Executive Summary Minutes Board Meeting 6-10-2020

Massachusetts School Library Association 
Executive Board meeting 
June 10, 2019 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
(Fourth full board meeting during school shutdown for COVID-19 Crisis)

Virtual Meeting

Attending:
Jennifer Dimmick, Secretary
Patsy Divver, Co-Director Metrowest Region
Maria D’Orsi, Co-Director Metrowest Region
Deeth Ellis, Advocacy Co-Chair
Michelle Fontaine, incoming Treasurer
Sarah Forfa, Co-Director West Region
Wendy Garland, Awards
Alida Hanson, Professional Learning
Laura Harrington, Co-Director Northeast Region
Laura Luker, President
Claudia Palframan, Co-Director West Region 
Greg Pronevitz, Director of Outreach
Reba Tierney, Co-Editor MSLA Forum
Georgina Trebbe, Advocacy Co-Chair
Carrie Tucker, Past President
Pamela Vallee, Co-Director Central Region
Morgan Van Clief, Co-Director Boston Region
Jen Varney, Treasurer
Alix Woznick, Professional Learning

Reports and minutes of May meeting were approved. 

Housekeeping items --- Laura Luker

• CARES Act grants -- school libraries are eligible (has to do with Virtual Programming for Distance Learning), be sure to consider applying.
• Partnering with MLS to create a resource guide about diversity and anti-racist education, gathering resources for and from librarians. 
• Rewriting MSLA Strategic Plan starts next year (current plan ends 2022)

Performance evaluations and contract approvals --- Laura Luker

• Director of Outreach Greg Pronevitz’s performance review and contract ending December 31, 2020 were reviewed and approved. 
• Office Manager / Event Planner Emily Kristofek’s performance review and 12-month contract were reviewed and approved.

Professional Development -- Laura Luker and Georgina Trebbe

• 100+ people responded to survey
  • Learning to be an anti-racisit and school re-opening plans top the list.
  • Approx 44 people are interested in the white supremacy study group Alida Hanson will be running this summer.
• A subcommittee is working on “plan B” revenue streams in case there is no in-person conference again next year. 

Advocacy Committee --- Greg Pronevitz, Deeth Ellis, and/or Georgina Trebbe

• Greg Pronevitz reports that virtual legislative day was a tremendous success; Deeth Ellis and he presented; more than double typical in-person attendance (400+ people; 30+ legislators and aides present, a little lower than normal). It appeared that there were a lot more school librarians at the virtual meeting than we typically get.
• Greg Pronevitz worked with Laura Luker, Jennifer Harris, MLA Legislative Committee Chair, and Greg Peverill-Conti and Adam Zand from www.librarylandproject.com to get an OpEd published in the Boston Globe in support of Virtual Library Legislative Days, but were unsuccessful in getting it published so used it as an announcement instead.
• Deeth Ellis is continuing to work with DESE data and MLA to create a preliminary school library census despite having no conference this year; the board confirmed this ongoing priority.
• Georgina Trebbe wrote a blog post for Knowledge Quest/AASL on the Virtual Librarian libguide. 
• Greg Pronevitz expressed thanks to Deeth Ellis for her hard work on Advocacy this year.
• Carrie Tucker shared that Maryland’s School Library Association created an online form for librarians who need assistance with Advocacy in their district (e.g., facing cuts). Greg Pronevitz indicated that the committee hopes to build tools for those who will need this kind of assistance as budget cuts increase in the coming year(s).
• Stats on Virtual Librarian: 
  • March 2020: 286 views
  • April 2020: 2,486 views
  • May 2020: 806 views
  • June 1-9: 441 views (there was a spike on June 1 – 196 views)
  • Total: 4,019 views
• Greg Pronevitz sent a thank you letter to Commissioner Rileyfor his mention of the Virtual School Library in his weekly update and in response his staff volunteered to add our VSL to their Coronavirus site’s resources. It hasn’t been updated yet, but hope it will be soon.

Laura Luker: welcome to Michelle Fontaine, our incoming Treasurer for next year.

Office updates --- Emily Kristofek 

• All conference refunds are complete.
• Patsy Divver suggested that we collect both personal and professional emails on registration forms so that if a member leaves a school then we don’t lose contact with them. 

Budget Report --- Jen Varney

• Revised budget based on last month’s discussion points was reviewed and approved.

Policy manual update --- Relevant items were reviewed and approved:

• Added Paradis award.
• Vote to approve committees: President recommends maintaining current committees in addition to a new committee devoted to anti-racism and equity.
  • Need to also make room to audit the board as a whole; our structure and processes -- that might be something for this committee to work on and/or work it into our strategic planning process.
• Formalize MLS liaison.
• Changes to monthly meetings - make them open meetings with public comment periods. 
• Annual meeting changes - we need a virtual annual meeting this year. 

Lots of issues we need to grapple with as a board -- not just diversity issues, but also examining the way we operate overall and transparency to our members.


Discussion of MSLA’s statement on anti-racism and recent events; removing reference to NESLA, otherwise approved.

• Needs to be built into the strategic plan.

Continuation of this discussion TBD - stay tuned to email.

Meeting adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Dimmick