NAREA BOARD MEETING
December 7, 2005
Washington, D.C.
Present: Judy Abrams, Shareen Abramson, Terrie Acevedo, Sygrid Caudle, Sausan
Burshan, Margie Cooper, Angela Ferrario, Lori Geismar-Ryan, Ellen Hall, Karen Haigh,
Sammie Holloway, Sheri Hunt, Judith Allen Kaminsky, Susan Lyon, Beth MacDonald
Absent: Simonetta Cittadini-Medina, Pat Tarr, Mabel Higgins, Ann Bardwell
Guests: Amelia Gambetti and Lella Gandini
The meeting began at 1:00 p.m.
Alignment of board rotation:
Karen opened the meeting by asking Susan Lyon to present an amendment to the board
meeting minutes of last July 2005. Susan Lyon, chair of the Organizational
Development committee moved that we hold a vote on the proposed slate (attached) of
officers to realign the board rotation. Margie Cooper seconded the motion and all were in
favor. Susan made a second motion to approve the slate of board members and Ellen
Hall seconded it. Discussion: These board members are agreeing to continue the next
second term and it is retroactive to March 2005. All were in favor and the motion was
carried.
Introduction of board members:
Shareen Abramson: Professor at Fresno University in California. Very interested in the
Reggio experience, member of the Professional Development committee
Judy Abrams: at Cyert Center for 31 years, currently serves as director. Co-chair for
membership committee.
Sammie Holloway: Atlanta, Georgia. Working at Atlanta Technical College and
working with community groups who are studying practices from Reggio and is seeking
to further her work in schools in Atlanta.
Sheri Hunt: Executive Director of World Bank Children’s Center, Washington, D.C
Sygrid Caudle: Working with Head Start programs and the Reggio Emilia approach in
Washington, D.C.
Amelia Gametti: Works for Reggio Children and collaborates in the U.S.
Lella Gandini: Liason for Reggio Children in the U.S. and has been working with these
ideas for many years.
Lori Geismar-Ryan: Director, Clayton School’s Family Center, St. Louis
Collaborative, Co-Chair Communication & Information committee
Sausan Burshan: Director, Agora Communidad in Merida, Mexico. Member of
Professional Development committee
Jennifer Strange: Currently teaching at Webster University, St. Louis, MO. and
consultant around the country.
Margie Cooper: President of Inspired Practices in Early Education, Inc., which provides
organizational support to NAREA. Chair of the Finance committee for NAREA
NAREA Board Meeting
December, 2005
Washington, D.C.
Judy Kaminsky: Works at Merrill Palmer Institute, Wayne State University, Detroit,
MI, Editor of Innovations in Early Education and co-chair of Communications &
Information committee for NAREA
Susan Lyon – San Francisco, executive director of Innovative Teacher Project in
dialogue with the Reggio approach. Chair for Organizational Development committee
for NAREA and is seeking a co-chair.
Angela Ferrario: U.S. liaison study groups to Reggio Emilia and co-chair of the
Professional Development committee for NAREA.
Ellen Hall: Boulder Journey School, Boulder, CO. Membership co-chair for NAREA
Beth MacDonald: Executive Director of MacDonald Montessori School in St. Paul,
MN. Co-chair of NAREA and the Membership committee
Terrie Acevedo: Director of children services for Head Start in S.E. Arizona and is
working on Reggio with Tucson Children’s Project, part of the public schools.
Karen Haigh: Co-chair of NAREA and Executive Director of Governor’s State Family
Center Development.
Minutes approved:
Karen made a motion to approve the minutes of the last board meeting held in St. Paul,
July, 2005. Lori and Sausan seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion was
carried.
Update from Reggio Children
Amelia Gambetti: The focus in Reggio is on the February conference and the grand
opening of the Loris Malaguzzi International Center. Reggio Children offices and the
exhibit halls are there. It is dedicated to opportunities for adults and children. The center
will provide sources of interest for children ages 3 months to 18 years and professional
development initiatives for educators. The new building has a big auditorium and has
dedicated a restaurant, preschool and elementary school over the next four years. The
conference will have 4 different study groups.
