Official minutes (approved Nov. 12, 2015, in Orlando)

Board of Directors Meeting Minutes, April 16, 2015 • Denver

The Journalism Education Association board meeting was held at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, April 16, 2015, in Governor’s Square 11, at the Sheraton Denver Downtown.

I. Call to order

The meeting was called to order at 8:30 a.m. by Mark Newton, president.

II. Roll call and determination of quorum — Connie Fulkerson

In attendance:

(voting members) Mark Newton, MJE, president; Sarah Nichols, MJE, vice president; Candace Perkins Bowen, MJE, past president; Carrie Faust, MJE, director-at-large; Stan Zoller, MJE, director-at-large; John Bowen, MJE, scholastic press rights director; Megan Fromm, CJE, educational initiatives director.

(non-voting members)
Kelly Furnas, CJE, executive director; Connie Fulkerson, CJE, administrative assistant/secretary; Kim Green, MJE, certification chair; Nancy Y. Smith, MJE, contest chair; Priscilla Frost, writing/design contest coordinator; Kris Doran, broadcast contest coordinator; Bradley Wilson, MJE, Communication: Journalism Education Today editor; Jonathan Rogers, MJE, professional outreach chair; Linda Barrington, MJE, mentoring program chair; Evelyn Lauer, CJE, publications/public relations chair; April van Buren, MJE, Journalism Quiz Bowl chair; Frank LoMonte, Student Press Law Center liaison; Diana Mitsu Klos, National Scholastic Press Association liaison; Jack Kennedy, MJE, Denver convention chair.

(others) NSPA staff and board representatives: Laura Widmer, associate director; Al Tims, president; Laurie Hansen, CJE; Ann Visser, MJE; Valerie Kibler, CJE, Peter Bobkowski and Ron Johnson.

III. Reading of notice of meeting — Connie Fulkerson

The following was posted in JEA.org on March 16: The Journalism Education Association board of directors meeting will be at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, April 16, 2015, in Governor’s Square 11 of the Sheraton Denver Downtown.

IV. Approval of minutes — Mark Newton

Motion to approve the minutes from Nov. 6, 2014, board of directors meeting in Washington, D.C.
(passed 7-0)
Moved: Sarah Nichols
Seconded: Carrie Faust

V. Affirmation of electronic votes

A. Motion to approve IRS Form 990 as amended for 2013. (passed 7-0, Dec. 10, 2014)
B. Motion for approval of a contract proposal from the Linq Resort and Casino, Las Vegas, to host the July 11-14, 2016, and July 10-13, 2017, Advisers Institute. (passed 7-0, March 10, 2015)

VI. Approval of agenda — Mark Newton

Motion to approve the agenda. (passed 7-0)
Moved: Stan Zoller
Seconded: Candace Bowen

VII. Commendations — Mark Newton

A. Ann Akers, MJE, Herff Jones; Linda Barrington, MJE, KEMPA; Jane Blystone, MJE, SIPA and OSMA; Candace Bowen, MJE, OSMA; Tina Cleavelin, CJE, Jostens; Sandra Coyer, MJE, WJEA; Jill Chittum, MJE, Walsworth; Karen Flowers, CJE, SIPA; Joe Humphrey, MJE. FSPA; Jack Kennedy, MJE, CHSPA; Kristin Mateski, Walsworth; Sarah Nichols, MJE, Jostens and JEANC; Liz Walsh, MJE, Balfour — for graciously offering and/or proctoring certification tests at off-convention sites over the past year and into the upcoming summer. (Kim Green)

B. Jane Blystone, MJE, Candace Bowen, MJE, Megan Fromm, CJE, and Stan Zoller, MJE — for writing regular columns for the SPRC blog. Even with numerous other responsibilities, we can count on them for insightful ideas and readership in the cause of free expression. (John Bowen)

