IJA Board Meeting- January 16, 2008

1. CALL TO ORDER: Chair Don Lewis called the meeting to order at 8:02 p.m. EST.

2. ROLL:
Present: Don Lewis, Chair; Sandy Brown, Kim Laird, John Satriano, Chuck Hawley, Jerry Martin (board members), Martin Frost (Communications Director), Janelle Hawley (Recording Secretary)
Absent: Will Penman (Board Member)

3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Kim Laird moved to approve the agenda for January 16, 2008 - agenda was approved by unanimous consent

4. PREVIOUS MINUTES:
Chuck Hawley moved to approve the minutes from the December 5, 2007 meeting - minutes passed by unanimous consent

5. REPORTS:
Membership (Jim Maxwell via email) - Membership number is 1637.

Store (Sandy Brown) -Naranja has been paid for the stock of DVD's that they were unable to sell due to the copyrights. The store is getting orders for DVD's and T-shirts.

Video (Don Lewis reporting for Jeff Peden) - Jeff is looking for videographers to film next year's IJA festival.

Competition Group (Chuck Hawley) - The working group is done and provided good input. Currently, a DVD is being compiled for people to test the judging system.

World Juggling Day (Don Lewis reporting for Barry Rappaport) - Advertisements are being created for World Juggling Day.

eNewsletter (Don Lewis) - There will be a newsletter in January and it will be out before the end of the month. Some of the information will be about the festival and competitions.

6. MOTIONS

6a. 6a. Kim Laird proposed a juggleship program.

International Jugglers' Association NEED-BASED YOUTH JUGGLERSHIP
Application Deadline: April 1st each year

A limited number of Youth Jugglerships (an IJA sponsorship for a young juggler) will be made available each year so that deserving young people, who otherwise would not be able to afford it, can attend the annual IJA Festival. The Youth Jugglerships will offer each chosen young person an IJA Festival Event Package and a one-year IJA membership. Transportation and lodging is the responsibility of the individual.

Youth Jugglerships are need-based and are intended for young people ages 17 and under who would not otherwise be able to attend the annual IJA Festival without outside assistance. The individual must be 17 or younger during the festival dates. A sponsor must nominate individuals. Individuals may not nominate themselves. Parents or family members cannot serve as sponsors. Those being nominated may not have attended any previous IJA Festivals.

The sponsor should complete the Sponsor and Nominee information requested below. They are also required to compose a letter of referral-about 300 words-which includes the following:

--How long have you known the young juggler?
--Describe the nominee's juggling ability.
--Describe the nominee's desire to learn more.
--Include special characteristics of this young juggler and why they are deserving of an IJA Jugglership.
--Include background, along with any other information you feel is pertinent to the committee's decision.

Email all information and referral letter to (insert email address) no later than April 1.

Notification of Nominees
Once a nominee's sponsor information and letter have been received and reviewed by the committee, the nominees and their parents will be contacted by a member of the Youth Jugglership Committee through email. The nominee will be asked to write an essay explaining why he/she are deserving of an IJA Youth Jugglership and how juggling has enriched their lives. This essay must be submitted by email to the committee members at (insert email address here). If the nominee does not submit this essay by the deadline, their nomination for the IJA Youth Jugglership will be withdrawn.

In addition, the nominee's parent(s) must send an email confirming they have read their son or daughter's essay. To establish that the Youth Jugglership is truly need-based, the parent(s) must confirm that without the Jugglership, their son or daughter would not be attending.

Youth Jugglerships are not transferable and may not be redeemed for cash.

Notification of IJA Youth Jugglership Award Recipients
Nomination applications will be reviewed by a committee of at least five IJA members (including at least one board member).
Notification will be made to the Youth Jugglership recipients and their sponsor no later than May 1.

Motion is passed with unanimous consent.

6b. Don Lewis proposed Kim Laird become the new chair for the bylaw committee.

Discussion: A question was asked about the reality of changes being made to the bylaws within the next year. There is a real possibility; most of the discussion is on the procedure to review the bylaws. Most likely there will not be major changes to the bylaws, just simplifying the bylaws to complement Roberts Rules of Order.

Kim Laird abstains from the vote.
Motion is passed
Thank you Kim and Thank you Will for all your work.

6c. Sandy Brown moves that, even though the IJA databases have not yet been synchronized, the IJA Open Discussion forum be made a members-only forum, requiring a member username and password to access. In addition, the IJA will adopt a zero-tolerance policy for personal attacks on its forums. Posts containing personal attacks will be made invisible as soon as detected by a forum moderator. Posts that discuss IJA business in forums that do not require a login to post will be moved to the Open Discussion forum. The Board can, by vote of a majority of its current members, in a meeting or electronically, overrule a moderator's decision to move, to hide, to not move, or to not hide a post. Since members have already been notified about how to log in to the forums to access members-only portions, these changes should be implemented immediately or as soon as practicable.

Discussion: Don Lewis and David Landowne are currently the moderators of the forum. This motion will have to be assessed and re-assessed throughout the next couple of months. There is question as to what is defined as a personal attack. The parliamentarian at Winston-Salem mentioned this past summer that anytime a person's name, principle, lifestyle or belief is referenced that can be considered a personal attack. The motion applies to personal attacks on all forums run by the IJA. The motion will be revised to say, the IJA will adopt a zero-tolerance policy for personal attacks on all its forums. Personal attacks are defined in Roberts Rules of Order that is one definition that can be followed. The question was raised about the problem of personal attacks on the forum. If a post was deleted, a new post will be put up saying it was moderated until the board makes a decision on the original post.

Revised motion: Sandy Brown moves that, even though the IJA databases have not yet been synchronized, the IJA Open Discussion forum be made a members-only forum, requiring a member username and password to access. In addition, the IJA will adopt a zero-tolerance policy for personal attacks on all its forums. Posts containing personal attacks will be made invisible as soon as detected by a forum moderator. Posts that discuss IJA business in forums that do not require a login to post will be moved to the Open Discussion forum. The Board can, by vote of a majority of its current members, in a meeting or electronically, overrule a moderator's decision to move, to hide, to not move, or to not hide a post. Since members have already been notified about how to log in to the forums to access members-only portions, these changes should be implemented immediately or as soon as practicable.

Roll Call Vote:
Chuck: Opposed
John: Yes
Sandy: Yes
Jerry: Yes
Kim: Yes
Don: Yes
Motion is Passed

6d. John Satriano proposed that access to the IJA forums become a member benefit. Nonmembers will not have access to the forums, with the exception of read only access to the following forums:
The current annual festival forum
Shared Interest sub forums
News
World Juggling Day

John Satriano's motion was tabled.

7. VARIA

7a. Kim Laird talked about a juggle camp for kids to attend. There will be more discussion in the future.

7b. Kim Laird mentioned commemorating Art Jennings at the next IJA festival. She asked the board to start thinking of ideas on how to do it.

8. NEXT MEETING: Next regular BOD meeting will be held on February 13, 2008 at 8:00 p.m. EST.

9. ADJOURNMENT: Sandy Brown moved to adjourn. Meeting was adjourned at 9:36 p.m. EST by unanimous consent.

Respectfully submitted by Janelle Hawley.