Denise Eaton-May
ncsdenise@jack-and-jill.org
Greetings to each of you this Fall season. I hope each of you had a wonderful summer and have successfully transitioned your children back to school and their various extra curricular activities. By now you should have had your first chapter meeting for the 2007-08 program year and are well underway with your chapter activities and programs. Remember to take time for yourself and recharge your spiritual and physical batteries.
From the Jack and Jill perspective, the last several months have been extremely busy. We have completed the Regional Teen Conferences, Mother’s Regional Conferences, Officers Training Retreat, and are now in the midst of Area Work Days. Listed below is a brief update of recent activities in the areas of responsibility for the National Corresponding Secretary.
LEGACIES AND TRANSFERS
LEGACY BROCHURE
TRANSFER BROCHURE
Posted on the website you will find spreadsheets highlighting the transfers and legacies approved for each region since September 2006. As you will see, there have been several transfers and legacies processed over the last several months. I know there have been some that have slipped through the cracks, and to the best of my ability they have been or are being corrected. I hope that each of your transfers and legacies have arrived in a timely fashion to facilitate their entry into your chapters. I have also received some comments regarding the form and the amount of information contained in the approval letters. I have attempted to make those adjustments accordingly and new forms are on now on the website for your use. Thanks a bunch for the comments and suggestions.
The process also still has a few glitches which we are continually ironing out, especially around payment of dues. The focus until now has been to just get caught up on all of the pending transfers and to increase the speed upon which transfers were being processed. With the excellent help from headquarters staff, we have now reduced the time for processing transfers to an average of about 15 days depending on complications. We can now focus on making improvements to the process which we will address this Fall. Thank you again for all of your support and comments and any changes to the process with be sent to all and posted on the website.
REVISION OF BY LAWS
The by law committee has been working long and hard at the revision of our Constitution and By Laws document. They have met via conference call every two weeks since late last Fall to review the document. The committee consists of Kimberly Goode, Chair, Mid-West Region, and Crystal Turner – Central, Martha Vasser, Eastern Region, Kelli Jones, Far West, Jacqueline Nash, South Central Region _______ South Eastern Region
The proposed revised by law packet including a chart outlining the rationale for each recommended change was distributed in June 2007 to all regions and chapters. Also included were comments from a certified parliamentarian who has worked with the committee and has also reviewed the document. Each Committee member also reviewed the proposed packet at the various Mother’s Regional Conferences. The standards used by the committee for review has primarily been to evaluate provisions for duplication, redundancy, clarity, and overbroad reactionary provisions that require rewording, or alternate placement in the document to facilitate flow. In addition, the committee considered those bylaws where movement into a policy or procedure was best because of the nature of the detail.
The revision process for the body to review and comment on the proposed revisions began at each of the Mother’s Regional Conferences. Each By Law committee member presented a report on the restructure, changes and recommendations from the committee. Open dialogue was encouraged with the attendees. Any comments or changes from the regions regarding the revision must be memorialized in writing by each region and sent to the National Corresponding Secretary by November 1, 2007. We will also have each region revisit the document at the Fall Clusters/Area Work Days to ascertain any additional comments/concerns. The final recommendations for revision will be distributed to the body by April 1, 2008 for consideration and adoption at the 2008 National Convention.
Any proposals for new by law provisions or amendments will be handled through the regular process whereby they also should be submitted by November 1, 2007. The template for submission of by law amendments is on the website. Please follow this format to the extent possible. Upon receipt, the committee will review any proposed amendments to the existing by laws and the NCS will distribute to the body by April 1 as required by the by laws. Amendments to our existing bylaws and the comments/recommendations on the revisions should be discussed at the Area Work Days if possible to maximize input from the body.
This has been a long and arduous process. We hope that we have produced a governing document that reflects the aims and objectives of our organization and provides us with the guidance to run our organization in the most efficient and effective manner.
POLICY AND PROCEDURES MANUAL
The policy and procedures committee has began some ad hoc meetings in an attempt to have a set of policies and procedures that compliment the final revised governing document (By Laws). There is a draft of existing policy and procedures that has been in existence since Houston. The committee will be reviewing his document as well as those policies and procedures recommended as a result of the revision of the By Laws document. We are hopeful that the policies and procedures committee will review and submit a final draft version to the body on April 1, 2008 along with the revised By Law document and amendments.
FATHERS AUXILLARY
FATHERS AUXILLARY BROCHURE
The Father’s Auxiliary has been busy planning several initiatives for the 2006-08 term. The first is the publication of a brochure for recruitment and creation of Father’s Auxiliaries throughout the country. The brochure was distributed via email to all regions in June 2007 and hard copies are available through the Regional Father’s Auxiliary chairs. We are very excited to have accomplished this task.
The Father’s Auxiliary has also created an on line web-based forum for posting of information concerning the Father’s Auxiliary on line at a site called Collectivex. At www.collectivex.com, we have posted upcoming meetings, events within each region and status of initiatives. This free service has proven to be a valuable tool for communication.
The Father’s Auxiliary has also teamed with Smith Barney to help where feasible with the presentation of the financial literacy presentations that chapters and regions sponsored at their Teen Conferences and Mother’s regional conferences.
Other initiatives include sponsoring SAT/ACT prep review classes for Jack and Jill teens in the Spring of 2008, and creation of a pilot program of providing security at Teen Conferences in 2008. The security program, also known as POP’s (Parents on Patrol) is in full swing in some regions and the Father’s Auxiliary would like to roll it out to each region by 2008.
Sincerely,
Denise Eaton-May