The meeting was called to order at 11:53 am by President Fred Brenner. The agenda (Appendix A) was approved by a voice vote (moved by John Safko and seconded by Lynn Elfner).

A motion to approve the meeting minutes was made by John Safko and seconded by David Hsi. The meeting minutes were approved by a voice vote.

A motion to approve the Conference Call Minutes was made by Lynn Elfner and seconded by Ertle Thompson. The Conference Call minutes were approved by a voice vote.

A President Fred Brenner

Fred stated that it was a privilege and an honor to serve as NAAS President for the 1999-2000 year. He will have some comments to made at the end of the NAAS Board Meeting.

2. Secretary — Howard Pitkow (Appendix B)

Howard reported that he participated in and recorded three sets of minutes from our Anaheim Meeting which he typed, duplicated, and mailed out to the NAAS Board members. These meeting minutes included the NAAS Board minutes of January 21, 1999, Strategic Planning Committee Seminar minutes of January 21, 1999 and the Assembly of Delegates minutes of January 23, 1999. Additionally he participated in, recorded, typed, duplicated, and mailed out the Conference Call Meeting minutes held on August 24, 1999 to the NAAS Board members. And finally, Howard related that he proofread numerous drafts of sections of the 1998-1999 NAAS Proceedings, Directory, and Handbook which he also mailed out to all NAAS Board members in August, 1999. Both Lynn Elfner and John Safko praised Howard on the excellent job he has done in his tenure as NAAS Secretary.

3. President-Elect — Leslie Sue Lieberman _ (Appendix C)

Leslie stated that she received $2,500 from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and $500 from the Molly Bee Foundation for the "Breakfast with Scientists". She has 40 scientists and over 180 places set for the Breakfast. Leslie was praised by Fred for the outstanding job she did this past year. Leslie then handed out copies of background material for anyone who is interested in the workshop on "Teaching Evolution" (Appendix C).

4. Treasurer — Edward Nelson (Appendix D)

Ed related that the net worth of the NAAS as of February 15, 2000 was $44,206.55 (Appendix D). A lengthy discussion followed on housing and the expenditures to the Omni Shoreham of about $83,000 by NAAS. However a detailed itemized bill was not received by NAAS from the Omni. It appears that the Omni’s accounting procedures are suspect since previous NAAS-AJAS meeting costs run between $40,000 and $45,000. Lynn Elfner made a motion, which was seconded, that the NAAS put a stop payment on the last NAAS check (#1041) written to the Omni this morning for $40,000 until an itemized bill statement is received from the Omni by the NAAS Board. After an itemized bill is received by the NAAS, and every cost accounted for, the NAAS will make good on the balance justly owed to the Omni. The NAAS Board of Directors are exercising their fiduciary responsibility in authorizing the Treasurer to put a stop payment on check #1041 for $40,000. The motion was passed unanimously. A second motion was made and seconded to reflect that the NAAS Board was taking this action because of documentation of:

1. the NAAS giving the Omni a $40,000 down payment previously
2. an erroneous credit report
3. confusion due to the transition of business personnel at the Omni Hotel at a crucial time
4. the fiduciary responsibility of the Board to protect the NAAS assets.

After a brief discussion this motion was passed unanimously by the Board.

5. Archivist — Lynn Elfner

Lynn made a request that any historical material of significance from the state academies be submitted to him for the NAAS archives.

6. AJAS Director — Gloria Takahashi (Appendix E)

Gloria reported that we have 132 presenters and 5 students not presenting at the AJAS meeting. Also 66 adults accompanied the students. Twenty-seven academies are represented this year in Washington, D.C. (See Appendix E for detailed information). Gloria made a special point to thank Peg Tilner for doing an outstanding job in helping set up the AJAS program, especially this past summer. Also Michael Curtis appeared from the Triangle Coalition for Science and Technology Education to promote the Linus Pauling exhibit. Gloria stated that the students will definitely be touring the Capital Building. (This trip was previously cancelled).

7. AAAS Council Representatives — Ertle Thompson and David His

Ertle reported on several topics discussed at the Council Meeting.

