Sister Cities

Idaho Falls Sister Cities Youth Board Meeting May 9, 2017 Attendees: Melinda Cebull Katie Eaton Whitney St. Michel Peter Cebull David Eaton Criteria for Selecting Students to go to Japan: We are lucky to have 26 students in our group this year. We will only be able to take 15 or 16 students to Japan. The board is working to clearly define selection criteria so all of the members will understand how we will select the members who go to Japan. From the April 27th board meeting minutes, we have: ------------------------------------------ Start 4/27 ----------------------------------------------------------- - Requirements from the Bylaws  13 – 18 years old at the time of the trip  In good standing (Code of Conduct, Medical Forms, Application Form)  Attend 50% of the meetings & activities  Valid overseas health insurance  Passport - Considerations from the Bylaws  Students point accumulation  Longevity in the organization  Students who have not been to Japan yet  Age (younger students will have opportunities to go later)  Record of adherence to the Code of Conduct. A student must meet all of the requirements stated in the bylaws and shown above. For the students who meets the requirements, the board will look at the student and parent points accumulated. If there is more than one student in a family, the parent’s points will be split evenly between their students who are eligible to go to Japan. Tickets are purchased in the February/March timeframe. The decision on who will go will be made at the end of January so tickets can be purchased. Points to decide who will go will be based on points accrued until January of the year before the trip. Students will continue to accrue points up until the time of the trip for reimbursements.  Students who have not been to Japan and will be too old to go in the future will be awarded extra points (10% more or a set amount i.e.10 points).  Students who have been to Japan will have points deducted (10% or a set amount i.e. 10 points) for each time they have been to Japan. Note the point addition and deductions are only used for deciding who goes to Japan and will have no effect on funds reimbursed. Example: (Each student has 100 points) Student A has been to Japan once 100 – (1 * 10) 90 Student B has been to Japan twice 100 – (2 * 10) 80 Student C has not been to Japan but could go later 100 100  Student D has not been and will not be able to go next time 100 + 10 110 The above adjustments will be made to the student totals and the top 15 or 16 students will go to Japan. ------------------------------------------ End 4/27 ----------------------------------------------------------- Note: The bylaws state the student and family are required to help host the Japanese delegation the year before the student goes to Japan. Dave provided a compilation of the points from last year with the different scoring considerations from the 4/27 board meeting applied. The student ranking stayed about the same whether we used percentages or points. The board decided to use points as shown here:  +10 points for students who have not been to Japan and will not be able to go again  -15 points for students who have been to Japan once  -25 points more points for students who have been to Japan a second time  +10 points for a student who has been in the group and was eligible to go to Japan, but did not go on the previous trip. The Example Changes to: (Each student has 100 points) Student A has been to Japan once 100 – 15 85 Student B has been to Japan twice 100 – 15 – 25 60 Student C has not been to Japan but could go later 100 100 Student D has not been and will not be able to go next time 100 + 10 110 Student E could have went to Japan but did not go 100 + 10 110 Student F could have went to Japan but did not go and cannot go again. 100 + 10 +10 120 Student G could have went to Japan but did not go and has been to Japan 100 + 10 -15 95 The above adjustments will be made to the student totals and the top 15 or 16 students will go to Japan. -Other Considerations: Parent points will be split between their children unless a parent notifies the board by the second meeting in January of the year of the trip to Japan about any student(s) who will not be going. If a student is not going all of the points will be given to their siblings. As long as a family is in good standing, the funds earned by a student who did not go to Japan will be saved for the student’s next trip or for a younger sibling. Hosting Discussion Whitney asked about sending the Japanese delegation a general calendar with the activities we have planned and letting them know we will provide more details. The board decided it would be okay to send them a general calendar. Whitney will ask if she can find out more information about students especially any allergies. After she has this information, she will start placing Japanese students with host families. Whitney is going to call the City Parks Department about reserving parks for the different activities.t