February 2024

Braille Authority of North America Board Meeting 

Monday, February 26, 2024, 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time

 

1. Call to Order: Jen Goulden

Jen called the meeting to order at 1:02 P.M. Eastern Time.

 

2. Roll Call: Amber Pearcy

The following board members were in attendance:

  • Jen Goulden, CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind), Chair

  • Mary Nelle McLennan, Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER), Vice Chair 

  • Amber Pearcy, National Braille Press (NBP), Secretary 

  • Danette Johnson, Hadley, Treasurer

  • Tamara Rorie, National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress (NLS), Immediate Past Chair 

  • Judy Dixon, American Council of the Blind (ACB)

  • Frances Mary (FM) D'Andrea, American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)

  • Kyle DeJute, American Printing House for the Blind (APH)

  • Tracy Gaines, California Transcribers and Educators for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CTEBVI)

  • Hollie Knight, Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation (CIDI) 

  • Tina Seger, Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired

  • Diane Spence, National Braille Association (NBA

  • Jennifer Dunnam, National Federation of the Blind (NFB) 

  • Wendy Buckley, Perkins School for the Blind

  • Susan (Sue) Reilly, Administrative Assistant

  • Emily Coleman, Associate Member Council of Schools and Services for the Blind (COSB)

  • Holly Bullock, associate member Crawford Technologies

Not attending:

  • Marie Zaldivar, Alternate Text Production Center (ATPC)

  • Aquinas Pather, associate member Allyant

3. Approval of Minutes from Last Meeting: Amber Pearcy

There were no additional requests for changes to the minutes from the January 22, 2024 meeting.

MSC: Amber moved to approve the minutes from the January 22, 2024 meeting. Tamara seconded. Motion carried.

An email vote was taken in January regarding the use of the spreadsheet which lists all of the changes made to the new Tactile Graphics Guidelines document by NBA as they prepare their training for the workshops in the fall. Jen asked for a motion to allow Patrick Janson and his committee to have access to this changes document provided that they do not share it with anyone else. In a separate email, Diane clarified that according to the Tactile Graphics Committee, the document does not include information about all of the content that was changed; rather, it is a compilation of notes and basic changes. 

MSC: Kyle moved to allow NBA immediate access to the changes spreadsheet for Tactile Graphics Guidelines, provided that NBA not share the spreadsheet with anyone, and with the understanding that said spreadsheet is NOT all-inclusive and does NOT contain all the content that was changed. FM seconded.

Jen called for votes to be submitted on this motion by February 1.

  • Jen Goulden, CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind), Chair: yes

  • Danette Johnson, Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Treasurer: yes

  • Tamara Rorie, National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress (NLS), Immediate Past Chair: yes

  • Frances Mary (FM) D'Andrea, American Foundation for the Blind (AFB): yes

  • Kyle DeJute, American Printing House for the Blind (APH): yes

  • Hollie Knight, Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation (CIDI): yes

  • Tina Seger, Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired: yes

  • Diane Spence, National Braille Association (NBA): yes

  • Jennifer Dunnam, National Federation of the Blind (NFB): yes

  • Wendy Buckley, Perkins School for the Blind: yes

4. Chemistry Update: Frances Mary D’Andrea / Jen Goulden

Jen reported that she has communicated with two people from the American Chemical Society (ACS). Board discussion followed about how the ACS could best collaborate with us to spread the word about the document. ACS produces a newsletter for its members, and it was determined that this would be a useful place to announce the new document. 

General Consensus: BANA and ACS will release a joint press release announcing the publication of Chemical Notation Using the Nemeth Code 2023.  

The BRF file of the document is almost ready.

 

5. Tactile Graphics Update: Jen Goulden / Mary Nelle McLennan

MN reported that Publications is still working on the index. 

 

Jen reported that upon completion of the index, the document should be ready to post on the website soon. 

 

6. Graphing Calculator Guidelines: Jen Goulden

Jen reported that the guidelines have been reviewed by the UEB Technical Material Committee of NBA and the General Committee on UEB. GCUEB recommended that the document go through a BANA board review before posting. Jen will coordinate with Kyle on the review process. 

 

We will have the document before the spring meeting, but it will not be within the required 30 days prior to the meeting. Discussion was held about the need to send out guidance for a review, which could delay the review process. Jen proposed using the questions that we typically send out during a review. She will also provide a summary of the update process for this document as part of the review instructions. Kyle was concerned about having time to compile and review the board feedback in time to vote at the spring meeting. 

 

MSC: Tamara moved to suspend the 30-day rule in the bylaws so that we can hold the vote to approve the Graphing Calculator Guidelines at the spring meeting. Tracy seconded. Motion carried.

 

7. Business Card Document: Tina Seger

Tina sent the revised Business Card document back to the board. A comment was acknowledged regarding the lack of guidance in this document related to QR codes or electronic business cards. This omission will remain, as these items may be outside the scope of this document. It was agreed that we could add some information to this document in the future about these two categories. FM recommended adding a link to the UEB rulebook to the document. 

MSC: Kyle moved to approve the BANA Factsheet on Business Cards with the addition of a linked reference to The Rules of UEB in the resources list. Judy seconded. Motion carried.

 

8. Knit and Crochet Guidelines: Jennifer Dunnam

The document has been reviewed by the board, and the review panel sent the responses back to the committee. Cindi and Jennifer are working on incorporating the feedback and hope to have the document back to the board by March 5. The hope is to approve this at the spring meeting.

 

9. ICEB General Assembly: Frances Mary D’Andrea

FM reported that the ICEB Resolutions Committee is in need of U.S. members. This committee meets prior to the General Assembly to draft resolutions for discussion. The first meeting of this committee has been scheduled for March 6. Jennifer volunteered to represent the U.S. 

 

FM will soon be forwarding the ICEB constitution and bylaw updates to the board for input.

 

10. Spring Meeting: Kyle DeJute

Kyle reminded everyone to complete the meal preference survey. 

 

11. Fall 2024: Diane Spence

Jen asked Diane to resend the information about meeting dates and hotel to the board.

 

12. Adjournment: Jen Goulden

Jen adjourned the meeting at 2:01 P.M.  Eastern Time.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Amber Pearcy

March 21, 2024