Northern Nevada Home Schools, Inc.

Board of Directors Meeting

Monday, March 6, 2006, 5:30 P.M.

Round Table Pizza, Virginia & Peckham, Reno, Nevada

Minutes

Present: Jim Poston, Chair

Patti Poston, Secretary

David Pennington, Editor

Jim Demuth, Director

Shannon Simpkins, Treasurer

1. Call to order and approval of agenda – meeting called to order at 5:45 pm and agenda approved.

2. Approve minutes of October 26, 2005 meeting – Minutes approved

3. Comments by members and discussion of comments - None

4. Reports

a. Chair – Jim Poston – AMC 8 and AMC 10 exams were given, $1,000 received from Meridian Gold

b. Treasurer – Shannon Simpkins – Report will be submitted by email

c. Activities Committee – Elizabeth Dahl – No report

d. Programs Committee – Carol Williams – Writing workshop planned, David will check on other upcoming programs

New Business

5. American Mathematics Competition –Shannon moved and David seconded to approve $62 for the AMC 10 exam. Approved unanimously.

6. Meridian Gold donation – This year, Meridian Gold has donated $1,000 to NNHS to further our work in educating children in our community. One of the Meridian’s themes in their gift-giving is children’s physical education. Patti and Elizabeth Dahl are working on a Presidential Physical Fitness Challenge for the spring, with Meridian as the sponsor. Jim P. will send a letter of thanks and a note to the newspaper.

7. Care Committee – The new voice message center is up and running, with voice messages being sent out via email. Shannon and Patti volunteered to handle the incoming emails, with assistance as needed from the rest of the board. Jim P. will route the messages to their email addresses.

8. Membership fee and benefits – Carol Williams recently proposed making membership free, with a fee only for the printed newsletter for example. Last year, Jim P. presented a proposal for volunteer incentives, no membership fee for 1 year, 2 years, or forever. At the time, the board decided not to pursue the volunteer incentives because of the difficulty in tracking volunteer assignments. The board has also voted in the past to provide certain benefits for members only (email discussion list, newsletter, early notice of events, etc.) The board extensively discussed the goals of NNHS, volunteer incentives, and member benefits. Patti moved and Shannon seconded to give a free year of membership for each year of service as board member, activity or program chair, care committee, webmaster, advisory council rep or any member that organizes 2 or more field trips/activities for NNHS in a calendar year, effective with their next renewal. Approved unanimously. The board also agreed that the website should remain open to all, but members would be able to sign up for field trips electronically. Non-members would sign up via the voicemail line.

9. Participation limits on NNHS events – David is concerned that some NNHS events which have limited openings are filled with those who are consistently first in line to RSVP, or have advance notice. Sometimes NNHS members are not able to sign up. The board agreed that there would be restrictions. If an activity is full, members can create their own. An event hosted by a member and advertised through NNHS will be designated an NNHS activity. Those hosted by a non-member or not advertised through NNHS will be a non-NNHS activity.

10. NNHS scholarships – Shannon asked if NNHS would consider offering scholarships, perhaps with requirements of being an NNHS member for at least 3 years, been homeschooled, and be a junior or senior. – Jim P. will bring some examples to look at next meeting to try to create a yearly scholarship for NNHS members.

11. Elections – Elections for board positions are scheduled for June. Positions coming up for re-election are: Chair, Editor, Director-at-large. Jim P. announced he would run for re-election as Chair. David said he would not be running. It would be helpful if the named officers could create a draft of duties. Jim D. said he would consider running for re-election if no other candidates step forward.

12. Homeschool Conference – The Home Educators of Faith (HEOF) cancelled their homeschool conference for this year due to lack of volunteers. NNHS has decided not to host an annual conference. The board agreed that if HEOF decides to put on a conference next year that NNHS would volunteer resources to help. Jim D. moved and David seconded to offer our informational resources to advertise their conference. Jim P. will contact the HEOF board to offer our help.

13. Activities announcements --
June 23, 2006 – End of Year Picnic
May 5 - June 2, 2006 – President’s Challenge Physical Fitness Testing
August 28, 2006 -- Not Back to Public School Brunch

14. Adjourn – Meeting adjourned at 8:16pm