ACAMIS Board Meeting Crowne Plaza Hotel Science City, Guangzhou Day 1: Sunday, May 12, 2013 -‐ 08.30 -‐ 16.15 Board Members:
Chair: Laurie McLellan (LM), Vice Chair: Tarek Razik (TR), Treasurer: Dave McMaster (DM), Past Chair: Anne Fowles (AF), Steve Dare (SD), Kurt Nordness (KN); Howard Stribbell (HS), Jeffry Stubbs (JS), Tom Ulmet (TU), Minutes: Robert Stearns (RS),
Apologies:
Jim Koerschen (JK)
Executive Officer:
Kristin Post (KP) – for Exec Dir’s report 10:30 – 12:00
1. Welcome (LM) •
welcome to HS and KN as new Board members; AF welcomed back as past Chair;
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JK is recovering from surgery and continues his work with ACAMIS as energetically as ever;
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Board will continue to move forward with strategic planning but will delay move to oversight-‐only role until November meeting;
2. Agenda (LM) •
agenda presented and approved although with addition at 10.30 of discussion on the Chinese conference;
3. Minutes Approval – March 2013 Board meeting (LM) •
minutes were approved overall with appreciation of the minuting noted and amendments as below: o
regarding the action item 4. -‐ follow up on reporting requirements for ACAMIS as non-‐ profit societies with Hong Kong – Treasurer DM hopes to have feedback for November 2013 Board meeting
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TR noted that we still need to design some metrics for the annual review of Exec Dir position;
4. President’s Report (LM) •
noted that continued professionalizing of ACAMIS as an organisation may potentially lead to imbalance in costs versus revenue;
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conference organisation and membership fees have been examined, but perhaps other means can be examined to ensure this balance of revenue vs expenditure as we continue to professionalise the organisation;
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one area to explore is in the area of ECE
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the other area is with respect to membership – though it is recognised that growth of membership alone will not sustain continued professionalization of the organisation;
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note that a fundamental responsibility of this Board is to keep ACAMIS secure as an organisation –
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financially included; •
JK has asked that the Strategic Plan be reviewed – it was noted by LM that this plan provides some of the drivers that need to be considered in Board work this afternoon;
HONG KONG APPOINTMENTS:
MOTION: to re-‐appoint Steve Dare to the Board for 2 years -‐ moved by TU / seconded by DM; passed unanimously; •
noted that TU will also be moving to HK as consequence of appointment by YCEF to HK office;
HK SCHOOLS: • noted by LM and DM that with changes taking places in HK regulations, a multitude of HK ESF schools and others may be interested in joining ACAMIS; SD noted the importance of improving ACAMIS’ marketing of its services to these HK schools; 5. Treasurer’s Report (DM) •
Dashboard and budget proposal prepared by JK was presented;
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for the short term current reserves of $600,000;
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e.g. current operating surplus of US$ 120,147 will not be maintained – estimated at US$18,627 at fiscal year end; for 2013-‐14 estimated at $47,404*
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*estimate for 2013-‐14 presumes controlled expenditures at much lower rate;
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though ACAMIS is financially stable at this time, financial challenges loom as ACAMIS continue to professionalise as an organisation – especially with respect to cost of ED, EO, and EO Assistant;
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JK notes that he will need to work closely with the Board over the next few years to ensure the balance of revenue and expenses is maintained;
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net of fixed revenues vs fixed expenses show deficits ranging from $40,907 in 11/12 to $97,721 estimated for 12/13 and $56,596 budgeted for 13/14;
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note that the estimated numbers for 13/14 are based on potential membership increase in China because there is a backlog of future membership due to recent changes in regulations allowing more international schools to start up in China as local students
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overall, the auditor reports noted that as an organisation ACAMIS accounting is sound although some irregularities were noted with a discrepancy of $9,000-‐10,000 in revenue from Chinese conferences (before the EO took over this conference) – specifically $10,000 from 2009 and $6,000 from 2010 conferences – host school still owes ACAMIS this money;
ACTION: Noted that ACAMIS Board has a responsibility to pursue this to a resolution; •
STAFFING UPDATE: although noted that JK will review the work of the Executive Office and ways to incorporate professional-‐level accounting, this office will maintain same staffing: full-‐time EO (KP) and part-‐time (Katherine) and will continue to work out of Suzhou;
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BUDGET FOR 2013/14: given a few matters yet to be clarified with the proposed 2013/14 budget LM requested that Board give authority to the Board Executive to sort out these matters to be followed by an email vote by all Board members; agreement to do so by non-‐voting consensus;
ACTION: Upon receipt of proposed 2013/14 Budget, Board members to vote via email on acceptance/rejection;
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6. Executive Director’s Report (LM on behalf of JK) UPDATE ON LEARNING CONFERENCE 2.014: •
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TR met recently with Dick Krajczar and Madeline Brooks from WAB (who was one of the original organisers) – noted the challenges of who amongst the various groups does what for the conference – i.e. EARCOS, ACAMIS, the conference organising committee, and the host school; need clarity on who does what for revenue, distribution and conference location;
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KP informed that ACAMIS liaises with the committee and/or conference coordinator, advertises on our website and markets the event to our members and forwards all updates from the conference organisers to our members; EARCOS generally manages of registration of participants for the event; (Last year the Beijing Government wanted more information on all delegates and ACAMIS office provided this and then assisted with the actual registration because of the follow up for the extra information that was required. ACAMIS has offered to assist in registration in previous years but hasn’t been needed.)
