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