C. Pam Boller, JEA Headquarters — for making sure all (Certification) applications are in order and all tests reach their test sites. (Kim Green)

D. Kathy Craghead, MJE — for her leadership in revising the yearbook adviser of the year rubric and application. (Casey Nichols)

E. Kathy Craghead, MJE, Jill Falk (Lindenwood University), Mark Murray, Sherri Taylor — for their efforts evaluating candidates as permanent members of the adviser of the panel. (Casey Nichols)

F. Adam Dawkins, CJE — for doing the brunt of the dirty work (posting the Our Staff at Work series on Facebook and retweeting tweets that used #SJW2015). His efforts made Scholastic Journalism Week 2015 extremely successful through constant interactivity. (Evelyn Lauer)

G. Susan V. Everett, MJE — for 20+ years’ service as New Jersey state director (Sarah Nichols)

H. Lori Keekley, MJE — for her leadership and creative advice with her involvement in at least three SPRC Panic Button situations. One is still ongoing but two ended in favor of the students and free expression. This took a ton of time and energy, and her work is commendable. (John Bowen)

I. Vicki McCash Brennan, CJE — for being an exemplary curriculum leader. She has made notable improvements to the news gathering module (after serving last year in a different capacity) and works well to produce excellent materials on deadline, whether it be working toward the new CJE exam or for the One Story lessons. Vicki helps teachers/advisers behind the scenes and provides guidance and encouragement while also promoting the curriculum publicly (such as on the JEAHELP list) to answer questions quickly and thoughtfully about news gathering. (Sarah Nichols)

J. Matt Rasgorshek — for doing a great job with his podcast series on JEADigitalMedia.org. It’s been a great addition to the site as he’s covered a variety of topics and included numerous individuals in his episodes. (Aaron Manfull)

**Nancy Smith introduced Laura Zhu, Middle School Media Mail-in Contest chair, and April van Buren, Quiz Bowl chair, who are new to the Contest Committee. Sarah Nichols and Mark Newton gave a shout out to Nancy and committee for the organization of the contests and how smoothly the contests and judging run.

VIII. New business

A. Affiliate membership proposal — Candace Perkins Bowen
Motion: Change the Affiliate Organization membership description as follows:
Affiliate Organziation Member — $100
Affiliate Members shall be state or regional scholastic press or adviser associations or student collegiate chapters. Representatives of affiliate organization members shall receive all JEA publications, may participate in meetings or conferences, and shall be able to designate one director or officer as a full member with rights to vote, hold office, nominate candidates for office or propose actions or programs. (passed 7-0)

Moved: Candace Perkins Bowen
Seconded: John Bowen
Discussion:
While there was some concern that the included voting membership may go to a non-teacher, most board members thought this would be a way to support and encourage state scholastic press associations.

B. Whistleblower policy proposal — Stan Zoller

A whistleblower is, as defined by the Society for Human Resource Management, “… is an employee of an organization who reports an activity that he/she considers to be illegal or dishonest to one or more of the parties specified in this Policy. The whistleblower is not responsible for investigating the activity or for determining fault or corrective measures; appropriate management officials are charged with these responsibilities.

This policy, developed cooperatively by Kelly Furnas, Mark Newton and Stan Zoller, is modeled after similar policies at other nonprofit membership organizations.

Whistleblower Policy

The Journalism Education Association (JEA) is committed to operating in furtherance of its tax-exempt purposes and in compliance with all applicable laws, rules and regulations, including those concerning accounting and auditing, and prohibits fraudulent practices by any of its board members, officers, employees or volunteers. This policy outlines a procedure for JEA board members, officers, employees or volunteers to report actions they reasonably believe violate a law or regulation or that constitutes fraudulent accounting or other illegal or unethical practices. This policy applies to any matter which is related to JEA’s business and does not relate to private acts of an individual not connected to the business of JEA.

