HSC News

Work Permit Training Course

Thursday, July 15, 2010 in Pasadena

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HomeSchool Association of California Board Meeting

Board Meeting Minutes: January 23-24, 2010

Board Members

Present: Meghan Anderson-Coates, Leslie Buchanan, Katheryn Culwell, David Engle, Pam Sorooshian
Absent: None
Quorum present? Yes
Others Present (for all or part of meeting)
Jen Prink, Maura Mikulec, Cheryl Etzel, Karri Lewis, Paige Polcenev

Proceedings

Meeting called to order at 11:30 a.m. by President, Katheryn Culwell
11/13/09 meeting minutes approved.

Posting of Minutes

Minutes will be posted on website and an announcement put into the CHS.

Bank Account

Will be looking at possibility of a new bank that works with nonprofit organizations.

Website

Progress being made on cleaning up website.
Website design team will be created and will meet with a professional designer.
Website news page needs a volunteer editor who will keep the news page updated.
This can be HSC news and general homeschooling news.

Membership and Registration Systems

123signup.com is our new online membership and event registration system. It is working and will be ready to be used starting in February.

Yahoogroups Lists

All HSC email lists should have at least two board members as owners.

Volunteers

Need legal team help. Especially need help from attorneys or law school graduates. Will send notices to email list and the CHS.

List Moderators

We have some new moderators, could use some additional ones.

Letterhead

Katheryn will create letterhead in online template for board use.

Membership

Discussion about membership and outreach activities. Talked about what people get for their membership, why people join, and how we can encourage people to join. Decided to have a special 6-month membership available for a limited time during early bird conference registration.

Conference

- Pricing schedule for conference registration was set and now includes a $10 handling/processing fee. This will help cover the new membership and registration system expense. This handling/processing fee has been included in the conference registration price, but those who receive complimentary registrations will still have to pay this fee.
- Conference presenters' registration and compensation was discussed.
- May add an exhibit hall assistant position.
- Hotel table coverings for vendor hall will be priced and we will consider ordering them.
- Vendor hall space may be expanded if we sell out our usual space.
- Approved adding a vendor hall assistant staff position.
- Will purchase FileMakerPro for speaker coordinators. Approved.
- Discussed audiovisual needs for conference and how to reduce cost.
- Conference coordinator will find someone to make mp3 recordings.
- Possible new conference activities discussed.
- Liability release forms need to be set up through 123signup, if possible.

Promotion

Katheryn will talk to Jay Hamilton-Roth.

County Contact Coordinator

Job description was discussed and a few changes made. Leslie will be the County Contact Board Liaison.

Membership Cards

Decided to look at getting new membership cards and develop a membership packet.
Katheryn will investigate new membership card and membership packet options and present them at the next board meeting.

Campouts

Campout organizers will post campout announcements on both camper list and main hsc list at the same time and give the information to the webmaster for posting as soon as possible.

Google Calendar

The board now has a google calendar that is shared by all board members as well as other volunteers.
Meeting adjourned at 2:30pm on 1/24/10.
Minutes submitted by
Pam Sorooshian - Secretary
Katheryn Culwell - President



Be a part of HSC!

February 8, 2010

Come join us for our next open board meeting. We will be in Clovis (Fresno), CA on April 24-25, 2010. This is a great opportunity to learn more about HSC and how you can get involved.

Volunteers are vital to making things happen and we'll discuss volunteer opportunities at the next meeting. We value member input, so encourage you to participate.

If you would like to join us, please email the HSC Board and we will send you directions.

 

Letter from the Board of Directors

December, 2009

Dear HSC Families,

The new year will be here before we know it, and we are looking forward to it with great anticipation. We have good news to share with you, and we hope you'll be as excited as we are about what HSC has in store for all of us in the coming year.

The current HomeSchool Association of California Board of Directors, elected at the annual meeting (the last official board meeting of the year) consists of: Katheryn Culwell - President, Pam Sorooshian - Secretary, Meghan Anderson-Coates - Treasurer, Leslie Buchanan, and David Engle.

