January 2025

Braille Authority of North America Board Meeting 

Monday, January 27, 2025, 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
  • Wendy Buckley, Perkins School for the Blind, Vice Chair
  • Amber Pearcy, National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress (NLS), Secretary
  • Danette Johnson, Hadley, Treasurer
  • Frances Mary (FM) D'Andrea, American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)
  • Kyle DeJute, American Printing House for the Blind (APH)
  • Mary Nelle McLennan (MN), Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER)
  • 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)
  • Georgie Sydnor, National Braille Press (NBP)
  • Susan (Sue) Reilly, Administrative Assistant
  • Aquinas Pather, associate member Allyant
  • Holly Bullock, associate member Crawford Technologies

Observer:

  • Callie Brusegaard, U.S. Representative to ICEB

Not attending:

  • Marie Zaldivar, Alternate Text Production Center (ATPC)
  • Judy Dixon, American Council of the Blind (ACB)

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

3. Approval of Minutes from Last Meeting: Amber Pearcy

Amber reported that after sending the December 16 meeting minutes to the board, she sent a second version in which she incorporated feedback from the board. NO additional edits were requested.

MSC: Amber moved to approve the minutes from the December 16, 2024 meeting. Tracy seconded. Motion carried. 

4. Introduction of New Organization Representatives: Jen Goulden/Georgie Sydnor 

Georgie Sydnor is now representing National Braille Press, Inc. on the BANA board. She serves as Prepress Manager at National Braille Press. Amber Pearcy now represents the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled.

5. Production Updates from APH: Kyle DeJute

Kyle reported that the hard copy of Chemical Notation Using the Nemeth Braille Code 2023 should be listed for sale on the APH website in March. It will be possible for a customer to purchase the graphics supplement as a stand-alone product if they prefer to use the PDF or BRF of the other portions of the code. 

Jennifer reported that in the process of making some minor edits to the Nemeth Code 2022 document, the Nemeth Code committee discovered that the BRF version of the document has discrepancies from the PDF document. This means that multiple corrections are in process, and Jennifer will let the board know when these are completed. A note will be posted to the BANA website to explain that there will be an updated Nemeth BRF coming soon; however, the current BRF will remain on the website in the interim.

6. ICEB Update: Callie Brusegaard

Callie reported that ICEB will host a virtual town hall on January 30, 2025 to discuss the new UEB Rulebook.

ICEB is in the process of registering as a nonprofit in the U.S. 

Jen reported that due to changes in the print IPA, the braille IPA document will need an update. Jen is working with Robert Englebretson to update this document. She anticipates having more information for the board after February.

Callie let the board know that the next meeting of the UEB Technical Committee will be on February 3, 2025, and observers are invited.

7. Standardized Tests: Kyle DeJute/Frances Mary D’Andrea 

Kyle reported that the committee has met weekly and are using a draft standardized test guidelines document from 2019 as a starting point for crafting a new document. They are also refining their processes around file sharing and minute-keeping.

FM reported that the committee has reached out to Publications to ensure that they have the most up-to-date authoring guidelines. This will enable them to create their files using the correct style from the outset. Sue has also created a Dropbox folder for the committee where they have been collecting examples of different types of standardized testing formats to have a sense of the different issues that arise concerning the various types of standardized test questions.

The committee is also considering how to address online items as many students use their refreshable braille devices to take these online assessments.

8. Braille Signage: Jen Goulden 

Jen has had no success in reaching Kim Charlson and Debbie Gillespie via email to discuss their willingness and availability to continue chairing the Braille Signage Committee. She will attempt to reach them by phone.

9. Braille Formats: Hollie knight

Hollie reported that the committee is having weekly meetings to review the guidelines for potential revision. As a follow-up to the inquiry raised at our last meeting regarding the inclusion of Nemeth Code examples in conjunction with UEB Technical examples, Hollie let the board know that the reason the committee asked to include examples of Nemeth Code formatting is so that they would not seem to be recommending UEB Technical over Nemeth Code. They are amenable to the idea of adding cross-references to the Nemeth Code book to help readers locate formatting specific to Nemeth. 

General Consensus: The BANA board is in favor of the Braille Formats committee including references to the Nemeth Code in the new Formats Guidelines in the form of cross-references to the Nemeth Code 2022 rather than providing examples within the Formats Guidelines.

Kyle asked if the Standardized Test Committee and the Braille Formats Committee could be charged with communicating so that they are each aware of the updates and decisions that the other is making. This will help to ensure consistency and a lack of contradiction between documents. 

MSC: Jennifer moved to charge the Braille Formats Technical Committee to keep the Ad Hoc Committee on Standardized Tests apprised of any updates. Diane seconded. Motion carried. 

MSC: Jennifer moved to charge the Ad Hoc Committee on Standardized Tests to communicate with the Braille Formats Technical Committee to ensure a lack of conflict between formats and testing guidelines. Kyle seconded. Motion carried.

10. “No Translation” Document: Jennifer Dunnam

Jennifer reported that the final document was presented to the board in December and asked if the board was ready to vote on the document. No one had additional concerns to raise. 

MSC: Jennifer moved that the “No Translation” document be approved by the board and prepared for publication. FM seconded. Motion carried. 

11. Bylaws: Jennifer Dunnam

Jennifer reported that the committee has five proposals ready which address previous charges. She reviewed one of these proposals today—the proposal relating to the process of utilizing the Appointments Committee to fill open committee slots. It should be noted that changes to the BANA Bylaws must be approved at an in-person meeting. 

The goal of this charge was to make sure that when committees need new members, there are people ready to fill those vacancies. The second goal is to make sure there are not discrepancies between processes. Currently, the process says that all new appointments must go through the appointments process. As a reminder, this only applies to general and ad hock committees.

If the roles of committee members are changing but they are remaining on the committee (e.g. a consultant becomes a full member of the committee), the Bylaws Committee recommends that they do not need to go through the appointments process. The Bylaws Committee also suggests revising the reminder letter that is sent to committee chairs so that the timeline and process is clear. Furthermore, they suggest revising the committee reports to include a checkbox so that the chair will confirm if they have filled out the form submitting a new member for consideration by the Appointments Committee. An additional suggestion is that appointee forms will be received by the entire board; however, the Appointments Committee will still be responsible for reviewing the forms and bringing a recommendation to the board. 

12.  Spring 2025 Meeting: Jen Goulden

Mary Nelle was unable to attend the entire meeting and did not deliver this report. Jen will ask Mary Nelle to send hotel information to the board as soon as possible.

Jen also reported that Georgie will soon send potential dates for the fall 2025 meeting, hosted by NBP, to the board for consideration.

13. Next Meeting: Jen Goulden

Our next meeting will be held on February 24, 2025 at 1:00 P.M. Eastern Time.

14. Adjournment: Jen Goulden

Jen adjourned the meeting at 2:10 P.M. Easter Time.

Upcoming Meetings:

  • Fall 2025: NBP

  • Spring 2026: AFB

  • Fall 2026: CIDI

  • Spring 2027: CTEBVI

  • Fall 2027: Hadley

  • Spring 2028: ATPC 

  • Fall 2028: ACB

  • Spring 2029: CNIB 

  • Fall 2029: Clovernook

  • Spring 2030: NFB 

  • Fall 2030: NLS

  • Spring 2031: Perkins

  • Fall 2031: NBA

Respectfully submitted,

Amber Pearcy

January 28, 2025