Instructions from the Board on how to report. Sent to all committees. Email addresses removed.
Greetings Officers and Committee Chairs of the Society.
The deadline for quarterly reports to the Board is fast approaching,
and in an effort to make everyone's job a little easier, the Directors
have requested some changes in the way we report. Much of what is in
this letter is the same as when it was written last year, but some
things have been changed. Please read through the entire letter.
I Headers and Footers, and Attached Documents
Please include headers and footers which indicate the title of the
report, the date, and page numbers. For example, a header in the upper
right hand corner might read, "Secretary's Report 7-1-00." The footer
in the lower right had corner would give the page number. Any attached
documents should be clearly labeled and referenced in the text of the
report.
II Deadlines and Late Reporting
The Directors are very unhappy with late reporting. Because packets
containing materials for the quarterly meeting are sent to the
Directors immediately after the deadline for submissions, if a report
arrives in Milpitas after the deadline, the Directors will not receive
it until the Friday before the quarterly meeting when Renee Signorotti
physically hands it to them. This gives them little or no time to
consider the material in the report. Therefore, any report which is
not received by the deadline will probably not be considered at the
quarterly meeting, but will be considered at the next quarterly
meeting. We urge you to get your reports in on time.
The deadlines for the meetings have now been fixed as the first of the
month of each meeting. For example, the deadline for the October 2000
quarterly meeting is October 1, 2000, the deadline for the January 2001
quarterly meeting is January 1, 2001, etc. These are hard deadlines
and a paper copy of your report must be in the Milpitas office on that
day. Faxed copies will not be received by the office unless prior
arrangements are made with Renee Signorotti. If, for some reason, you
will not be able to meet the deadline, please call the office and speak
to Renee.
III Addenda to Reports
If something of importance arises between the deadline and the Board
meeting, you can always issue an addendum to your report. It is
important to make the new material clear to the Directors. There are
two ways to do this. The first is to produce a new and separate
document (i.e., a "memo") clearly marked "Addendum to the (date) Report
for (Office)." The second is to produce the original report with
updates printed in a different typeface; however, if the report is
lengthy, this could be problematic, and you should use the first
option.
IV Emailing Reports
While it is very convenient to email your report, either in the body of
an email or as an attachment, this will not count as having your report
in to the office on time. Please make every effort to have your report
in the mail in a timely manner.
Notwithstanding the above, it is to your advantage to have your report
in the hands of the Directors as soon possible. In addition, it makes
everyone's job easier to do. Therefore, it is *requested,* but not
*required,* that you email your report to directors@sca.org as soon as
it is completed. This gives the Directors several extra days to review
your report and to plan accordingly.
V Policy Manuals
For policy manuals and other long and/or complicated documents, the
deadline is the fifteenth of the month prior to the meeting. For
example, if you wish a policy manual to be considered at the January
2001 meeting, it must be received by the corporate office no later than
December 15, 2000. If a policy manual or other involved document
arrives after that date, you should expect it to be remanded to the
next meeting.
Again, it is requested, but not required, that policy manuals and other
involved documents be emailed to directors@sca.org to give the
directors as much time as possible to consider your suggestions.
VI Format of the Report
Reports to the Board should include the following sections (in this
order): (A) Action Items, (B) Policy Interpretations, (C) New
Policies, (D) Commendations, (E) General Status Report, (F)
Publishable Summary, plus, when necessary, (G) "Under the Rocks."
A Action Items
Action Items are matters on which you are requesting Board action or a
ruling from the Board. They should be numbered and short --one or two
sentences describing *exactly* what you are asking the Board to do.
Any necessary explanation can follow the actual action item in a
separate paragraph. The Action Item, but not the explanation, will be
printed in the Board Report and in the Minutes along with whatever
action the Board took; hence the need for brevity.
B Policy Interpretations
Policy Interpretations are explanations of the Society's rules and of
existing policy. This is not the place to ask the Board to approve new
policies.
When making a policy interpretation, please include a citation of the
rule or policy you are interpreting. Interpretation of the Society's
rules will be made primarily by the Society Seneschal, Exchequer,
Chronicler and Marshal. However, there may be cases where some other
officer will make an interpretation of existing policy. Policy
interpretations will be upheld or not upheld by the Board.
Policy interpretations should be numbered and short--one or two
sentences describing exactly what decision was made. Any necessary
explanation can follow the actual policy interpretation in a separate
paragraph. They will be printed in the Board Report and in the Minutes
along with the Board's action on the interpretation.
C New Policies
New Policies are exactly what they sound like--new policies for your
office that you are asking the Board to approve, or changes to existing
policies. These Board-approved policies will go into the Precedence of
Law; therefore, please be certain that any policies that you submit for
the Board's consideration should have that sort of force, and provide
the Board with an explanation of where this policy will go in your
approved policy manual. If you are changing an existing Board-approved
policy, please quote the current policy in full. This is not the place
for guidelines or suggestions, but for things that will be enforced in
all kingdoms. New policies will be approved or not approved by the
Board.
New policies should be numbered and short--one or two sentences without
explanation. Any necessary explanation can follow the actual policy in
a separate paragraph. They will be printed in the Board Report and in
the Minutes, unless they are simply too lengthy to include, along with
the Board action on the policy.
Note--this is not the place to present a new policy manual--that is a
separate item in the agenda (see below). If you do not have an
approved policy manual, please do not present new policies to the
Board. They cannot be approved unless there is a manual where they can
be placed.
D Commendations
Commendations are your chance to thank those who have worked with you
and have done a spectacular job. They will be printed in the Board
Report, depending on space availability.
E General Status Report
General Status Report is the meat of what you have to tell the Board.
