Minutes of NYSS-AAPT Executive Board Meeting
Best Western Hotel, Poughkeepsie
Poughkeepsie, N. Y.
20 April 2001
Present: George Amann, Bernadine Cook, Ken Evans, John Fitzgibbons,
Michael Herzog, Douglas Huston, Larry Josbeno,
Richard Mancuso(recording), Nancy Moreau, Lowell Sylwester(presiding)
and Andrew Telesca.
Absent: Joseph Drenchko, Carl Shepard and Bob Pompi
Guest: Cindy Schwarz, Vassar College
The meeting was called to order at 7:15 pm by president Sylwester
A motion to approve the minutes of the April 8, 2000 meeting was made by
Josbeno and seconded by Fitzgibbons. The motion passed with the correction
that the "you" in the election results be changed to "Richard Mancuso."
Mancuso gave the treasurer's report as follows:
$ 907.22 checking
15,976.71 savings
9987.42 certificate of deposit
$ 26,871.35 total
These figures do not contain the registration fees for the Vassar meeting,
the dues received at the meeting, the bill for dinner for the Executive
Board which was $372.95 and the reimbursements to members of the board
for expenses incurred to attend the board meeting and the Vassar presentations.
Cindy Schwarz reported that 39 people preregistered for the meeting and that
Vassar is picking up the bill for the continental breakfast, coffee break
and lunch. (During registration seven students and two retirees registered
at no charge-RVM)
There was discussion on how to increase attendance at NYSSAAPT meetings.
Fitzgibbons suggested sending invitations to superintendants, BOCES,
PTRA programs, etc. There was a discussion on whether granting in-service
hours for attendance would be an incentive to attend. Cook suggested
that we target a 50 mile radius from the site of the meeting for invitations.
Cook also suggested that we offer workshops at the end of the presentations.
Fitzgibbons responded by saying that one gets just as much by sitting around
the table at lunch. Schwarz supported the idea of workshops stating that
there is much to be taken from workshops. Cook referred to her report
of the Section Officer's Exchange that took place at the January 2001 meeting
in San Diego. The pertinent section of that report follows:
"Those in attendance offered the following suggestions for trying to increase
section membership:
*Contact every college physics department in the section via email and
encourage their members to join both the section and national organizations.
*Eliminate dues and just have participants pay a conference registration fee.
*Write a grant to obtain funds to pay for "big-name" speakers who will draw
a large following to a section conference.(Although the NSF is no longer
funding this type of program the DOE does have a partnership program that
may be able to provide similar assistance.)
*Have workshops at the section conference that are pre-approved by the
State Education Department for the maintenance of physics certification,
(Although this is not required of veteran teachers in New York, staff
development will be necessary in the future.)"
Fitzgibbons stated that, at the next meeting, we should make a real effort
to recruit local people. That was the end of the discussion on how to increase
attendance at section meetings.
Cook submitted the following reports as Section Representative for the
January 2001 meeting in San Diego: Section Representatives Committee Meeting,
Section Officers Exchange and Council Meeting. Mancuso has a hard copy.
Evans stated that there would not be a NE regional meeting on Long Island in
the Fall and that we should therefore do a Fall meeting. Josbeno made a
motion, seconded by Mancuso that we have a Fall 2001 meeting, if possible.
Fitzgibbons will look into Syracuse. The topic should be the core curriculum.
Evans reported on the NE Regional AAPT Meeting at Princeton on October 27 & 28.
Mancuso has a hard copy of the report. Evans pointed out that we are up to
host the NE Meeting in the Fall of 2002.
Sylwester reported on the joint meeting with NYAPS at SUNY Buffalo on
October 20 & 21. The themes were Cosmology, Strings and Particle Physics.
Mancuso has a hard copy of the report. Sylwester pointed out that NYSSAAPT
just provided our mailing list and, other than that, we had no other
involvement. Sylwester does not have a problem with this if it is known
in advance. Sylwester stated that it was a nice program with lots of students
who were interested and that the Buffalo people did a nice job. Cook noted
that at the Corning Meeting in the Spring of 2000 that we voted to support
student attendance at meeting to the tune of $1000.00 maximum per academic
year with a maximum support of $100.00 for a student in a teacher-training
program and a maximum of $150.00 per institution.
Fitzgibbons reported on the Section Officers/Section Representatives Meeting
at Guelph in August 2000. Mancuso has a hard copy. In the report
Fitzgibbons noted that it appears that we are one of the wealthier sections.
Also, the Executive Board, at a planning session, voted to adopt a mission
statement; an abbreviated copy is enclosed with the report.
The insurance issue was revisited again. There was a discussion regarding
umbrella coverage, event coverage and Six Flags coverage. Sylwester
will contact Don Pierce, former STANYS treasurer, in this regard.
Josbeno reported on the regional APS Outreach Program. There were five
institutions who applied for the grants. Four were awarded: one to a high
school, the others to: RPI, BNL and Penn. State. The thrust of the program
is to promote The Physical Sciences in the "region." Josbeno stated that
we have to spend some of our money. Josbeno made a motion that NYSSAAPT
initiate an Outreach Program to provide monies for the teaching and learning
of The Physical Sciences. It was seconded by Fitzgibbons. In the ensuing
discussion the following points were made: we should support workshops, power
point on the web and that we are doing something that BOCES should be doing.
The motion carried.
Mancuso made a motion that we budget up to $2000.00 to support board members
for this meeting. The second was by Evans. It was agreed that the support
should be for transportation (35 cents per mile), room and tolls.
The motion carried. The deadline for submission of requests to Mancuso
is 5/8/01.
Sylwester appointed the Service Award Committee: Mancuso (chair),Evans,
James (Sylwester will contact Ruben), Josbeno and Fitzgibbons.
The Nominating Committee for Officers and Board members was formed:
Mancuso (chair), Drenchko (by Fitzgibbons), Moreau, Herzog and
Pompi (by Josbeno).We need to elect all officers, a Section Representative
and three Board members.
Regarding the Spring 2002 meeting, Telesca will contact Shepard to see
if Cobleskill is a possibility. The date of the meeting was set at 4/20/02.
The mailing for the meeting should be 3-4 weeks in advance. It was emphasized
that the host and liaison person should plan early. It was noted that in
the spring of 2002 the high schools are off from 3/25/02 to 4/5/02 so we
should mail by 3/15/02. It was also decided that a separate mailing be
done for the election.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Richard V. Mancuso