Illinois Section
American Association of Physics Teachers

Minutes of the Spring Council Meeting
Illinois Central College, East Peoria
October 17, 2009

President Tom Foster called the meeting to order at 7:05 am. Council Members present: President Elect Carl Wenning, Secretary/Treasurer Dave Sykes, Newsletter Editor Brian Davies, Past President Deb Lojkutz, High School Representative Ann Brandon, Doug Brandt, Rob Mason, Zak Knott, Tom Snyder, Ken Mellendorf, Tom Carter, Bill Hogan, Shane Hanson, Andrew Morrison, Chris LaRoche, and Cliff Parker.

A motion to approve the minutes of the Spring, 2009 Council Meeting was made by Carl and seconded by Deb. The motion passed without discussion.

Secretary-Treasurer Report: Dave reported on the financial status of the ISAAPT. Currently there is $1682 in the treasury. He added that the Rossing Fund has a balance of $30,041 and has actually lost value since the Spring Meeting. He stated that recent fees have been greater than the interest and that he will work with AAPT CFO Michael Branson to have the fees minimized.

Section Representative Report: Zak Knott reported that Ann Brandon stood in for him at the national meeting in Ann Arbor.  Ann reported that the AAPT was pushing for new members and that for all ISAAPT members who join the AAPT, the ISAAPT would get a kick back of $5-$10.  Sites and dates for future national meetings are: Washington, DC, February 13-17, 2010. Portland, Oregon, July 17-21, 2010. Jacksonville, Florida, January 8-12, 2011.

High School Representative Report: Ann reported that two publications are out:

   1.  Teaching Physics in the First Year by Mary Winn and Jan Mader.
   2.  The Role, Education, Qualifications, and Professional Development of Secondary Physics Teachers.

Webmaster Report: Dave Renneke was unable to attend the Council Meeting but he emailed his report earlier. A summary of the report is as follows:   Three new web pages have been added to the website - membership form, dues information record, and meeting attendance record.  Two web pages have been updated - the membership information page and the home page.  Dave also reported that he felt drop-down menus would be an excellent update for the Web site and he encourages anyone interested to help with menu items and phrases for the menus.

In Dave's absence Cecilia Vogel is the official photographer for the meeting.

Newsletter Report: Brian reported that the most recent IPT was five pages long and was mailed to 101 members (12 via email). Brian added that he took care of the duplicating and mailing costs.

Outstanding High School Physics Teacher Award: Cliff reported that he is now accepting nominations for the 2010 Award.

Committee for the Distinguished Service Citation Report: Tom Foster congratulated the 2009 ISAAPT Distinguished Service Citation recipient, Brian Davies.

Nominating Committee Report: Deb reported on the slate of candidates for the 2009 ISAAPT elections.
   President-Elect: Doug Brandt
   Secretary/Treasurer: Dave Sykes
   High School Representative: Rebecca Wenning-Vieyra
   Two Year College Representative: Max Lee
   Four Year College Representative: Lenore Horner
   Replacement for Doug Brandt: Ken Wester
   Replacement for Zak Knott: Frank Cange

Current Meeting Update: Tom Foster thanked Ken Mellendorf for his work on being host. In response, Ken thanked Joe Bergman of the IACT for all his work to make the meeting a success. Dave added that it would take a couple of weeks to work out the finances with the IACT.

President: Tom reported that IACT President Tony Nelson has proposed to have a joint meeting with the ISAAPT on even numbered years at ISU. After some discussion a motion to appoint Carl to meet with the IACT Board to propose to have Joint Fall Meetings with the IACT on even numbered years some place in Central Illinois was made by Tom Carter and seconded by Bill Hogan. The motion passed without discussion.

Future Meetings:

Spring, 2010 (Mar. 26-27): Blackburn College, Carlinville
Fall, 2010: Sherrard High School, Sherrard
Spring, 2011: Eastern Illinois University, Charleston
Fall, 2011: Joliet Junior College, Joliet

New Business

Carl Wenning reported on several issues:

1. The ISAAPT is up for re-approval from the Illinois Board of Education to award CPDU's for ISAAPT meetings. A motion to have Carl apply to the Illinois Board of Education for approval of CPDU's for all ISAAPT meeting talks and workshops was made by Bill Hogan and seconded by Doug Brandt. The motion passed without discussion..

2. The ISAAPT/CSAAPT has been awarded a $2000 grant for the purpose of holding two workshops for new/transition physics teachers. The money will be used to pay the honorarium to a PTRA member (who will facilitate the workshop) and for the books provided to attendees of the workshops.

3. Carl proposed that the ISAAPT facilitate the creation of Local Physics Alliances (LPA's) in Illinois. Carl passed out a map of possible zones for LPA's. Several council members volunteered to be the leader of the zone they reside in. LPA's would serve as a mechanism for teachers to meet with other teachers who are relatively close geographically.

4. Carl proposed that the Teacher Recruitment, Retention, and Development Committee be enlarged and that perhaps LPA leaders comprise the enlarged committee.

5. Carl reported that the ISAAPT guidebook program is up for renewal. A motion to continue the ISAAPT guidebook program was made by Bill Hogan and seconded by Deb Lojkutz. The motion passed without discussion.

6. Carl suggested that we continue to work on the ISAAPT dues structure. Several suggestions were made but all agreed that the discussion needs to include the Webmaster (Dave Renneke was absent from the council meeting).

7. Tom Foster reported that the reciprocal system with the ISTA/ISAAPT websites is now up and running.

A motion for adjournment was made by Tom Carter and seconded by Bill Hogan. The meeting was adjourned at 8:37 am.

Faithfully submitted,

Dave Sykes