1. Activities on teaching of evolution.
2. Discussion on the program in Science, Ethics, and Religion.

Four officers of the physics section thought their was too much emphasis on religion and not enough on science. They asked that this be reviewed and recommendations be made.

3. the program on internships in the state department has been reinstated. There are 35 new interns (AAAS Fellows) in science in the state department and hopefully funding for them will become a line item.

2. Newsletter Editor — Don Jordan

I. Webmaster — John Safko

John related that he is going through each state academy’s E-mail address to make sure they are accurate.

1. Program — Judith parker and Lynn Elfner

Judy had nothing to add since Gloria covered the program in detail. Lynn Elfner discussed "Strategies for Acceptance of Evolution in Public School Science Curricula" (Appendix F) which will be held on Saturday, February 19^th in the early afternoon (1:30 — 3:00 pm) following the Assembly of Delegates Meeting.

2. Nominating — Judith Parker

1. President-Elect — Howard Pitkow
2. Secretary — Assad Panah
3. AJAS Director — Joan Messer
4. NAAS Representative to AAAS — Ertle Thompson

The Board concurred with the Nominating Committee that this was an excellent slate of officers.

1. Strategic Planning — Lynn Elfner

Lynn would like to translate words into action. He would like to have the Committee meet this year in putting the Strategic Plan into action. He will meet with the incoming NAAS President (Leslie Lieberman) to discuss various options, both for funding and implementation.

2. Audit — Leslie Sue Lieberman (Appendix G)

Leslie sent bound copies of the audit to the NAAS Board members. Leslie made the motion that the Board offset some AJAS Director costs (i.e., hiring students to do work) by allocating some Board Designated Funds when the AJAS Director submits a budget to NAAS. The Board will allow a maximum of $1000 until a budget is received from the incoming AJAS Director.

The motion was seconded and passed. Leslie then discussed the audit management letter (Appendix G) recommendations. A motion was made that the Treasurer report on his findings and solutions at the summer Conference Call Meeting. The motion was seconded and passed by the NAAS Board.

E. Finance — Ed Nelson

No report was forthcoming.

F. Recognition and Awards — Judith Parker

Judy reported that awards will be given out at the banquet on Saturday night (February 19^th).

G. Membership — Howard Pitkow

Howard reported that the NAAS consists of 44 state academy of science memberships with approximately 75,000 to 80,000 individual members (New York Academy of Science accounting for over 42,000 members). Of the 44 state academies of science only 34 have paid their state academy 1999-2000 membership dues which were mailed out in June, 1999. The following state academies of science have not paid their membership dues: Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Montana, South Dakota, Southern California, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Howard thanked Treasurer Ed Nelson for the information on state academy membership dues. Ed will mail out second dues notices to the ten delinquent state academies.

1. Implementation-Strategic Plan and Course of Action

No further report was forthcoming.

2. NAAS Proceedings — course of Action

1. Booklet on how to organize an Academy and a Junior Academy of Science

Fred brought up the possibility of formulating a booklet on how to organize an academy of science and a junior academy of science since he had been approached by people desiring to start an academy. Lynn suggested that instead of a booklet we provide a 3-day workshop if asked to do so. John suggested we poll our state academies to see if they have guidelines or booklets that they have developed. After a lengthy discussion Fred will supply the Pennsylvania Academy of Science booklets as a template to these people while listing Gloria as a consultant for forming a junior academy of science.

2. Funding Support for Board Members

Respectfully submitted,

Howard S. Pitkow

NAAS Secretary

Judy Parker

Fred Brenner

Leslie Sue Lieberman

Howard Pitkow

Ed Nelson

Lynn Elfner

Ertle Thompson

Gloria Takahashi

David Hsi

Don Jordan

John Safko

Lorraine Rodriguez

Claire Oswald

Assad Panah

Appendix A: Agenda for Board Meeting

Appendix B: Annual report of the NAAS Secretary

Appendix C: Background Materials & Reference materials for Workshop on Teaching Evolution

Appendix D: Financial Report

Appendix E: AJAS Report

Appendix F: Will Kansas be Cloned?

Appendix G: Audit Report for 1996-June 1999

All appendices are available from the NAAS Secretary