Board Meeting of the North American Reggio Emilia Alliance
Washington, DC
November 20, 2013
Present: Margie Cooper, Barbara Acton, Amelia Gambetti, Lella Gandini, Jeanne Goldhaber,
Susan Redmond, Angela Ferrario, Jennifer Strange, Beth MacDonald, Jennifer Kesselring,
Jennifer Azzariti – Carol Anne Wien arrived at end of meeting
Absent: Pat Tarr, Brenda Fyfe, Teresa Acevedo, Ellen Hall, Simonetta Cittadini-Medina, David
Fernie
Staff: Judith Kaminsky and Cheryl Rapaport
Announcements:
 Welcome to guest, Emanuela Vercalli
The board meeting was called to order at 8:20 am.
Motion to approve minutes of 2/13 board meeting in Tucson. Jennifer Azzariti moved to
approve the minutes. Seconded by Beth MacDonald. Minutes approved unanimously
Motion to approve minutes of 7/13 board meeting held in Hawaii. Jennifer Kesselring moved
to approve the minutes. Seconded by Susan Redmond. Minutes approved unanimously
Staff Reports
Finance (11/15/13 financial statement)
 2013 Budget was approved last year with $70K shortfall for the year. Currently, we show
$121K shortfall. $50K shortfall difference is due to decreased income from summer
conference, membership revenues still to be collected in 2013, outstanding $16K exhibit
payment from Greenville, unbudgeted expense of two laptops for two new employees.
We anticipate ending the year with $90K-$100K shortfall (or 20K-30K worse than
budget). Cash on hand will cover shortfall.
 Would like to see our cash reserve increase to $300K to $500K as protection against
large conference planning realities
 Final exhibit rental fees to Reggio Emilia were made this year. Final payment of three
year Foundation support pledge will be made in 2014.
 SC in Hawaii was a hit to our finances but we did not lose money. We actually made
between $20,000-$25,000. Hawaii host community was very supportive in keeping
expenses to a minimum.
 Note the almost 10K in new income for NAREA Job Postings on the website. Barb Acton
found her new job from one of the postings.
Membership (11/13 membership report, monthly membership totals 11/13)
 Membership numbers have remained low over the years
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Board asked to bring ideas to expand membership to the February meeting
Changes must be in place prior to October 1st
Could there be a change in the Program level? Perhaps offer 3 levels of Program
membership based on the size of the school. Example, you would get x number of
conference discounts for a certain Program Level. Peachtree Presbyterian has 60
Associate members. What do other organizations do? Can we make advertisements,
promotions, flyers more attractive?
Why should NAREA be supported? Not about the benefits but more mission-driven.
Ours is a statement against the status quo of education and an act of professional
courage. NAREA is a way of standing together and being counted.
Promote Innovations – only resource of its kind
Develop strategies to inspire and to breathe new life into membership
Could have collected new memberships at the Tour of Schools (St. John’s)
Website Redesign (Margie)
 NAREA is working with web designers to overhaul website. It has proven to be an
extremely difficult project with many challenges. Current mocks look attractive visually,
but content is more difficult due to complexity of our message. It has taken longer than
planned. Improving functions of website and looking at possibility to include a simple
process for automatic renewal. Hopefully will be ready by first of year
 2014 membership CD will be in Membership section of website in January. There will be
no hard copy. Plans to repackage old CDs and additional materials for study guides.
Exhibit (11/13 exhibit report and 2014 exhibit call for proposals)
 Exhibit project extended through 2018
 Possibilities:
o NYC in first half of 2015 and will also host Winter Conference
o Agency for Jewish Learning in Pittsburgh – collaborating with Cyert Center and
others possible host for second half of 2015 and also host Summer Conference.
o Toronto host along with Summer Conference in last half of 2016.
 Judy to try to determine host community for first half of 2016. DC study group and
Houston United Way might be interested.
 In Greenville, NAREA will begin needed repairs to the exhibit and has been in contact
with a reputable exhibit repair company in the trade show business.
 Margie to draft letter to Claudia giving update and asking for art files; Amelia to review
 Call for proposals for 2017 and 2018
Public Relations - Ten Year Report
 Draft ready for review.
 Asked board to approve amount in next year’s budget to work with a company that
generates annual reports to make report beautiful, have the right tone, amount of
content and be a pleasure to read.
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Innovations (11/13 Innovations report)
 Request from Reggio Emilia Australia Information Exchange to republish Tiziana’s article
from winter 2013 issue. Cost of publishing articles high. Reggio Children must develop
strategy to share material with various international networks. Topic to be discussed at
2/14 RC International Network meeting. Judy to draft letter to REAIE re: discussion of
request at board meeting included Amelia and Emanuela; deeper understanding and
analysis necessary; further discussion must be with Reggio Children and Istituzione; will
send to Margie for review
Conferences
 2013 Summer Conference (2013 summer conference summary of evaluations)
o Judy has repeatedly requested quote and timeline for edited draft of Giudici
interview. No response from Makaha Studios. May be best to work with Portland
videographer.
 2014 Winter Conference (2014 winter conference report)
o Date: February 27-March 1
o Board meeting: March 2-3
o Patty Randall finalizing program. Will send to Reggio Children.
 2014 Summer Conference (2014 summer conference update)
o Date: June 19-21
o Board Meeting: June 18
o Judy to prepare brochure to be mailed in December
 Lifetime Achievement Awards update
o Margie will contact Susan Fraser to inform of award and discuss options for
receiving (2016 summer conference in Ontario?)