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noted that JK sits on the organising committee for the Learning 2.0 conference;
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this is a profitable conference – historically in 2007 proceeds split 50/50 with ACAMIS/EARCOS; at that time ACAMIS did equally support that conference; today EARCOS provides more support than ACAMIS;
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is it a China conference or a broader regional conference; for 2014 -‐ 5 schools applied across the East Asia region including Jakarta, Bangkok, China; one school was selected and it has since declined to host; therefore next conference will be hosted by NIST in Bangkok;
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after much discussion, it was determined that ACAMIS should support a separate Learning 2.0 type of conference for the China region as well as the current HK 21st Century and the Learning 2.0 conferences;
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important to note that this would not be done out of any sense of competition with EARCOS or HK – but rather to allow more people to attend such conferences; the important point is that ACAMIS wants to promote such conferences within China;
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the timing of such a conference by ACAMIS would need to be considered carefully so that there is a synergy with other conferences;
ACTION: once given the parameters, JK to devise a plan for an ACAMIS China-‐based regional Learning 2.0 type of conference; •
Programme Development Committee will need to determine what level of support will be provided to Learning 2.014, but it was noted that ACAMIS will at minimum support the Learning 2.014 conference with respect to website and enrollment registration as usual;
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(NOTE that it was agreed that, notwithstanding the above push for its own Learning 2.0 type of conference, ACAMIS wishes to continue the active and mutually beneficial current ACAMIS/EARCOS partnership;)
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION – Harrow International School Beijing •
TR’s visit to Harrow International School Beijing was very positive – Harrow meets all criteria for membership; TR recommended that Harrow application be approved; main purpose of Harrow’s application is to participate in sports;
MOTION: that Harrow International School Beijing be granted full membership in ACAMIS – moved by TR / seconded by SM – passed unanimously; •
KP noted that there are three other applications have been received and are awaiting the process of approval;
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2013 CONFERENCE REVIEW •
LM reminded the Board that member schools are required to have a designated head or appointee at the spring Heads AGM or face being placed on probation; after two years, the school would lose its membership status;
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it was noted that some of the schools present at the Spring Conference 2013 did not send Heads or reps to the Heads AGM
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these Heads will be sent a letter reminding them of the requirement for their attendance as a condition of membership;
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further suggested that a welcome letter be sent from Chair of ACAMIS to all school Heads at the beginning of the academic year; agreement by non-‐voting consensus;
ACTION: LM to send out to all ACAMIS school Heads next August a welcoming letter with reminder about attendance at the AGM • • •
273 paid attendees at conference; total of 350 including sponsors – including 81 Heads; 14 Counselors; 90 Business Managers, 26 Librarians, 46 AD's, and 16 ACE Coords feedback on the keynotes was overall very positive – see the conference survey results provided for details, including analysis on last sheet of spreadsheet; financial statements of conference were reviewed and showed a similar balance at the end of this conference as last year – showing that the model being used for this conference seems to work to provide a predictable revenue stream;
2014 CONFERENCE PREVIEW •
JS stated that the theme will focus on differentiation -‐ specifically: “Providing Opportunities that are Just Right”
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same model will be followed as the past two years – currently looking for two keynote speaker -‐ e.g. Bill Leishmann; the Powells, Michael Thompson; TR/HS/TU supported looking at Justin Bedard from the JUMP FOUNDATION, especially since he might do something with students;
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JS stated that the facilities will be all kitted out – it has hosted the Learning 2.0 conference and will be hosting an IB conference this year – so will be ready for ACAMIS conference – 675 seat theatre, large cafeteria, perhaps host a sit-‐down dinner;
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JS expressed strong confidence in the organising committee and at the same time, how important it is to follow the ACAMIS template for conference organisation;
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question about strands – do we need the librarian and counselor strands? what about ACE strand?