If a JEA board member, officer, employee or volunteer has a reasonable belief that a JEA board member, officer, employee or volunteer has engaged in any action that violates any applicable law or regulation, including those concerning accounting and auditing, or constitutes a fraudulent practice, the employee is expected to immediately report such information to the executive director. If a board member, officer, employee or volunteer does not feel comfortable reporting the information to the executive director, he or she is expected to report the information to the current president and vice president.

All reports will be followed up promptly, and an investigation conducted. In conducting its investigations, JEA will strive to keep the identity of the reporting individual as confidential as possible, while conducting an adequate review and investigation.

JEA will not retaliate against board members, officers, employees or volunteers in the terms and conditions of employment or service because the board member, officer, employee or volunteer: (a) reports to a supervisor, to the executive director, the president or vice president and/or to a federal, state or local agency what the employee believes in good faith to be a violation of the law; or (b) participates in good faith in any resulting investigation or proceeding; or (c) exercises his or her rights under any state or federal law(s) or regulation(s) to pursue a claim or take legal action to protect the his or her rights.

JEA may take disciplinary action (up to and including termination or removal from the JEA Board of Directors or board committee) against an individual who in management’s assessment has engaged in retaliatory conduct in violation of this policy.

In addition, JEA will not, with the intent to retaliate, take any action harmful to any board members, officers, employees or volunteers who have provided to law enforcement personnel or a court truthful information relating to the commission or possible commission by JEA of a violation of any applicable law or regulation.

Board members, officers, employees and volunteers will be trained on this policy and JEA’s prohibition against retaliation in accordance with this policy.

Motion: To adopt the whistleblower policy as presented. (passed 7-0)
Moved: Stan Zoller
Seconded: Carrie Faust
Discussion: Kelly Furnas explained the reasoning behind establishing a whistleblower policy. There is a line to check on the 990 tax form asking whether or not the organization has a whistleblower policy. Not having a policy may make an audit more likely. It is good to be able to check that on the form.

C. Budget — Kelly Furnas

Motion: Move to accept the budget for FY 2015-2016. (passed 7-0)
Moved: Megan Fromm
Seconded: Candace Bowen

IX. Reports

A. JEA/NSPA Convention Subcommittee — Valerie Kibler

Diana Mitsu Klos reported there were 2,721 registered delegates for the Denver convention as of Friday, April 10. That should bring in about $325,000 income. There was good pre-convention outreach by the local team. The NSPA staff opened registration earlier. There was a lot of promotion.

A study on what affects convention attendance written by Sarah Cavanah, NSPA associate director, was discussed.

The JEA/NSPA convention sub-committee has been charged with coming up with a new spring convention model that would go into effect in two years. Representatives of NSPA came to the meeting to brainstorm ideas with the JEA board to give the committee focus.

Spring conventions are traditionally smaller because of a number of factors including yearbook deadlines, proms, spring breaks, state conferences and state testing. However, the expenses to run a convention are the same no matter how many people attend. The main convention expenses are food and audiovisual. The subcommittee might explore ways to save food and AV expense at the spring convention but still provide strong programming.

Items the committee should consider: What should we do in regard to timing for registration? What should we do to make sure we offer compelling programming? Should we add more multiple-hour workshops in the spring to jumpstart next year’s staffs? Do we need two keynote speakers? Can we go with just one outstanding one?

We do well in cities when hotel rates are good and there is a good membership base. Are we open to breaking from the model we have used in selecting convention sites? Currently, the fall convention is in the East or Midwest, and the spring convention is in the mountain states or on the West Coast. Should we consider eliminating those parameters? For instance, have a California convention in the fall instead in the spring or a Texas convention in the spring instead of the fall. Should we add more technical training?

Research:
Both organizations are willing to share the costs for research.