For officers, it may be helpful to list by kingdom and give the status
of affairs in each one. This is also where you give plans for your
office or committee. This will not be printed in the Board Report and
in the Minutes.
F Publishable Report Summary
The Publishable Report Summary is a one-paragraph, one or two sentence,
concise version of what happened in the SCA in your office or committee
in the last quarter. Please cast it in the third person. This will be
printed in the Board Report.
G Under the Rocks
"Under the Rocks" is a euphemism. It is an extremely optional and,
most important, confidential section of the report which will be
discussed by the Board in either the Friday session or Executive
Session. It is the place for letting the Board know about things which
should not be made public, usually concerning personnel or legal
matters. Most officers should never have Under the Rocks items for the
Board to consider. Under the Rocks items should be placed on a
separate page. This will not be printed in the Board Report or in the
Minutes. (doh!!!)
VII Misuse of "Action Items", "Policy Interpretations", and "New
Policies"
There is significant confusion among officers and committee chairs
regarding Action Items, Policy Interpretations and New Policies--this
is one reason we have expanded the prior categories of "Action Items"
and "Policy Decisions".
Action Items are those items which require the Directors to actually do
something (sign a warrant, make a motion, etc.). Before you submit an
Action Item, carefully consider what you are saying and whether you are
actually asking the Board to do anything.
At one quarterly meeting, one officer's report contained FIFTEEN
"action items", almost none of which required the Board to do
anything. Unfortunately, the Directors are required to go through the
report, Action Item by Action Item, dealing with each individual item
until all are addressed. This took up a fair amount of time. All
these items also had to be put into the Board Report and the Minutes.
Please, the Board does not need to know you are considering instituting
a new paper filing system or a new email address as an Action Item.
These are not matters which require Board action or need to be
addressed at a high level. They can be covered in your General Status
Report. If you need guidance in this aspect of your reporting, contact
your Ombudsman, the President, the Society Seneschal, or the
Secretary.
Policy Interpretations are explanations of the Governing Documents of
the Society, or interpretations of other rules or existing policies.
They must include a citation as to what existing rule or policy is
being interpreted. Upon submission of a Policy Interpretation, the
Directors will either uphold or not uphold the officer's ruling.
Very few officers will ever be placed in the position of interpreting
what the rules say. The Society Seneschal does this with some degree
of frequency, the Society Exchequer will have to interpret financial
policy, the Society Chronicler will rule on current publishing
policies, and the Society Marshal rules on fighting issues.
Interpretations of existing policy for an office may have to be made by
other officers.
We urge you all to carefully consider any policy interpretations or new
interpretations of the rules before they are implemented and/or
submitted to the Board for their consideration. There have been
several instances where an officer sent in a policy decision, only to
have it not upheld. This was usually because (a) it was not really a
policy decision since it did not involve interpreting the rules or
current policies or (b) it was not a well-thought-out policy decision.
If you need help or guidance, contact the officers listed above.
New Policies are individual policies that have become necessary for the
governing of your office. They should have been discussed with your
subordinate officers and should be "rules" that will bind all the
kingdoms, not suggestions for possible ways to get things done. These
policies will become part of your existing policy manual, so you should
be prepared to tell the Board where in the manual the new policy should
be placed. If you find that you have a great number of policies to
introduce, you should consider whether it is time to revise and update
your policy manual.
VIII Clarity in Reporting
One more thought on Action Items, Policy Interpretations, and New
Policies -- they need to be clear and concise. Do not use rambling or
ambiguous language. Tell the Board (and the world) exactly what you
are proposing or have done. The reason for this is that these items
are entered into the Board Report and the Minutes and anyone reading
them, now or in the future, needs to know exactly what was meant and
what was done.
Consider the following two examples of New Policies:
Example One--"We have sometimes under 18 year olds at events and I have
been thinking that toe rings might be a good idea to be worn if you're
under 18 so we know who they aren't and that way when they take their
shoes off we know how old they are and if they're over 21 or not and
kids wear them anyway and we could do fund raising selling them but
sales tax might be a problem and the state won't let us do it and some
people over 25 don't like toe rings so I'm not sure. Can you maybe do
something about all of this?"
Example Two"I ask that the Board rule that all entrants to an SCA event
who are under the age of 18 shall wear toe rings. The reasons for this
proposed policy are as follows...
If you were a Director, with which example would you rather deal?
Also, bear in mind that humor must be clearly marked. One of the
officers sent in a truly hilarious "April First" report in the same
typeface and format as the usual report--several of the Directors did
not notice the real report which followed.
Again, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact
your Ombudsman, Carol O'Leary, Lee Forgue, or Andrew Smith.
IX Policy Manuals
Officers' policies approved by the Board have now been placed in the
Precedence of Law above kingdom law. Therefore, any office which has
policies which are meant to apply to all kingdoms should have a
Board-approved manual. These manuals should contain only policy (no
suggestions or guidelines) and, if they need to be approved, should be
presented to the Board by the fifteenth of the month before a Board
meeting. If your office does not have a policy manual, you may wish to
prepare one. If your office has a manual which has not been approved
within the last five years, you may wish to review, revise and resubmit
your manual for approval. The reason for this is it is the Board's
stated policy is that all policy manuals must be reviewed and
reapproved by the Board at least every five years. Policy manuals sent
up for Board approval will be placed in the agenda under "New
Business", so please let Renee Signorotti (Corporate Officer) and
Andrew Smith (Corporate Secretary) know if one is in the works. If you
have any questions about this, please contact the usual officers.
Thank you so much for your cooperation in this matter.
Most cordially,
Andrew Smith Lee Forgue
Duke Andrew of Riga Mistress Eilis O'Boirne
Executive Assistant to the Board VP for Operations
For more information on the SCA, see the SCA Home Page
Last changed: 3-Apr-2006