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ACE group needs support – need to keep that strand; Business Manager strand has a wide attraction – although it may focus too much on PRC-‐specific topics; agreed that it is important that our BMs be exposed to and participate in the educational side of their role through and therefore participating in whole conference is important;
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continued general discussion led to consensus agreement that we should keep all of the current strands and consider adding an ECE strand based on results of a preliminary ECE conference;
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KP noted the importance of the strand leaders organising for the conference; HS reminded about the importance of networking at such conference;
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for future conferences we might consider offering an Admissions strand and an Educational Assistant strand;
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HS and KN pointed out that if we offer too many strands at one conference, schools will be wary of sending too many people out of the school at one time with consequence of lower attendance
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at each strand – good to have so many strands, but Heads will want to be careful how we allocate our PD money, time and resources at our school levels; •
JS will consider adding ECE as a strand and potentially Admissions;
CHINESE CONFERENCE AS SUZHOU INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL (AF) •
approx 230 registrants at this time for this conference -‐ although there has been a bit of issue re the impact of the avian flu – ACAMIS needs to coordinate with the IB re a common response;
ACTION: LM and AF to coordinate with the IB re a common response to Avian Flu outbreak; •
AF informed that there is a misunderstanding re the hosting arrangements between SIS and IB –
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IB perspective, perhaps because they are looking after the registration, is that this is an IB conference with SIS simply providing the host facility during the Chinese conference without cost-‐ sharing/revenue-‐sharing as with past Chinese conferences;
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past arrangement was that SIS and IB were co-‐organisers – with SIS paying a per head amount for their teachers attending the conference as well as on-‐the-‐ground transportations, meals, accommodation, etc. for the workshop presenters; IB paid for their flights; this co-‐organising and cost-‐sharing was accompanied by revenue sharing;
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AF noted that the ED from ACAMIS needs to be working closely alongside with the IB on this and conference with respect to the cost-‐sharing and revenue-‐sharing; KN added that this type of involvement by the ED will be prudent in other conferences and workshops that have ACAMIS sponsorship;
ACTION: AF to clarify the IB/ACAMIS cost and revenue sharing situation for the Chinese conference this year and to amend the model for future years to prevent further misunderstandings; ACE & AD CHARTER •
the reports from these groups to be considered during committee work this afternoon;
SERVICE AWARDS •
there is quite a range of proposals to be considered amongst the 18 applications received so far –
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due to JK’s absence, these awards have not had much attention so far this year;
ACTION: SD and DM to review and recommend recipients based on current applications and forward these to JK; ACTION: JS and SD to review the criteria for and modify as needed next year to ensure that we are fulfilling our aims with this award programme; NOV 4/5, 2013 ACAMIS BOARD MEETING •
there will not be a September meeting as was held this school year;
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rather the first Board meeting of SY2013-‐14 to be held on Nov 4-‐5 after the EARCOS Leadership Conference Nov 1-‐3;
ACAMIS SPRING CONFERENCE 2015 – AISG APPLICATION TO HOST •
questions as to what stage we’re at with respect to the status of AISG’s offer to host the spring
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conference in 2015
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has AISG fulfilled the hosting guidelines?
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have we committed, and if so when, to AISG that they will be hosting the conference?
LM informed that though AISG assumes at this point that they will host the conference and though we assume that AISG is ready and able to host, the final decision will be made tomorrow after meeting with the chair of the organising committee and touring the facilities;
7. ED Job Description (LM) •
JK’s draft of the Job Descripiton for the ED position was tabled and reviewed;
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suggested that the role of marketing and development be elaborated more so – working with points #7 and #9 in the Job Description list;
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suggestion that in #12 and #13 that the terms “manage” or “work with the Board Chair to prepare” be used rather than “prepare” -‐ to avoid confusion with the duties of the EO position;
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suggested that an addition to the JD might include oversight of the annual EAL Conference, Middle Management conference, and all other conferences and workshops supported by ACAMIS;
ACTION: Board members to review the ED job description individually and send comments to LM; 8. Membership Standards vs SSIS Participation in ACAMIS (AF) •
AF requested several years ago that students SSIS Western Academy be able to take part in ACAMIS sports;
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at SSIS with Chinese division – currently the sports programme within this division is being run only as part of the home school sports programme and the students in this division do not take part in ACAMIS sports tournaments;
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much discussion took place about the question of the increasing number of existing ACAMIS schools with new Chinese divisions opening given the changes in NCCT regulations and whether these new divisions are/will be meeting acceptable accreditation standards;
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it was noted that the Board will need to be prepared for dealing with applications rom these schools for their students to participate in the ACAMIS student offerings;
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regarding the specific request by AF and SIS -‐ no formal vote took place on the request; however, given the decision made at the last meeting with respect to DAIS, it would seem that the current request of SSIS should be accepted for the same arguments;
9. AD Report from March 2013 AD Meeting: • agreed that the ADs should set the Air Quality (AQ) standards but it is the Head of School who determines that the situation is not safe to be held and is responsible for cancelling an event; •
agreed that in the event that a school that has agreed to attend an event decides to cancel their attendance at that event, that school forfeits their registration fee;
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agreed that the age range for sports tournaments is from 14 to 19 – although exceptions may be made by the tournament director;
10. Committee Reports (refer to separate Committee reports for more detail)
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Programme Development Committee: -‐ JS, SD, TR, HS TR reported on four proposals from the committee: i. expand professional development opportunities ii. create student activities iii. increase promotion and marketing of ACAMIS services iv. define the service awards criteria Membership Committee: -‐ RS, DM, TU, LM, KN RS reported on four proposals from the committee: i. increase the ACAMIS conference fee from $350 ($330 early bird) to $400 ($380 early bird). ii. continue with the two types of membership – Provisional and Standard membership iii. create three tiers for membership fees levels according to size of school iv. create a mechanism for verifying the accreditation status of member schools to ensure that membership status continues to be valid and that provisional membership schools are adhering to the timeline provided to ACAMIS at the time of their application Meeting concluded at 16.20.