** Jack Kennedy (11 a.m.) Media tours are off and running. Broncos training site. Publishing component in issue seminar.

B. NSPA Awards and Critiques Subcommittee
Diana Mitsu Klos said NSPA was making progress with this.

C. One Book — Evelyn Lauer
The participation in this program has been low. While the first online chat attracted about a dozen people, the numbers dropped off dramatically after that. She thought podcasts would be a better way to get more involvement. The board also suggested that Lauer select the fall One Book and announce it to the members in June.

D. Conventions — Kelly Furnas
Hotel room pickup was good for this convention; there has not been much dropoff, but it’s slightly below what was budgeted. After the audiovisual failures in D.C., the AV company is trying to make up for it Denver. Feedback is requested.
Advisers Institute: Several board members asked if there are there other options for location. How much lead time would be required to make a change? Furnas said he would need to search for bargain cities in the summer. Rates need to be at a non-peak rate. We like to stay below $100 a night rate. A year to 18 months would be needed for planning.

E. Headquarters — Kelly Furnas
Assets are healthy at about $1.5 million. JEA has a net operating revenue of $62,000. The organization is on track for break-even year.
Membership growth: This spring marks the highest level of paid membership in history. Only one state had a significantly high drop in membership numbers.

F. Scholastic Press Rights Committee — John Bowen
Bowen said the SPRC has updated its website and has had more than 800 page views. He suggested that the Awards committee remind teachers of the year to model journalistically sound actions to students and in what they present in JEA’s name to others.
SPRC has created Press Rights Minutes and a Panic Button promo. Policy and ethics in staff manuals has been a focus.

G. Partnership for 21st Century Skills — Meg Fromm
After attending a P21 conference and being disappointed on the lack of teachers there, Fromm suggested that JEA look for other paths to get the word out about scholastic journalism. She did make good connections at the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., and may be able to make progress there.

H. Pulitzer Prize Campfires Initiative — Mark Newton
Newton said he was contacted by the Pulitzer Prize group about their centennial celebration next year and asked for ideas about projects we could tie to this.

I. ASNE National Community and News Literacy Roundtables Project — Meg Fromm/Mark Newton
The board decided this would not tie in with the JEA mission at this time.

J. Board goals review — Mark Newton
Board members reviewed the progress they were making on JEA goals.
1. Partnering with higher education to research journalism teacher retention/attrition and the effectiveness of journalism curriculum. The board decided to focus more on the effectiveness of journalism curriculum since it might be too hard to get retention/attrition data. JEA should look for funding and a person to conduct research on the curriculum.
2. Develop and implement a revised model for the spring convention. Making progress.
3. Increase participation in First Amendment programming. There were more applications for the First Amendment Press Freedom Award and Making a Difference. Page views have increased. There may be a change in the 45words student partners program or it may be dropped.
4. Increase administrator participation in JEA programming. The committee has developed a website: Principals.jea.org. The committee is looking for anecdotes about administrators who understand the value of scholastic journalism.
5. Increase JEA profile in journalism and scholastic journalism with partnerships. Continue looking for partnerships with those who will understand and advance our mission.

K. Profiles in Journalism: research. We’ll contribute the same financially as NSPA.

L. Indianapolis convention concern: Furnas said after a Religious Freedom Restoration Act passed by the Indiana legislature saw a strong reaction by the LGBT community, he contacted the hotel and was assured there would be full equity for all our attendees.

M. JEA booth at NCTE convention: Jonathan Rogers asked if there were any ideas for the booth.

N. SPLC Liaison — Frank LoMonte
Lomonte said never saw a male newspaper editor at the schools he visited while on the Tinker Tour in California. All current Active Voices cases involve girls. This is a girl power issue. If we make this about girl power, we will win.

X: Adjournment

Meeting was adjourned at 3:50 p.m. (passed 7-0)
Motion: Jonathan Rogers
Second: Stan Zoller

A follow-up meeting will be at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 18, 2015,
in Tower Court A of the Sheraton Denver Downtown

The next board of directors meeting will be 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, 2015, at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel in Orlando, Fla.