Our next board meeting will be held in Southern California, in Corona, January 23-24, 2010. All are welcome to attend, and we would love to see you there. Please come and join us as we make plans for the next year. Email us at hsc-board@hsc.org for exact location, times, and directions. We'll also post the information on the HSC website soon after the first of the year. We encourage you to come to board meetings and get involved. We have a good time, we work hard, and it is truly very gratifying to feel part of it. We really hope you'll join us.

We have spent the last several months striving to learn from difficulties and mistakes of the past, and, as a result, we have each made a very strong commitment to work together with each other and our members with the greatest possible frankness, respect and compassion. We have also developed and adopted a Code of Ethics (see below) to guide all of us, Board members, as well as other HSC volunteers, in living the highest levels of integrity, responsibility, fairness, and openness as we carry out our HSC work.

Every one of us is feeling very optimistic and excited and glad to be able to serve this wonderful organization. We work for HSC because we love what it stands for and what it offers. HSC is more than just another organization, it is a community of passionate and caring people who have defended and supported and encouraged each of us in our out-of-the-mainstream choices to keep our children out of school and live an unconventional life. We thank you, our members and volunteers, for all you do, and we know that you share with us the joy and satisfaction of being part of an organization that does so much good - which helps so many families in so many ways.

In other news, we are very excited to announce that HSC's 20th Anniversary Conference will be held August 19-22, 2010, in Sacramento. We are sure that you won't want to miss California's largest inclusive family homeschool conference, which is really so much MORE than just a conference. Jen Prink, serving her fourth year as our conference coordinator, will be posting information very soon on early bird specials, conference speakers, how to volunteer, and more. Again, we encourage you to get involved and help make this special conference the best ever!

We wish you all a very happy holiday season and a wonderful new year.

HSC Board of Directors:
Katheryn Culwell, President
Pam Sorooshian, Secretary
Meghan Anderson-Coates, Treasurer
Leslie Buchanan,
David Engle

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HomeSchool Association of California

Code of Ethics

Members of the Board of Directors, staff, and volunteers of the HomeSchool Association of California are committed to the highest standards of ethical conduct in the performance of their responsibilities for the organization.

By pledging to accept this code as a minimum guideline for ethical conduct, board members, staff, and volunteers demonstrate their ongoing commitment to the core values of integrity, honesty, fairness, openness, and responsibility.

As a member of the HSC team, I will:

1. Listen carefully to my teammates.
2. Show respect for the opinions of my fellow teammates.
3. Attempt to find outcomes and solutions that achieve consensus whenever possible.
4. Respect and support majority decisions of the Board.
5. Work with as much transparency and openness as possible.
6. Understand and support the HSC Mission Statement.
7. Keep well informed of developments in the homeschooling community.
8. Participate actively and enthusiastically in relevant meetings and activities.
9. Bring to the attention of the Board any issues that I think may adversely affect our organization or those we serve.
10. Attempt to interpret the needs of those we serve to the organization and interpret the actions of the organization to those we serve.
11. Refer complaints to the proper level in the chain of command.
12. Consider myself a “steward” of this organization and do my best to ensure that it is well-managed, maintained, financially secure, growing, and always operating in the best interest of those we serve.
13. Always work to learn how to do my job better.
14. Declare any conflicts of interest between my personal life and my position in the organization and abstain from voting when appropriate.
15. Report HSC-related actions in a timely and thorough way.

Additionally, if I am a member of the HSC Board of Directors, I:

1. Will not criticize fellow board members in or out of the boardroom.
2. Will not use my membership on the Board for my personal advantage
or that of my friends or relatives.
3. Will not discuss confidential proceedings of the Board outside the boardroom.
4. Will ensure, to the best of my abilities, that all board members, staff, and volunteers have the requisite skills and information to adequately perform their duties.
5. Will work to ensure that HSC is fair and inclusive in its dealings with board members, staff, volunteers, and members at large.
6. Will provide comprehensive and timely information to the public, the media, and all other interested parties and will be responsive to reasonable requests for more information.