A description of the meeting, who was there, action items and the next meeting date.

Note: all minutes are marked “Draft” until official approved by the next committee meeting.

Minutes Executive Council Retreat at the Wildflower Inn-Lyndonville
February 7 and 8, 2008

1. The minutes of the November 12, 2007 meeting were approved. June Sargent moved and Dave Cobb seconded. Unanimous agreement.
2. President Laurie Singer welcomed everyone and thanked them for traveling through bad weather. She serves on several committees and reported on their activities to include VELC, Business Education Alliance, Leadership Academy and the Middle Level Task Force. (Report included.)
3. Dave Cobb focused on the National convention. He is a candidate for Zone I representative. Madeline Young informed the Council that Elaine Watson will represent her at the Federal Relations Conference in Washington. Joe Bowen will attend the NASSP conference in San Antonio where he will represent Vermont in the selection of the next President of NASSP.
4. Laurie Singer gave an overview of Dick Kraemer’s report on mentoring. The report was e-mailed to Council member prior to the meeting.
5. Bob Stevens reported that as of July 1, 2008 VPA2 will no longer exist. The Vermont Peace Academy will continue some of their previous work with public schools and will most likely add college programs to their focus. The VPA will not organize the state Student Council conference for another year while the “student voice” continues their work. An overview of the “voice” work will be shared with the Council at our next meeting.
6. ob Stevens reviewed the expanding costs information as it pertains to developing our strategic plan and maintaining a healthy financial status as a non-profit organization. As a follow-up to discussing expenditure growth, there was further discussion about hiring a Development Director for the 2008-2009 year. The risks and the potential gains were discussed. The position is identified in the 2008-2009 budget proposal. The CONCEPT was unanimously supported, however a formal vote will be taken at the March 25th meeting after a more formal job description has been developed.
7. Bob Johnson reported on his ASC report to include: member-to-member programs, web-streaming, the legislative testimony and US hockey issues.
8. Bob Stevens presented the 2008-2009 PROPOSED budget and highlighted specific areas such as salary increases for all office staff at 3%. The Council again tentatively accepted the budget proposal but no formal action was taken. It was requested to add an “actual expenditure” column for the 2006-2007 year even though code changes and the budget format has been changed. A formal vote on the budget will be at the March 25th meeting.
9. Bob Stevens discussed our current revenue stream relating to ASSETS. Our checking and savings money is allocated to the money market and is yielding 3-4% which is barely a cost of living rate. A better investment plan would allow us, over time, to receive a better return. There is always some risk in this type of plan but we could reinvestment approximately $200,000. and ultimately strengthen our financial position. It was agreed to move forward and an investment policy was adopted. (see attached) Madeline Young and June Sargent volunteered to represent the Council on an investment committee. Their appointments were approved by the Council.
10. Laurie Singer reviewed some of our previous strategic planning work which was accomplished during 2007. She also referenced a new draft “template”. Laurie then took members through a small group exercise to determine where individual passions rested. The next step was for each group to identify priorities, using stickies and chart paper, and then explain them to the full Council. Once that work was done, it was determined that Bob Stevens would attempt to combine previous work with current work as another draft for the EC to discuss on March 25th.
11. The meeting closed at 3:00 after having some informal discussions about the governance, statewide school calendar and the Governor appointment of the Commissioner bills.