Intermediate Math League

of Eastern Massachusetts

Minutes of Fall Meeting                                              September 18, 2008

The meeting was held at Diamond Middle School in Lexington, hosted by Kent Findell.  Refreshments were served and the meeting was called to order at 3:45 pm.

Roll Call:  35 coaches from 28 schools.

Minutes from the Spring Meeting were approved.

Topics for the season were approved, unchanged from last year.

Kent reviewed the proposal received mid-summer by Glenn Ellison, Newton Bigelow parent, to publish a tutorial book on IMLEM material.  It was discussed during the summer among league officers, and the use of IMLEM material for "for profit" use in a book was approved provided the book was available for download and use by coaches and IMLEM is credited.  The book is now published as "Hard Math for Middle School: IMLEM Edition" and available on Amazon.com.

Tabulator's report by Richard Yanco: Rick distributed a page of "Requests from your tabulator." This asks for coaches to email him with the name of your school and list of students including Last name, first name, nickname, grade, and optionally Gender, and again before each meet when there are more names to include.  VPs should send results by fax to 1-877-252-6487 (toll-free).  This will cost the league about $70 for the season.  Postal mail and email are OK too.  The group discussed whether we could include individual student results (only the top X%) by name on the web site.  Several coaches indicated that this would be a complex process in their districts.  Discussion was deferred to the Spring meeting.  Rick also volunteered to maintain a coach’s directory in the advisors-only area of the web site and partially pre-printed info sheets were distributed for coaches to add information.

Webmaster's report by Kip Bryan: Kip gave out the new username and password for access to the Advisors' area of the web site.  Kip also introduced for new coaches the material available on the web site and in the advisors' area.

Test-writer's report by Josh Frost: The first meet is already done and in review.  It should be, as was requested last Spring, easier than typical meets will be.  VPs should send their emails, if different from last year, to Josh at frost13@comcast.net.   Josh also overviewed the new Common Fraction rule approved in the Spring (#12 in the Spring 2008 Minutes), which says questions may ask for the answer as a Common Fraction, so coaches should instruct their students on what this is.

Clusters and Divisions: The Clusters are largely unchanged from last year, though a few teams may not be returning this year. New school St Mary's is added to Cluster 5.  The Division list was also distributed.

Treasurer's Report by Kelly McCormack: Kelly listed the expenses since the Spring report (Plaques, meeting, website), giving a current balance of $4,278.06, which is about $1,200 higher than previous years (2007: $3,263.93, 2006: $3,102.43;  2005: $2,939.99;  2004: $3073.92).  This year the league may have fewer teams, reducing revenue, plus we increased the VP stipend in the Spring.  This should not be a problem, so we can review it in the Spring.

Cluster meetings were held from about 4:20 to 5:00 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Kent Findell

IMLEM President