulsa conference.

The meeting concluded with hopefulfeelings for the full board meeting and the future direction of SECA.

Respectfully Submitted

Anita Dailey,

SECA Secretary

Appendix A

Proposal for Inclusion of Spanish Manuscripts in Dimensions

The following include options to begin serving Spanish-speaking SECA members including challenges. We could start on a small scale and then transition to something that will be sustainable.

Options / Challenges
1. Dimensions Issue in Spanish. / 1. Difficult to publish entire journal as everything that is included would have to be translated.
2. Time and effort of staff.
3. Finding dedicated translators.
2. Selected Published Dimensions articles translated in Spanish and included as pdf files under Materiales en Español / 1. Finding dedicated translators.
2. Ensuring that articles are translated on a timely manner to be readily available.
3. Translating one brief article into Spanish in the upcoming issue of Dimensions. / 1. Ensuring that manuscripts are edited in order to meet all necessary deadlines.
2. Finding dedicated translators.
3. Members questioning reason why only one article translated.
4. Translating additional material in addition to the manuscript.
4. Annual anthology of selected articles translated in Spanish / 1. Finding dedicated translators.
2. Ensuring that articles are translated on a timely manner to be readily available.

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