NCVA update pre-June Board Meeting

"Counting the points for the Blue, yellow, and green division became unexpectedly complicated after the person posting them got hungry."

This is an update on the parent group and NCVA.  The board meeting is June 12, 2006.  Please let me know if you have any interest in attending, being informed, etc.  Please do not worry about being an “expert” in anything or “knowing enough”, the group believes that parents are generally the best experts on what their children need and deserve and this has largely been about making certain that the region has a constructive and effective way to hear from its parents.   

After Regionals, we sent the following e-mail to Donna Donaghy, the Regional Commissioner.

5/14/06

Donna,
Having just gone through both Far Westerns and Regionals as parents, we're exhausted just from following our daughters around. We want to thank you and your staff for putting the two events together. Both events have been running more smoothly each year and we appreciate the enormous effort and attention to detail they take.Now that your "main season" is over, the group would like to take the opportunity to meet again with you. After our preliminary meeting, which we believe was helpful, it was clear that we were just beginning a process and we'd like to visit some of the items on the agenda in more detail.In addition, you informed us that we were to address the board at their June meeting and because you both suggested this group and offered to serve as the intermediary for it, we'd like to work with you to discuss how best to share our concerns and interests with the board.At this point, we are happy to meet any place and time that is mutually convenient and we'll likely have four to five parents to represent the group which cotinues to grow. If you could possibly suggest a time and a place that works for you, that would be helpful. We look forward to meeting with you again. In the meantime, we'll be sending a copy of a renewed agenda for the meeting.

Sincerely,


A few minutes later, I received this message.  

Dear Mr. _____
This email is to inform you of information you will need for the June 12th, NCVA Board of Directors meeting being held at the NCVA Offices in SanFrancisco @ 72 Dorman Ave., San Francisco, CA 94124
You have been scheduled to address the Board at 7:30 PM until 8:00 PM.
Due to a continuance of closed session items form the March 13, 2006 NCVA Board of Directors meeting, the June 12th BOD meeting will be in closed session starting at 7:00 PM until 7:30 PM and again from 8:00 PM until the close of the meeting.
We are requesting you supply the following information by 9:00 AM on Monday June 5, 2006 via email to vball@ncva.com so that the Board can better prepare for the meeting.
Number attending the meeting with you.
Name, contact information and club affiliation of the individuals attending the meeting with you.
Your agenda of the items you will be discussing with the Board.
If you have any questions you can contact me a vball@ncva.com
Thank you very much and see you on Monday, June 12 at 7:30 p.m.
Donna Donaghy

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This morning, Wednesday, May 16, I received the below e-mail.  

_______

I thought I would be hearing from you shortly after our meeting the first weekend in March. My calendar fills up fast and it is easier for me to plan meetings if I have plenty of advance notice. At this time with the Area League Regionals, California Finals and National Championship just around the corner and my already scheduled meetings with other NCVA customers my available dates are June 1st to June 10th . I can meet during the week day or evening and/or during the weekend. Please respond ASAP as my dates fill up quickly. You are welcome to choose a central location for the meeting, I am not sure where the additional parents are coming from, maybe a place in the East Bay will work? I will wait to hear from you.

Donna


First I am glad that we are having a second meeting with the commissioner.  E-mail and the Internet have their uses, but in person meetings still work better for certain things.  I look forward to moving forward the original agenda that wanted to set up some better way for the Region to communicate with its parents.  

It did strike both the other members of the parent group and myself that it was a little odd that our meeting with board was to be scheduled between two “closed” sessions.  Many people wanted the opportunity to observe a board meeting just to see how they worked.  In my other life, I often have to review the agendas for public meetings (for Brown Act issues fwiw the Brown Act does not apply to NCVA) and usually the closed sessions don’t sandwich the “open” session.  It’s generally done the other way so that the public has a bit more open-ended opportunity to discuss matters with the board and for the board to respond.  

I also, honestly, had been concerned when I got the first e-mail that it was essentially sending the group the message that the Commissioner was refusing to meet with us other than in the board meeting.  I am very glad that this isn’t the case. We had not requested an earlier meeting because her own letter and e-mail had strongly suggested that she was too busy to meet until now.  As a second matter, the group was not willing to meet until it saw bylaws and budget information.  The bylaws took some time to be posted.  

One final matter and this is personal.  There’s been quite a bit about “Beachgate” and also league points postings recently.  I don’t think these are “Parent” matters per se and generally should be between the clubs and the Region.  I would, however, say that in that both represent some communication issues that the Parent group should have some interest in addressing that aspect of the two issues.

Link to other volleyball and NCVA parent group posts

chancelucky