General Membership Meeting
April 4, 2001
San Francisco
Marriott Room Pacific I

The meeting was called to order at 8:05 by president H.L. Hall.

Minutes and Summary of Board Action from the meeting of April 4, 2001 were presented by JEA secretary Terry Nelson.

Reports and Updates

Convention Update – Linda Puntney and Candace Bowen

Registration History Since 1990 and Booked Future Sites was available to the general membership. Upcoming conventions include Boston, Nov. 8-11, 2001; Phoenix, April4- 7, 2002; Dallas, Nov. 21-24, 2002; Portland, April 10-13, 2003; and San Diego, April1- 4, 2004. Lynn McDaniel, local chair, was thanked for her work. This convention in San Francisco marks the largest convention in the 30-year history of JEA/NSPA with 5,200 delegate numbers and rising.

BOSTON – Barbara Flanagan, local chair, informed those present at the meeting that a Web site will be set up with information regarding the Boston convention. Session proposals are available. “Freedom First,” is the theme.

There will be a strand of First Amendment sessions and a Narrative Journalism strand. The Web site is boston2001.org.

PHOENIX – Tony Gomez reports that PHX are the code letters of the Airport and that “we are x-tremely pleased,” to host the convention in Phoenix. Brochures for both Boston and Phoenix were available to the JEA members present.

MOTION by Candace Bowen ” … to officially thank the San Francisco local committee for a great convention.” Seconded by Sylvia Daughtry.

Affirmation by applause of the general membership present.

Financial Report – Linda Puntney

Reports a 13.94% portfolio return.

According to Linda Puntney, in the JEA General Headquarters Account “we are At 79.1% of our anticipated income and 58.8% has been spent so far in the budget year. A copy of the JEA Budget was made available to the general membership.

Student Press Law Center Board Report – John Bowen

SPLC is selling “Freedom Fighter” T -shirts at the convention.

JEA voted to give $5000 to the SPLC to reprint the book on press law.

President’s Report- H.L. Hall

At the President’s Council meeting high school journalism is at the forefront of all the journalism organizations across the United States. ASNE’s initiative will host six workshops for 200 teachers this summer. Part of their funding is to provide membership to JEA for the teacher participants. H.L. Hall and Terry Nelson helped write the curriculum for the ASNE workshop at Ball State University. ASNE also funded partnerships between 31 schools and 27 professional papers this year. It plans to continue the partnerships as part of its high school initiative. The Knight Foundation may commit to this program for 5-10 years, according to Hall.

Hall also announced that the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation had received a one-year planning grant from the Knight Foundation to launch a study of electronic journalism at the high school level. High School journalism is a concern of professional groups; ASNE is also going to try to help JEA get on the program at the National Association of Secondary School Principals.

Membership Report

An increase in membership has been reported with 46 new members from the Northeast area with one-year free memberships being awarded schools who attend the national convention to increase membership in that region. California has the most JEA members with 210.

Advanced Placement Journalism surveys should have been mailed to member school’s principals. There is a survey on the back of the convention evaluation sheet. H.L. Hall will get the results to Lee Jones.

Past President’s Report – Candace Bowen

NNA Services Foundation (publishers) need to do more for high school journalism, and they have seed money to partner a newspaper with a school who is having problems. There will be a survey in November with results released in the Youth Services Web site. We want to capitalize on this interest in the scholastic media.

Vice President’s Report- Ann Visser

Rhode Island does not have a state director. The state directors,Ao meetings will follow the general membership meeting today. The semi-annual report is posted on the JEA Web site.

Regional Directors’ Reports – Tony Gomez

The Las Vegas retreat for the summer is under the umbrella of the Advisers Institute. Steve Matson from the northwest area reports that two workshops at Ashland, Oregon and in Ellisburg, Washington are available for advisers and students. Contact the Web site at ojea.orgSPJ in Bellview, Washington.

Publications C:JET and Newswire

In Bradley Wilson’s absence, Mark Murray asked the membership for articles C:JET and Newswire. If interested in writing one, contact Brad Wilson. Bradly Wilson is also the new chair of the Technology Committee as announced by H.L. Hall. People not on the board can volunteer to be a member of one of the commissions or committees. Just let the chairmen know.

Commission Chairs

Scholastic Press Rights- John Bowen

In December, Congress passed a bill that all computers used by children must have filtering. John is accepting stories of failed attempts to gather valid material. Please forward information to Jeapressrights.org.

Certification – Carla Harris

The JEA program of CJE and MJE members is becoming important, and a workshop will be presented tomorrow at 11. The test is also geared toward broadcast instructors.

Junior High/Middle School – Mary Patrick

Mary announced that tomorrow for the first time there will be a swap Session for junior high and middle school advisers and students. She is recruiting and networking new members, and if any current JEA member knows of middle school advisers who would like to participate and be a part of the commission, let Mary know.

Committee Chairs

Scholarship- Jane Blystone

There were 39 portfolios for the “JEA Student Journalist of the Year” Encourages all state directors to participate in this competition. Please use the JEA model for drafting information for the state forms. It is on the Web site.

Outreach – Norma Kneese

Two outreach participants are the guests of JEA at this convention. They are Gaylen Issacs from Honolulu, Hawaii, and Mark Sneed from Oakland, California.

Liaisons NCTE – Pat Graff

The convention is in Baltimore the weekend after JEA. JEA will have a presence there. proposals for the Portland NCTE are due May 14 on the ncte.org website. Proposals for Atlanta in the Fall of 2002 are not yet out. SPLC’s director Mark Goodman has been nominated for the “National Intellectual Freedom Award”and stories and anecdotes are needed about him. Please send these to Pat Graff at pgraff@aol.com. it will also be on the listserv for JEA for this national award which will be presented in Baltimore.

Scholastic Press Association Directors – Julie Dodd

The Scholastic Press Association directors will meet tomorrow. Julie Dodd encourages all to join. The group is looking for potential teachers and judges.

Motion
Nancy Hastings moved to adjourn the meeting. Sylva Daughtery seconded the motion. Motion passed.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:55 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Terry Nelson, JEA secretary