Board of Publications Meeting Minutes: April 1, 2025

The Board of Publications Chairperson, Katie Frederick, welcomed those present and called the April 1, 2025, meeting to order at 9 p.m. Eastern time.

Board members present: Katie Frederick, Jeff Bishop, Cheryl Cumings, Bel Collins, and Zelda Gebhard.

Ex-Officio members present: Sharon Lovering, ACB Braille Forum Editor; and Deb Cook Lewis, ACB President.

Jeff moved to approve the agenda. Zelda seconded the motion. Motion approved.

Cheryl moved to approve. Bel seconded the motion.

Motion approved.

Penny Reeder, noted while reading a formerly written Braille Forum article about the BOP awards republished in the January issue, it did not contain gender neutral language. She reminded us that several years ago the BOP decided to use nongender pronouns in our articles. Katie thanked her for the reminder.

A request was made during the Leadership Meetings, following the sharing of the approved revised guidelines, that we consider allowing one announcement of a Community event. Deb confirmed that for now she will be allowing ACB committees and affiliates one posting per event. The revised Leadership Guidelines will be posted soon.

Katie asked for input. Cheryl asked about the policy of forwarded messages related to outside sources. The current policy is that these will be permitted if the source is not readily available and the subject matter is relevant to the subscribers. Personal messages should not be forwarded.

After a robust discussion, it was decided by consensus that any event already on the ACB Community schedule will not be allowed to be posted on the Conversation list. ACB affiliates and committees will be allowed one announcement per event, and it was also decided to compile and provide a weekly post to ACB Conversation containing other blindness-related announcements. Details as to the name of this post, and the day of the week for posting are yet to be determined. It was suggested that we develop a form to be used for submission and include the link in the list guidelines and a link to the guidelines will appear in the footer of each email on the Conversation list.

Jeff and Katie will work together to create the form. Email input will be used to create the necessary guidelines.

Katie will add amend the Conversation List Guidelines to include tonight’s agreed upon revisions. The amended guidelines will come before the BOP at our April meeting for approval.

Jamaica Miller asked where information about resolutions will appear. Deb responded that the announcements of the meetings will appear on the ACB Community Schedule, and the text of the resolutions will be posted elsewhere, perhaps the Convention list, perhaps the Constant Contact list.

April - Jeff and Zelda

May – Cheryl and Bel

The April Member on the Mic post about 2024 ACB JPMorgan Chase Leadership Fellow, Jennifer Bazer has been made.

Editor’s Report - April 2025

Statistics

March 2025

Braille distributed: 435
Braille returned: 4
Braille return rate: 0.92%
Braille received: 431
Cartridge distributed: 309
Large print distributed: 1,044
Large print returned: 7
Large print return rate: 0.67%
Large print received: 1,037
Email distributed: 5,581
Bounces: 48
Spam: 0
Unsubscribes: 1
Return rate: 0.86%
Email delivered: 5,533

April 2025

Braille distributed: 447
Cartridge distributed: TBA - I should have this information later on this week
Large print distributed: 1,066
Email distributed: 5,776

May 2025

Braille to be distributed: 458
Cartridge to be distributed: TBA
Large print to be distributed: 1,161
Email to be distributed: TBA

Deadlines for the Next Issues

June – All things Convention; deadline: April 23, 2025

July-August - mental health and wellness; deadline: May 23, 2025

September - emergency preparedness-accessible alert devices; deadline: July 23, 2025

April’s Table of Contents

Tuesday Evenings with Great-Grandfather: Lessons in Political Discourse, by Deb Cook Lewis

A Note from the Executive Director, by Scott Thornhill

Advocacy in Action, by Claire Stanley

Summary of the 2025 Legislative Imperatives, by Kyla Ventura

Learn about Continuing Education and Professional Development Hours, by Janet Dickelman

Join Us and Spring Into Action!, by Cecily Laney Nipper

Get Active: Resources and Variety Are the Keys, by Connie Bateman

Get Up and Go!, by Thomas J. Murphy

Pedaling My Way to Fame and Misfortune, by Janet di Nola Parmerter

Christmas Bowl, by Abbie Johnson Taylor

Spring Forward: 10 Tips to Maximize Your Spring Cleaning from a BVI Perspective, by Anthony Corona

The Gift That Keeps on Giving, by Tom Tobin

Shaping the Future of Accessible Learning: Your Voice Matters, by Kaili Makeoka

Be A Leader Anyway, interpretation by Amanda Selm

Warpaint, by Nancy Scott

In Memoriam: Edward Lex Potter, March 24, 1932-January 14, 2025

Here and There, edited by Cynthia G. Hawkins

May’s Table of Contents

2025 Convention Snippets, by Janet Dickelman

Seeking Volunteers for the 2025 Information Desk, by Cecily Laney Nipper

The 2025 ACB Brenda Dillon Memorial Walk: Step by Step Together, by Katie Frederick

Paving the Way for Everyone’s Future, by Doug Powell

Our Octogenarian Odyssey, by Janet DiNola Parmerter

Man’s Best Friend Plus 2, by Anthony Corona

Riding the Roller Coaster of Life, by Melody Holloway

Summary of the March 15, 2025 Board Meeting, by Katie Frederick

Passings

Here and There, edited by Cynthia G. Hawkins

***

As I write this, I am putting the finishing touches on the May issue.

I continue to put together the Dots and Dashes newsletter. The next issues will go out April 7^th and 21st.

I’m still working with the archives/history committee on preserving and digitizing old recordings and documents from ACB events and identifying people in photos. Some of the work involves digitizing board minutes. In the old minutes, I have worked my way through the ‘80s and am working on the ‘90s.

I continue to work on digitizing and modernizing old issues of the Forum to current large print standards and organizing them on our SharePoint drive. I’ve finished 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968 and 1969, and am working my way through 1962. Then I’ll tackle 1963. I should be able to finish this digitization project before convention.

I continue to record the Washington Connection, and some of the other boxes on our phone system, such as the national convention box, the scholarship information, and the state convention box. I updated the Washington Connection on March 26^th.

I have also updated the Job Connection. The new one will be posted by the time you read this.

June – All things Convention, deadline April 23

July-August – Mental Health and Wellness, deadline May 24

September – Emergency Preparedness and Accessible Alert Devices plus Convention Follow Up, deadline July 23

We decided on Lone Star Gazette as the name for the Convention newspaper.

Rick will share a written report.

Scheduled for Friday, April 25 at 8:30 PM. Jeff is willing to share information about what BITS is planning to present at Convention about AI.

The meeting was adjourned.

Next BOP Meeting is scheduled for May 6, 2025, at 9:00 PM Eastern.

Respectfully submitted,
Zelda Gebhard, Director
ACB Board of Publications