Board Meeting 2007-2008

Minutes from May 7, 2008

1. Proofreading — having the extra level of proofreading this year has cut the number of errors significantly from previous years. We will continue the current practice.

2. Membership — Steve Goodman reported that we have 55 schools for next year. South Elgin and Hononegah have left, and Ida Crown Jewish Academy (Chicago) and Mundelein High School are now in. Whitney Young High School is on the waiting list.
   A discussion was had of moving Naperville Central to the Milenkovic-Schultz division. Steve Goodman will contact the coach at Naperville Central and discuss the issue.

3. 2008-2009 Schedule — Bill Roloff reported that the majority of schools sent in their conflict dates. The schedule below was approved by the board. Coaches will be asked to go to the web site and list any host conflicts they may have.

   • Thursday, September 25, 2008
   • Wednesday, October 29, 2008
   • Thursday, December 4, 2008
   • Wednesday, January 28, 2009
   • Thursday, March 5, 2009

4. Written topics — Liam Keigher presented the topics for next year. They were accepted with the change that circular permutations were removed from senior #1. Liam and Isaac Greenspan will look into the possibility of posting sources for topics as an aid to new schools to the league.

5. Oral topics — Isaac Greenspan presented the orals topics for meets 1-3 for the next two years. Continued fractions for meet #2 next year were replaced with linear programming. Continued fractions will be put into consideration for a future year. Liam Keigher will look into the copyright issues for the source. Polar coordinates were moved to meet #2 for 2009-2010.

6. Website — Isaac reported that the two year cost for the website is $186.48. This is good through the 2008-2009 school year. Because of complications with the host server, he recommended that the league switch to another server that charges $60 per year. In addition, the board approved spending $10 to keep the domain name.

7. Treasurer — Kevin Wiland reported that the league currently has a balance of $1015.68, which is significantly lower than has been the case in previous years. The biggest reason for this situation is because the league needed to purchase more all conference clipboards. This is a once every five years expense, and the bill was $2111.84. Because of the financial condition of the league, the board is recommending the annual dues be raised $25 to $175. This is the first dues increase in many years. It is possible that the dues may need to be raised to $200 in a couple of years. This proposal will be brought to the member schools for ratification at the coaches meeting on May 13, 2008.

8. Awards — Steve Goodman will send an email to all coaches requesting that they bring any ribbons left over from hosting a meet to the coaches meeting. He reminded us that we spend nearly $2000 each year on ribbons. It is important that all schools return unused ribbons. A proposal to change the way plaques are awarded at the conference meet will be presented at the coaches meeting for approval. The proposal will be that ties for first and second place within a particular level (junior level in the Yuen division, for example) be broken by (1) the higher conference meet score by the affected teams within that level, (2) the higher of the fourth score on the two affected teams, (3) the higher of the fifth score on the two affected teams. When ties for third place occur, a new plaque will be made.

9. John Benson Award — Steve Goodman will send an email to all schools asking for volunteers to meet and establish criteria and procedures for a book award in John's honor. The thought now is that one award will be made to a senior from each division.

10. Technology — The board agreed to keep the rules as they currently are. CAS calculators will remain acceptable only for juniors and seniors at meets 1, 3 and 5. Proctors will need to watch for students using CAS vs. non-CAS Nspire calculators.