Friday, April 9, 2010, Boulder, CO

The meeting was called to order at 9:23 a.m. by Teri Einfeldt, chair.

Members present: Sue Baer, Ellen Berry, Teri Einfeldt, Chair, Mark George, Chair-elect, Marilyn Kesler, Ruth Engle Larner,
Marilyn O’Boyle, Carol Ourada, Betsy Stuen-Walker, secretary, and Pam Brasch, ex officio.

Motion #1 To accept the minutes as corrected.
Motion: Sue Baer 2nd Marilyn O’Boyle Carried

Consensus statement: The Minutes will be posted on the board forum for comments within two weeks of the meeting.

An update on the annual fund followed. Teri reminded us of the Board’s goal to raise $40,000. The annual fund is currently
around $35,000, with 5 months of the fiscal year remaining.

The Board discussed the election process and online voting. We were able to provide ballots via the website this year, so fewer paper ballots needed to be mailed. It was noted that mailed ballots in the past yielded a greater return than this year with online voting. It was also noted that this was the first time of pre-selected slating. A discussion followed, brainstorming ways to getmore of the membership involved in voting.

Pam posed the idea of a “Reconnect committee” to contact members who have dropped their memberships and encourage them to rejoin. Mark has volunteered to meet with an adhoc committee to discuss this idea.

Carol reported from the CLC committee. The committee is gathering presentation materials. Each presentation will be about 10 minutes long. This will take place on Sunday evening, May 30th. The Board need to be present at this event.

Pam gave a report on the upcoming Conference, listing donors and vendors and presented a tentative Conference timeline for planning Board participation.

Ruth reported for the Development Committee on the Conference Raffle/Auction. The Board members shared what items they had procured thus far. Ruth will post a list of needs for running the Raffle and Auction.

Break for lunch

The ad hoc committee for planning the Annual General Meeting reported. The Board volunteered for various responsibilities.

Motion #2 To form an ad hoc Reconnect Committee.
Motion: Mark George 2nd Carol Ourada Carried

Marilyn K. and Carol volunteered to serve with Mark on the Committee.

A brainstorming session took place, considering possibilities for forming liaisons with other organizations with like values, not necessarily not-for-profits or music related.

A discussion followed about potential honorary board names.

Pam showed samples of some small posters of Dr. Suzuki which she hopes will be ready for selling at the conference.

Teri opened a discussion of the 2010/2011 Annual Fund. Various ideas for that campaign were offered.

Motion #3 That our 2010 Annual Fund Drive will involve the honorary board in providing a letter of appeal.
Motion Ruth Engel Larner 2nd Ellen Berry Carried

Motion #4 The Incentive program for the 2010 Annual Fund Drive will be honoring a special person of the donors choosing.
Motion Sue Baer 2nd Marilyn Kesler Carried

The Board discussed some preliminary ideas and plans for a Board education session at the Sept. meeting.

Motion #5 To invite Joanne Melvin to present board education at the September board meeting.
Motion Marilyn O. 2nd Carol Ourada Carried

Marilyn O. reported on activities in Latin America. The teacher trainer application materials have been translated and made available. Several teachers are working on completing their training, so they can become trainers, and the SAA is assisting them in that process.

The Board continued planning for the AGM. A baseball theme was chosen to fit in with the Conference’s Teamwork theme.

The Board watched a video recommended by Teri from the TED website about children teaching adults, featuring a talk by child prodigy Adora Svitak.

Teri Einfeldt, chair, dismissed the meeting at 5:02 p.m.

Saturday morning, April 10, 2010

Teri Einfeldt, chair called the meeting to order at 9:04 a.m.

Motion #6 That we have received the monitoring reports.
Motion: Mark George 2nd Ellen Berry Carried

Items discussed included security issues, investments, insurance, protection of trademarks such as the name Suzuki and
conference contract stipulations.

Carol reported from the Audit Committee that the report from the auditors was positive, with no important concerns raised.

Consensus: The SAA is in good financial condition and continues to be managed in a sound, professional manner.

Ellen gave a Summer Focus Group Committee report. Discussion followed regarding possible use of younger teachers in leading Focus groups. The Focus Group Committee was asked to report final plans on Sunday. The group brainstormed ways to develop younger leaders including involvement in and support for established SAA programs, outreach in their communities with information about the method, formation of chapters, etc. A discussion followed about how to enable teachers to respond to criticisms and misstatements about the Method.

Motion #7 To invite teachers younger than the SAA, to a meeting with the Board at the Conference, in the interest of cultivating future leaders.
Motion: Ruth Engle Larner 2nd Marilyn Kesler Carried

The Focus Group will meet before tomorrow to plan the Focus meeting at the conference.

Pam offered the reminder that the invitation needs to come from the older teachers to the younger teachers.

Marilyn K. suggested that we raise monies to send a young teacher from our program.

Break for lunch

Brainstorming: Where will we be in 2020?

Teri and Mark each led a break-out session to discuss where we think we want to be in 10 years. Ideas included more Parent Education, improvement in technology and the opportunities it offers, improved quality of teaching, expanded training opportunities, more ECE, changes in response to changing family life, new instrument areas, possibly more flexibility in institute formats and offerings.

The Board discussed final plans for the AGM. Mark clarified assignments and time limits.

The Board will meet Thursday evening, May 27, 9:00 p.m. in the raffle room.

Teri Einfeldt, chair, dismissed the meeting at 4:48 p.m.

Sunday morning, April 11, 2010

The meeting was reconvened at 8:50 a.m. by Teri Einfeldt, chair.

Guests were Gail Lange, Daphne Hughes and Nancy Lokken.

The Board met briefly in Executive Session.

The Board meeting dates for 2010/2011 were set as follows:

September 23rd – 26th Bellingham, WA Carver Education led by Joanne Melvin Wed. all day
January 6th – 8th Boulder, CO Thursday 4:00 p.m. – Sat. 5:00 p.m.
April 8th – 10th Location tba Friday 8:00 a.m. – Sunday 12:00 p.m.

Gail Lange, former board member, presented a history of the Honorary Board Committee. A discussion of the role of the Honorary Board ensued. The Chair asked the Honorary Board Committee to prepare a plan for the September meeting.

Ellen presented a report from the Summer Focus Group, highlighting plans for this year’s meetings. Included would be a DVD of Mark’s closing remarks from the conference. Also, break-out groups, divided into a mix of teachers and parents, dealing with questions about making Suzuki more known in the communities; dreams for the SAA; and needs for the Parent Education Course.

Pam presented the idea of a “Speakers Bureau”. Some ideas and strategies were discussed.

Motion #8: That we have a Leadership Retreat session developing skills to be a Suzuki spokesperson.
Motion: Marilyn O’Boyle 2nd Carol Ourada Carried

Board Monitors and reporters presented their evaluations of the meeting process.

Teri Einfeldt, chair, adjourned the meeting at 11:25 a.m

Board Secretary, Elizabeth Stuen-Walker