ACAMIS Board Meeting – American International School of Guangzhou (AISG) Day 2: Monday, May 13, 2013 – 9:00-‐11:30 am Board Members:
Laurie McLellan (LM), Dave McMaster (DM), Jeffery Stubbs (JS), Robert Stearns (RS), Tarek Razik (TR), Howard Stribbell (HS), Kurt Nordness (KN); Steve Dare (SD)
AISG Members:
Jill Watson (JW); Si Hu (SH); Amy Chan (AC);
Executive Officer:
Kristin Post (KP);
1. Tour by AISG team •
AISG team, led by Jill Watson, demonstrated AISG facilities to Board members including library, cafeteria, gymnasium which doubles as “auditorium”, classrooms, other meeting room facilities, and possible corridor and outdoor locations for vendors;
2. Review of AISG Application and Facilities with AISG Team (LM) •
LM thanked the AISG team for the offer to host the conference in 2015;
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JW assured that AISG is ready and eager to host; added that the weather in March could be rainy, but the temperatures are pleasant with day time ranging between 16-‐20ºC; added that school would not be in session during conference – no classes and no students on campus;
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DM pointed out that the Crowne Plaza would need to increase its capacity for serving a large group of westerners;
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LM suggested that the ACAMIS/AISG team could supplement/support the check-‐in process to assure a smooth start;
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JW suggested that buses could be available for transit to and from the hotel.
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JW offered ideas and can provide more options for cultural/recreational outings.
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after general group discussion and Q&A re the suitability of spaces for general sessions, breakout rooms, vendor space, coffee breaks, consensus agreement was that the spaces and facilitie will be satisfactory;
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LM pointed out the necessity of getting a guarantee of the number of rooms needed from the Crowne Plaza at an early date. JW assured that AISG would do this. She added that the current room rate is RMB 580/night.
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LM further emphasized the need to decide on speakers early, informing JW that it is the host school’s responsibility for deciding on and arranging for the speaker in consultation with the Board.
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JW stated that their AISG team will attend the 2014 conference in Shanghai to observe and evaluate how to best arrange for their hosting in 2015; (JS informed that there are 7 members on the 2014 Spring Conference organising committee at the host school on their Pudong campus.)
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Laurie thanked the AISG team for hosting. AISG staff then departed the meeting.
3. Further review with ACAMIS team only •
DM expressed that, though he is comfortable with AISG as a conference host, he was surprised that AISG was under the impression they had already been awarded the 2015 conference hosting privilege;
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several Board members expressed that though it would seem that AISG will be suitable, there are several challenges including some imperfect spaces; if the weather is good, the outdoor spaces could work quite well;
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further discussion about potential vendor locations took place with no conclusions;
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further discussion about other logistics for the conference took place with no conclusions;
OTHER MATTERS 4. JK’s Performance Review •
TR reminded that this review is forthcoming -‐ LM will send a survey to Board members to provide feedback about JK’s performance to date in the ED role;
ACTION: Once survey is received from LM, Board members to provide feedback re JK’s performance in the ED role; 5. Health Coverage at each Board member’s Schools – survey by LM •
JS -‐ MSGH currently but switching to Aetna.
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HS -‐ AIA for the first time this year.
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RS -‐ SOS clinic membership for employee and one dependent. Also for employee + 1 dependent, worldwide medical insurance via Scholars/Clements at 80-‐100% depending on medical service;
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premium at no cost to employee; USD 250 deductible; if desiring USA/CAN coverage, employee must pay extra premium of USD 600. •
TR -‐ New broker is One World Cover; Insurance by Cigna
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KN -‐ Broker is One World Cover; insurance by GBG Tiecare.
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SD -‐ Jardine Insurance Brokers (JLT); World wide coverage unless employee has U.S. residence;
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DM -‐ Manu-‐Life for the past years; No world wide coverage, but school encourages staff to buy HSBC coverage for this;
Meeting concluded at 11:00 pm
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