 Leadership Study Group – Dates 2/19 – 2/22 for administrators, policy makers,
foundation staff, politicians, business leaders, funders
 Students & Professor Study Group – 2/19 – 2/22 for early childhood students
 Atelierista Study Group – 2/22 – 2/25 for atelieristas, studio and art teachers
 International Study Group – 2/19 – 2/24 for pedagogical coordinators and
consultants, infant-toddler centers, preschools, kindergartens
Registrations are going very well beyond the expectations from all over the world. The
grand opening will be for all the participants on the 22nd. Groups should contact Angela
Ferrario or the web site. Reggio Children would like help in making projections for the
next conference. Angela is keeping track of the numbers of people interested and names
of people on a waiting list.
Beth MacDonald made a presentation of a gift to NAREA from Carlina. A book titled,
“IN DIALOGUE WITH REGGIO EMILIA, LISTENING, RESEARCHING AND
LEARNING” by Carlina Rinaldi
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NAREA Board Meeting
December, 2005
Washington, D.C.
Lella Gandini: Working on putting together a history of Loris Malaguzzi from his time
spent in the U.S. She would like to have everyone’s memories and contributions or
images. These will be together with documentation of the evolution of the Reggio
approach in the U.S. The map of contexts would be a very instrumental piece to have to
show the contexts all over the U.S. and the continuing documentation.
Finance Report
Margie Cooper explained that the 1st page of the report is a narrative of key points
connected to the financial status. Page 2 is the financial statement from inception. Page
3 is the financial statement for the 2005 conference and page 4 is the revenue by month
from inception. The dilemma of these reports is that our year is from January to
December, but the majority of our members join in November and December. Therefore,
we have a good understanding of our expenses for the year, but we never know if we will
make our revenue targets. For example, in November of 2004, we showed $19,000 in
revenue for the year and in November of this year (2005) we are showing only $5,000 in
revenue; however, hopefully the late date of NAEYC will increase revenues for
December to compensate for the lower than normal income for November.
Last March, we approved the 2005 budget with a $16,000 shortfall; however, we made
$11,000 in profit from hosting the summer conference, which decreased our shortfall to
$5,000. We seem to be compensating for the shortfall through conservation of expenses
and donations. We continue to collect memberships and hopefully between now and
December 31st (after expenses from NAEYC) we will end with a zero deficit or perhaps
a slight profit.
The proposed budget for 2006 is based on having another conference or some other type
of revenue producing initiative. If not, we will have a greater shortfall than the proposed
budget, which shows a shortfall of $6,700. Several line items are easy to estimate and
others were increased by 5 percent. The majority of expense is for Innovations and
personnel and those items will be about the same for next year. Contributions for the
conference for next year were not included in the proposed budget—maybe we can host a
revenue producing conference without needing contributions. In 2005, without the
contributions, we would have made $5,000.
We should all have a good understanding of how much money we have allotted for each
committee to do their work. Another point regarding the summer conference, we ordered
$6,800 in books and sold $4,100 and therefore we have assets of $2,600 in books. These
are in St. Paul. Those books will most likely be sold in St. Paul at their spring
conferences, adding more revenue to our books. We have collected approximately
$2,100 in contributions for the NAREA reception and we should collect a little more.
Discussion: It was decided to vote on the budget after the report from the professional
development and the discussion regarding a summer conference.
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NAREA Board Meeting
December, 2005
Washington, D.C.
Membership Report
Beth MacDonald reported that staff from Boulder, Oklahoma, MacDonald Montessori
and Cheryl Rapaport would cover the membership table. This is a big task covered by 5
teams this year (see handout) all sessions need a board member to introduce NAREA and
outline benefits of membership. Beth passed out a list of sessions asking board members
to volunteer for this task and also provided a script to read.
Ellen Hall reported on the map of contexts, which is being developed at this conference.
