MEMORANDUM
To: Members of the National Head Start Association
From: Sue Obermiller, Chair of the NHSA Bylaws and Nominating Committee
Date: July 23, 2007
Re: Election of Officers
As many of you are aware, over the past few months many members of the National Head Start Association (NHSA) have expressed significant concerns about the recent election for Board officers. In order to address these concerns, the Board retained Ted Waters, one of NHSA’s longstanding attorneys, to review the issues arising from the election. He has advised the Board that it is out of compliance with a District of Columbia law requiring a non-profit membership corporation to keep a “record of the names and addresses of its members entitled to vote” and has likely been out of compliance since NHSA expanded its membership in 2003. Accordingly, he advised the Board that the recent officer elections were invalid and that the prior election may be considered invalid as well.
In order to address this situation, the Board of Directors passed a resolution on June 27, 2007, to remedy flaws in its election process and annulled its decision to certify officers for the 2007-2009 term. A key step in this process was to create an ad hoc committee of the Board in which I shall serve as Chair, to review options for complying with the District law as well as addressing other concerns that have been raised by our members. The Board specifically took the following actions:
- Annulled its decision at the Board’s April meeting to certify officers for 2007-2009.
- Created the ad hoc Committee to report back to the Board for further action.
- Set the time for another special Board meeting on August 9, 2007, to, among other things, receive a preliminary report from the ad hoc committee.
- Established that the new elections for the 2007-2009 term will be held no later than December 31, 2007.
Filled current vacancies in the Board officer positions for the 2005-2007 term by appointing Ron Herndon, Chairman; Janis Santos, Vice-Chair; Karen Jones, Treasurer; and Joan Scales, Secretary. These individuals shall serve in these positions until the new election is held and certified by the Board. The Board strongly believes that these actions put NHSA on the right track toward rectifying the election problems and establishing a fair process for the future so that NHSA can focus on how to best meet the needs of all of its membership in serving Head Start children and families.
Please see the attached copy of the Board Resolution and the NHSA press release of July 6, 2007, located at www.nhsa.org/press/News_Archived/index_news_070607.htm , for more information.
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