Lake Shore GSA minutes

Lake Shore Gay/Straight Alliance

5.15.2013 3:15 p.m. Room 219
Meeting called by Mrs. Macomber
Type of meeting Introductory and Organizational Meeting
Note taker Mrs. Macomber
Attendees
Laura Schanta, Chyna Evans, Josh Denzler, Jillian
Marquardt, Sarah Markstrom, Megan Powers, Sarah
Scalabrino, Davina Loving, Mrs. Tharme, Ms. Hannawi, Ms.
Krumholz, Aleese Casier, Angel Vermiglio, Ms. Martinez,
Nick Nieto, Mark Little
Introductions
What is a Gay/Straight Alliance?
Looked at GLSEN.orgs description of GSAs available at
http://www.glsen.org/cgi -bin/iowa/all/library/record/2342.html?state=what
Set our Meeting Norms/Rules
No involuntary outing of anyone
Confidentiality is important- what is said in GSA stays in GSA
One diva, one mic (one person speaks at a time)
No name calling or offensive language
Be respectful and tolerant of others in GSA and other groups
What direction do we want to take/what is the function of our GSA?
Discussion
Support Group: focuses mostly on creating a safe space for LGBTQ
students to talk about their feelings, questions and issues theyre facing
at home, at school and in their everyday lives
Activism Group: focuses mostly on educating students, teachers,
parents, and community members to create a safer and more
accepting school for LGBTQ students by changing school rules &
policies, training staff & students, and helping to stop harassment &
discrimination
Social Group : focuses mostly on creating a fun and safe place for
students, on and off campus, to meet other LGBTQ & Ally students, make
friends, and celebrate being LGBTQ & Ally people
Combination: combines aspects of all three above functions,
depending on the needs of the school and students at that time
Conclusions All were in favor of the Combination function.
What do we want our organizational structure to look like?
Discussion
Hierarchy based (President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, etc.)
Concerns were raised about wanting all members to feel equal and this
wouldnt allow for that.
Lake Shore GSA minutes
Board-based (Your club has a "board" of people who lead the GSA.
Each board member has a defined leadership role which covers a major
areas of responsibility- examples: Facilitator or Chair, Outreach/Publicity
Coordinator, Program Coordinator, Funding Coordinator, Grade
Representatives, etc.). It was mentioned that this system didnt seem
necessary because we arent big enough yet.
Committee-based (specific committees are formed to address
particular GSA objectives or needs and are led by committee "chairs"
which give individual reports at large-group meetings. Example
committees include: fundraising committee, events committee, publicity
committee, visibility and education committee, etc.) The disadvantage
is there isnt one point person for people to contact when they want
to reach the group, although the advisor could act as this, if needed.
Conclusions All were in favor of the Committee-based system.
What events would we like to participate in/Whats on the horizon?
Discussion
National Coming Out Day (Oct. 11, 2013) with an event afterward to
support students
No Name Calling Week (date TBD, likely January 2014)
Ally Week (date TBD)
Day of Silence (date TBD, likely April 2014) with a Breaking the Silence
rally/event afterward
NoH8 campaign/photo shoot session (see
http://www.noh8campaign.com/)
Freshmen Orientation- get a booth/table to recruit members and inform
Class of 2017 of our existence
Reach out to college GSAs for support/networking
Order t-shirts!
Participate in Detroit Pride Walk and/or St. Clair Shores Pride Walk (if
there is one)
Schedule next meeting time/date and goals
Discussion
What days work best for most people? We ruled out Mondays (people
may forget over the weekend) and Fridays (people want to start their
weekends as soon as possible). It was suggested that meeting every
week would be too frequent.
Goals: write our mission statement, plan activities and events for the
year, develop committees
Conclusions
Majority of people voted for Tuesday, after school, in the
library. Next meeting scheduled for May 28, 2013.
Lake Shore GSA minutes
In the meantime:
Consider joining our Facebook group (Lake Shore Gay/Straight
Alliance). This will be our primary method of communication between
meetings.
Please help GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network)
inform education policymakers and the public about whats really going
on in our nations schools by completing the 2013 National School
Climate Survey. If you attended high school or middle school sometime
during the last school year (2012-2013) and are at least 13 years old, tell
us about your experiences in school. The survey is completely
anonymous. Glsen.org/2013survey.
Remind101 is now set up. If you would like to receive notifi cations of
upcoming events/meetings via text, text @lsgsa to (925) 241-5641.