Board Work Groups
Networks and Relations (Angela, Jennifer K., Dave, Margie, Jeanne)
 Have to draft and submit report (including Hawaii meetings)
 Angela will organize conference call
Research and Review (Jeanne, Brenda, Judy K.)
 Jeanne has reviewed resources sent by Judy and will write report
 Judy to send Jeanne new resources
CD 2014/2015 (Jennifer K., Jennifer A., Amelia)
 On hold as we assess the upcoming placement of 2014 benefit on new website
NAEYC 2013 (Beth, Jennifer S., Angela, Jennifer A., Dave, Barbara, Jeanne, Amelia)
 Tour of schools—St. John’s
o City in the Rain and dance project: most positive reflections from morning
presentations
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o Small group discussions: way for people to connect and discuss presentations
o Appreciate connection between school and NAREA
o Lella: school looked more complex; decision to be more reflective, explore what
not familiar
o Amelia: third time there; the more there is development of work, the more there
can be development; visibility of work encourages you
NAEYC 2014
o Work group volunteers: Beth MacDonald, Jennifer Strange, Jennifer Kesselring
o Can use pre-conference proposal template and conceive topic/content; also virtual tour
of schools initiative (Dallas):
Ten Year Report
o Reviewers needed: Barbara Acton, Jeanne Goldhaber
Old Business/New Business
 Future board meeting in Reggio Emilia to invest in solidarity
o In connection with professional development initiative in Reggio?
o Swedish group comes each September; combines with own professional
development work
o Proposal to RC for May 2015 to be sent by Angela: North American study group
that combines board meeting
o Why? Investment in ourselves as a board with sense of solidarity to work in
North America; investment in our vision, mission and passion
o North American study group participation: envision as stronger entity;
organization of Sunday meeting with NAREA board; consolidate about who we
want to be in next decade
o How make sure every board member can go? Angela and Margie to draft cost
estimate and send to board members for response re: possibilities
 Iconic photos to be used in NAREA materials
o Plea for images from context with NAREA (10+ of children, parents,
environments, represent principles and values; approval to use publicly; must be
very high quality; can still be used in own context; past conference initiatives
o December 31 deadline
 Draft editorials
o Gather library of editorials by board members who write re: topic of interest to
be shared with newspapers in timely way; in which way can board become
investors in organization’s and visibility?
o To this end, board members volunteer to submit article for enewsletter one
month in 2014
 December 2013: Jeanne Goldhaber
 January 2014: Beth MacDonald
 February 2014: Jen Kesselring
 March 2014: Jen Azzariti
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April 2014: Carol Anne Wien
May 2014: Barbara Acton
June 2014: Jennifer Strange
July 2014: Amelia Gambetti
August 2014: Susan Redmond
September 2014: Angela Ferrario
October 2014: Lella Gandini
November 2014: ?
December 2014: Margie Cooper
Absent board members are requested to volunteer for November 2014
or early months 2015 by contacting Margie
 Length: link to website page; 500-1000
 Board members will guest edit one another’s articles following a system
whereby the next month’s author serves as editor
 Submit on 15th of month to Judy Kaminsky
New revenue possibilities
o Request for board to send suggestions for topics well in advance of February
2014 meeting
Reggio Children/Reggio Emilia (Emanuela Vercalli)
o November 4-5, 2013: 50th anniversary of Robinson Preschool, first preschool, celebrated
o Meeting with city council members (children, teachers, parents)
o School gathered signatures re: continuation of funds for early childhood
o School dedicated to Renzo Bonazzi, former mayor
o February 2014: continuation of 50th anniversary celebration; 20th anniversary RC; 10th
anniversary Istituzione; 20 year anniversary Malaguzzi death
o National group for infant toddler centers: conference in Reggio (founded by
Malaguzzi; Gunilla Dahlberg and Peter Moss: speakers)
o Meeting Reggio Children – Loris Malaguzzi Center Foundation and RC
International Network (2/18, 19, 20 + professional development)
o Special edition of Bambini dedicated to Malaguzzi and economic crisis (asking
networks to write articles)
o International conference
o Study groups: international study group on culture of atelier (80-100 participants)
o Exhibition: WOL in India (New Delhi) opening Saturday: Paola Strozzi at opening;
Australia in 2014 and Munich in October 2014; Nordic version: possibly in August 2014
o Carla at Spanish early childhood conference
o Simona Bonilauri and Marina Mori in Japan
o Claudia Giudici and Mirella Ruozzi: Red Solare Mexico and Argentina (pedagogical
coordinator course with Simonetta Cittadini, Harold Gothson and Birgitta Kennedy,
Reggio Emilia Institutet
o Relationships at international level: more countries coming to Reggio Emilia (110 total);
more requests for Reggio representatives to come to countries (China, India and Middle
East especially)
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Carol Anne Wien
 Ontario update
o 38% of Canadian population is in Ontario
o Liberal government in 2009 began to implement full day kindergarten program
in province; developed early learning policy branch in Ministry of Education;
developing full day child care program
o Government official participated in study group in Reggio: very impressed and
wanted to pursue immediately; branch of Ministry including ideas from Reggio,
notably notion of pedagogical documentation
o Concerned about distortions (think of as assessment); care taken not to go
quickly; assessment not rolled out yet; videos on Ministry website-research
briefs (with ORA participation); language from Reggio used
o Pearson developed an online tool for pedagogical documentation; met with
Pearson re: supporting teachers
 The Power of Emergent Curriculum: (Carol Anne’s new book for NAEYC)
o Gathers articles in Young Children from same context in Nova Scotia
o How thinking expands; children and adults eventually able to confront difficult
life events and include in daily curriculum
The Board Meeting was adjourned at 11:00 am
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