Coaches' Meeting 2001-2002

Minutes from May 15, 2002

  1. Treasurer's Report: Carol Miller distributed the 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 NSML FINANCIAL STATEMENTS. Our balance on 5/7/2001 was $1488.26 and was $2852.41 as of 4/3/02. Thanks to the fact that host schools are now duplicating contests and answers, the League is saving a significant amount in duplicating costs. Thus our 2002-2003 dues are only $150.00, a reduction of $25.00 from recent years. Payment is due by November 1, 2002. Schools that pay after this date but before December 6, 2002 will be charged $175.00. Schools that pay after this date but before the Conference Meet will be charged $200.00. Schools that fail to pay by the Conference Meet will be charged $200.00, suspended from League Meets for 2003-2004, and will be placed at the END of the queue for schools applying to join NSML! Be sure you request payment of NSML dues to your school's business office EARLY, so as not to suffer dire consequences.

  2. Pam Sullivan distributed copies of the 2002-2003 Topics. Please note the rules and dates regarding calculators. John Benson encouraged coaches to attend the annual Topics Meeting hosted by Pam Sullivan. The League can also strongly influence the State Orals topic. John noted that the Orals Topic Committee hopes to post topics on the website for two years, giving coaches and students ample time to procure books and prepare for Oral competition.

  3. Richard Muller announced the 2002-2003 Meet dates, noting that major conflicts left no leeway in the calendar. He also thanked Benet Academy for agreeing to a date that conflicted with Benet's Parent Night. The Meet dates follow:

    Wednesday, 9 October 2002
    Wednesday, 6 November 2002
    Thursday, 12 December 2002
    Thursday, 6 February 2003
    Wednesday, 5 March 2003

  4. Richard Rukin thanked the schools that have already posted hosting date conflicts on the NSML website. Richard urged all coaches to post, e-mail, or mail hosting conflict dates to him ASAP. Once Richard has developed the hosting schedule, changes are VERY difficult to make. Bill Roloff has volunteered to help Richard develop the schedule.

  5. Mike Andrews distributed copies of the summary Statistics for the NSML 2001-2002 competitive season. Mike noted that while the leatherette binders will be given to All-Conference Oralists, other All-Conference students will be given purple clipboards.

  6. John Benson announced that Richard Rukin and Isaac Greenspan have volunteered to present one or more workshops on probability as a contest topic. The focus will be on developing and finding solutions to probability problems. This announcement was met with great interest. A Saturday appeared to be the day of choice. Further information will be posted on the NSML website.

  7. John Benson reported that the practice of sending out only single copies of contest materials worked very well this year. The coaches voted to have only ONE mailing before each meet. Information about hosting will be posted on our website.

  8. With Lynn Benson retiring from many years of collecting Meet results over the Benson telephone, John announced that next year host schools will post results directly to the website, using access codes given only to them.

  9. John Benson asked for and got 11 volunteers to try out the software for posting Meet results to our website. John also suggested that Head Coaches' school address and telephone numbers be posted on the website. The September mailing containing this information is quickly outdated. John also asked that host schools provide cell phone numbers so that contest problems may be quickly resolved by phone. John noted that these cell phones must be turned on and in areas of acceptable contact during meets.

  10. Coaches agreed that NSML questions and answers should NOT be posted on our website. Some coaches like to reserve these for future practices. Past questions are available, at a fee, from educaide.com. See the math links page for more information.

  11. Even though our annual Statistics summary will be available as an EXCEL spreadsheet on our website, coaches still voted for having the hard copy version distributed at the annual coaches meeting.

  12. John Benson asked that "younger" coaches join our NSML Board of Directors. To volunteer to join is equivalent to being elected! The Board has only one meeting per year at which it approves topics meet dates, and sets or recommends policies to make the League more effective.

  13. Thanks to John Benson for chairing the meeting, to Mike Andrews for hosting, Pam Sullivan for hosting the topics meeting, Carol Miller for being our Treasurer, Rich Rukin for developing the meet schedule, Rich Muller for setting the calendar for meets, and Tom Weisgram for taking such excellent minutes at the May Board meeting.

Submitted for your edification, enjoyment, and approbation by George Pryjma.