Present: Charles Hodge, Chair, Cindy Burgett, Mike Duke, Deanna Noriega; ex officios Janelle Edwards and Ralph Sanders Staff: Sharon Lovering, Acting Editor
Chair Charlie Hodge called the meeting to order around 7:15 p.m.
Minutes of Previous Meetings
Charlie asked Sharon to send the minutes of the July 4, July 19 and October 11 meetings of the BOP to Earlene Hughes so they can be posted on the web site.
Charlie explained that Mike had had trouble getting the tapes of the December 13, 2004 meeting to Ralph. When he tried to do the minutes at the hotel that day, he realized that the second tape was at his home. He asked for a motion to postpone action on the December 13 meeting. Deanna made the motion, seconded by Cindy, which passed.
Minutes of January 5, 2005
Cindy moved the minutes be approved. Deanna seconded the motion, which passed.
There was a discussion about the desirability of declaring minutes approved if there was no corrections after they had been distributed. Ralph said he felt we should check with Melanie to make sure that DC recognizes motions approved by ballot. It was agreed that Melanie should be contacted.
Chairperson's Report
Charlie said he went to the mid-year Board meeting in Las Vegas. He noted that Winifred was there as the BOP ex-officio member of the board of directors. He said that since Winifred was not at this meeting, he would report on the meeting.
Charlie reported that he made the budget request as directed by the BOP. He said the board approved $135,300 which is right between 9 and 10 issues. He said he felt this reflected the attitude of some that the Forum could be smaller in page count with more issues.
There was yet another discussion about the impact of smaller page count on the cost of "The Braille Forum." Cindy suggested we produce a couple of smaller issues to see if that would enable us to do the 10th issue.
Charlie said he felt it is better to seek additional funding from affiliates for the Forum. He reported that the Resource Development Committee recommended that the raffle, which use to be used for scholarships, go to "The Braille Forum" to increase the number of issues.
Cindy said that the Washington Council of the Blind has a grant program to which the BOP could apply. She recommended that we request $3,000. She also said she needed to stay out of the proposal since she is the WCB president.
Charlie reported on the effort by Melanie to write a policy statement on the inter-relationship between "The Braille Forum" staff and the BOP and the Public Relations Committee.
Charlie said that he and Ralph Sanders, from the PR Committee, worked with Melanie in the development of the draft. He said that Melanie took it to the board and it was approved.
Deanna raised the question of whether there was anything in the statement that would impact the BOP Policy Manual. Charlie said he would talk to Melanie about getting it sent out to the BOP. He said that was it for his report.
Proposed Revision to Section 5 of the Policy Manual
Ralph said he had a draft and that he should distribute it to the BOP soon.
BOP Editorial Policy Manual Review Committee report
Deanna reported that she had reviewed the Manual in detail. She said that other than Section 5, she has received no other suggested changes. It was agreed that the April meeting should concentrate on areas of potential concern.
Ralph noted that there had been some fundamental changes, such as Janelle's committee position being added to the BOP as a permanent ex- officio member.
There was a discussion about the date and time for the next meeting. It was agreed that the meeting would take place by phone at 8 p.m. EST on March 7, 2005.
Braille Forum Disclaimers
There was a lengthy discussion about how to handle the disclaimers for "The Braille Forum." It was generally agreed that if the right wording could be devised, we might eliminate some of the specific disclaimers in "The Braille Forum," such as for the Here and There column.
It was agreed that Mike and Ralph, working with Sharon, should continue their work on developing the disclaimer.
Report of the New Newsletter Awards Committee
Cindy said that the committee was recommending an award for newsletters that are 32 pages or less. She said that she felt it was important to avoid having the smaller newsletters placed in competition with those published by the larger affiliates. Following a lengthy discussion which included a listing of affiliates that produce newsletters that are longer than 32 pages, Cindy suggested that we could give two awards -- one for newsletters of 32 pages or less, and one for newsletters that are more than 32 pages in length.
There was a lengthy discussion. Charlie said he would bring the item back to the agenda for the April meeting. He said that maybe we could even give the first award at this summer's convention.
Sharon said that the committee felt that the first award should not be given until the 2006 convention when we will have had time to promote the competition. Everyone agreed with her.
Report of the Convention Ear and ACB Radio Equipment Committee.
Mike said that the two functions are totally separate. He said that he and Sharon had been looking at the Convention Ear issue and that there were a number of problems. He said we either needed to try and repair the current system, or decide if we want to buy a new system. He said that a major part of the problem with repairing the current system is that it is designed to run on Windows 2000 and it won't run on XP.
He noted that whatever we do, we have to decide very soon on what action we will take. Charlie said we would bring the Convention Ear issue to the April 4 meeting.
Scheduling of Meetings
Charlie noted that we already had meetings scheduled for March and April 4. He said that the BOP has often met in June. It was agreed that the BOP would hold a meeting on June 7. The convention meeting was set for 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 3.
Old Business
It was agreed that we had already covered all matters of old business.
New Business
Sharon recommended that the April issue of "The Braille Forum" be dedicated to Jim Olsen. Mike moved, and Cindy seconded, that the BOP approve the recommendation. It passed unanimously. There was a lengthy discussion about Jim's many contributions to the ACB.
Cindy moved that we adjourn. Deanna Noriega seconded the motion, which carried.
The meeting adjourned at 9:45 p.m. EST.