Jennifer Kesselring, membership coordinator from OK, has volunteered to take on this
task and it would go to the Festival of Organizations and the membership coordinator’s
meeting, as well as the reception. This map includes push pins in North America where
people are working on Reggio Emilia contexts and includes information such as size of
classrooms and contact people. This will help us to understand what is happening in
North America. People are getting more and more interested in becoming part of this
organization.
Judy Abrams created a member coordinator’s notebook and shipped 48 here to be handed
out at the meeting. It contains a list of ways that members can participate as well as a
definition of the committee work. It lists ideas for networking and sources of
information. Three new membership coordinators have joined this morning.
Challenges and Goals:
1. Maintain or create more visibility of NAREA members and coordinators.
2. Find out how many people are involved with work inspired by Reggio who are
not NAREA members and Judy will analyze this information.
Professional Development
Angela Ferrario reported on status of Fundamental Principal Workshops. Seventeen
locations responded and were put on the flyer. She believes that these workshops will
expand as more member coordinators become involved. A conference call or other type
of communication will be held with them in early January and packets will be put
together.
NAREA members who register for the North American Winter Institute will receive a
discount of $75.00.
Beth read a proposal from Pat Tarr regarding the exhibit in Calgary. The exhibit dates
are January 2006 through August 2006. Pat would like to have the NAREA conference
in connection with the exhibit. It is being held at the University of Calgary, Education
Department. There are two big festivals and they would like to avoid lack of hotel space.
Therefore, proposed dates from Pat would be mid July or 1st week of August. They
would like board members to make presentations as well as poster presentations. They
would also like an Italian presence but it has not been confirmed.
Discussion points:
 Per Amelia, August is not possible for an Italian presence. Possibility for Italian
presence would be up to mid-July but cannot promise at this time. Schools are
closed after July 10th.
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NAREA Board Meeting
December, 2005
Washington, D.C.
 There is a huge rodeo in Calgary up to July 16. Pat recommends July 20-23 for
board meeting.
 There would be an honorarium for presenting.
 Lunches and catering not a problem on campus. $40 day for lectern at theatre and
we pay costs.
 Suggest we draft a proposal. What is projected attendance? Should it be geared
to the classroom teacher?
 Who does registration?
 When does it make sense to have an annual conference? What is our five-year
plan and does it involve exhibit and conflict with other conferences?
 Our ideas and reasons must be planful and purposeful
 Dance Project
 Tour of schools with our conference/combined with NAEYC
A motion was made to hold a second conference and that the professional
development committee would recommend a date and time and details to the full
board. The motion was seconded and carried.
Amelia would like to be updated on the outcome of the meeting. Angela will meet
with the committee and make recommendations to the Executive Committee.
The professional development committee consisting of Angela Ferrario, Jennifer
Strange, Sausan Burshan, Shareen Abramson, Sygrid Caudle, would meet this week.
Simonetta and Pat are absent. Others joining this meeting will be Karen Haigh, Beth
McDonald, Margie Cooper, Susan Lyon.
Organizational Development
Susan Lyon reported that committee members are: Terrie Acevedo, Karen Haigh, Ellen
Hall and Sheri Hunt. Passed out a handout, “Organizational Development Committee
Priorities” and asked each member for guidance in helping the committee to determine
the priority and direction for NAREA. Members were asked to rate each item with #1
being the most important and return handout to Susan. Karen noted that Leah Sanders
would like to be on a committee and she will talk to Leah Sanders. It is possible that the
web site could offer a feature where members could volunteer to work on committees.
Also the brochure could be a place where members could volunteer to work on
committees. Volunteer names should be taken and given to the Communication &
Information committee (Judy and/or Lori) who will follow-up with interested members
and the appropriate committee co-chairs. It is important that we find a place for members
to participate. The Organizational Development committee should develop procedures
for handling prospective volunteers for committee work. The Communication &
Information committee is looking into ways to gather feedback from our members. The
Organizational Development committee is working on committee assignments; slate for
next year and in March we will vote on new slate. Currently we have 19 on the board
and do not need proposals until the following year. Susan is keeping a list of potential
names for board members and Mexico representation.
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NAREA Board Meeting
December, 2005
Washington, D.C.
