[Massachusetts-NFB] MAPBC Meeting Minutes

[Liz Lesperance]

Good Afternoon,

Attached and pasted below please find the minutes from our most recent
parents' division meeting held on Thursday, Feb. 13th.

Have a wonderful day!

Best Regards,
Liz

**********

The MAPBC met on Thursday, Feb. 13th. The meeting began at 6:02PM. Those in
attendance included:

Hai Nguyen Ly

Liz Lesperance

Kobena Bonney

Stephen Yerardi

Youme Nguyen Ly

Stephanie Valdes

Jenn Bose

Danalynn Stockwood

Hai recited the NFB pledge.

We introduced ourselves as Stephen joined us for the first time tonight.

There will be a suite available for childcare at the state convention. The
suite will be available during general sessions on Saturday and Sunday and
during the banquet Saturday evening. The room will have some supplies for
children. Stephanie is providing a tactile puzzle along with a braille
memory game and magnetic tiles. Hai and Youme will provide a braille
doodle. At this time no one has indicated on their registration form that
they need childcare. Stephanie will continue to confirm this with Shara.
The room will be staffed  by members of the parents division. We will take
2-hour shifts. Stephanie will take the first session and will likely be
assisted by Ellen.

Danalynn shared that she will be attending both days of the convention by
herself and offered to assist as well. Once the agenda comes out we can let
Stephanie know which shifts we will be available for.

Our division will donate a braille doodle to the state convention auction.
This item is a board with ball bearings. There is a stylus that pulls the
ball bearings up to create a braille image.

Stephanie has reached out to last year's BELL Academy families but to date
no one has confirmed that they will be attending the state convention.

The MAPBC will meet in-person at the convention on Friday. We will meet
from 5:30 to 6:30 to hold elections and confirm any last minute details
about the childcare suite.



The division will have an opening for the Secretary/Treasurer position. We
will put out a brief description of these positions on the NFB listserv. We
will reiterate that the MAPBC is open to not just blind parents but also
parents of blind children, educators, and anyone else who is interested in
joining our division.

Stephanie applied for the IEP academy being offered by the national office
as it would be good for one or more NFBMA members to gain for more
knowledge about ITEP's. Hai suggested reaching out to the students'
division to see if anyone else has applied for this program. The program
will be held at the end of May. It is an all expenses paid training program
for NFB members to become IEP advocates for their state. In turn, you agree
to help anyone in your state who might need assistance with an IEP. The
deadline to apply is February 28th.

The meeting adjourned at 6:56PM
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