Communication & Information
Judy reported that she has plans for 2006 articles. The winter issue will focus on children
with disabilities, and feature an interview with Ivana Soncini, pedagogista responsible for
the inclusion of children with disabilities in the Reggio municipal program. This issue
will also feature an article by Nora Thompson, MI membership coordinator, about the
value of including children with disabilities in early childhood programs. The editorial
board is currently discussing many possibilities for future articles for 2006 and 2007.
People are now sending in articles and proposals wanting to be published. Regarding the
NAREA column, Baji Rankin is contributing her perspective on the issue of diversity for
the winter column. In terms of 2006 NAREA columns, the fall issue, which focused on
the Summer Conference and the topic of advocacy, diversity, alliance and participation,
included an invitation to NAREA members to contribute their perspective on these
topics. Judy will also explore the possible publishing of the opening comments at the
Summer Conference by Barbara Acton, Judith Kaminsky and Sygrid Caudle. Lella and
Amelia are working on a book review of the J. Wurm book for the winter issue. Judy
asks that all board members review what people have written in the NAREA columns
because this has been a place where members are communicating with us-are we
listening? It is a message to us as a board and we should think very carefully about what
they are saying. Are we responding as an organization to the content of the writings?
They should inform our decisions as a board. Judy will summarize the major points in
these columns and send to board members. These comments could help us plan topics
and speakers for our annual conference. The back issues of Innovatioins have been
completed on CDs and order forms are available. NAREA members will receive a
discount for these CDs. There is a possibility of future articles being translated into
Spanish. NAREA has impacted the Innovation subscriptions. In 2005, we had 182 new
subscribers from NAREA. Three years ago, we printed 1,200 issues and had 100-200
extra copies and we now print 1,500 issues and are sold out. NAREA reaches a new and
bigger audience.
Also, Judy is working on the new exhibit project with Reggio Children. There are quite a
few people interested in participating. Judy will update the NAREA board on the
development of this project. Angela and Judy are working on a survey for architects with
the idea of a possible study tour to Reggio Emilia. We have written a proposed survey to
and will send to architects and designers in order to help Reggio Children think about a
study tour focused on environment.
In early 2006, we will be working on web site expansion of the bibliography section,
which will include a distributor, Learning Materials Workshop, who has agreed offer a
10% discount for Reggio-inspired resources other than those published by Reggio
Children. Sausan is working on a list of resources published in Spanish. Laura, the web
designer, is working on getting Judy access to the home page in order to update news on
a more timely basis. Another Innovations article from a back issue will soon be posted in
the members section of the web site. We will also be looking into developing the
Hundred Languages section of the web site (within the Reggio schools section). Related
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NAREA Board Meeting
December, 2005
Washington, D.C.
links is a new feature where members can post their web site address and description of
their school/organization. Frequently Asked Questions are still being developed and will
be put on the web site in 2006. It is time to investigate the cost of expansion to include a
chat room and to see what possibilities are out there. Would like to have a new web
designer located in Michigan and Judy will investigate possibilities. C&I would like to
have a volunteer that would take photos for us and to share with Reggio Children of the
history of NAREA and for the NAREA web site. Sausan volunteered to take this role.
Lori Geismar-Ryan reminded board members and committee chairs of their easy access
for communicating with members via website or e-communication by writing content
that can be edited by Lori/Judy, if necessary considered by executive board members, and
then prepared by Cheryl for dissemination.
Other:Lori would also like the board to consider institutional memberships and discuss at
the March board meeting.
Budget: Margie moved that we approve the 2006 budget as presented. Judy seconded
the motion. There was no discussion and all were in favor. The motion was carried.
Other: Karen Haigh and Beth will develop a timeline for NAEYC to meet deadlines.
Cheryl will send out reminders of due dates. They would also like to discuss the cost of
attending board meetings and also fund raising. Need to work on a list of future board
meeting locations and dates. This was very helpful in terms of planning. Terrie is still
negotiating hotel costs for March meeting. Terrie passed out handout for Hacienda del
Sol Guest Ranch Resort and will send out more information.
Karen thanked everyone for their work and commitment.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m.
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