N.Z.

Federation for
Deaf Children Incorporated




Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the
New Zealand Federation for Deaf Children Inc

Date 7
th
July, 2013
Venue Kingsgate Hotel, Dunedin
Meeting opened at 9.44am


Present

Alan Bensley, Jill Taylor, Andrea Craig, Kate Whale, Lena Smith, Brad
Coombs, Kirsten Coombs, Sue Williams, Dyanne Bensley, Catherine
Trowbridge, Barbara ONiel, Peg Makinson, Anne Barr, Anna Reed,
Hayden Reed, Rebecca Davis, Alan Hughs, Suzanne Bailey, Judith
Sosich, Ursula Thynne, (Janet Ballie late)


Apologies


Janet Ballie

Voting Delegates

Auckland Judith Sosich
Taranaki Catherine Trowbridge
Wellington Andrea Craig
Canterbury Anne Barr
South Canterbury - Jill Taylor
Otago Barbara ONiel


Additions to
General
Business


- Note from Barbara ONiel the NZFDC website and the chari-
ties commission have two different constitutions. It needs to be
updated.
- Deaf awareness and culture in schools
- Smoke alarms for deaf children


Previous Minutes

MOTION: that the minutes of the 2012 Annual General Meeting be
approved.

Moved; Judith Sosich Seconded; Barbara ONiel CARRIED


Matters Arising - Remits Is there any feedback from the IEPs and DECs
that were brought up in the remits? We are fighting an
ongoing battle with the IEPs due to the SENCOs running
the IEPs within the schools. We have had ongoing contact
with parents, and are still fighting a battle over this. Possi-
ble issues that have come up are the RTDs saying that the
IEP is not in their brief. The new inclusion plan from the
ministry puts the onus back on the school, in order for the
school to take ownership for the child, its their job to do the
IEPs. We need to let our parents know that this is the case,
and they need to fight for this. Why are the schools not tak-
ing this on board? Is this something that we need to have a
battle for?
Currently there is no template for the IEPs, and its up to
the parent or the SENCO to make sure the IEP contains
what they want.
The Fed needs to have very open and ongoing contact with
the Board, with the DECs and with the Ministry to make
sure all these concerns are being addressed in an
appropriate manner.
- Member groups arent receiving confirmed minutes
from the meetings, and they arent going up on the
website. Member groups have no idea what the federation
are up to, and its really important to get that information
out there. Alan makes an apology for this, as its been his
job to PDF the files and put them up.
This will be dealt with by emailing all parent groups the
confirmed minutes as soon as they are available.



Presidents
Report (See AGM
Report)



Motion; that the Presidents Report be received.

Moved; Alan Bensley Seconded Judith Sosich CARRIED

Treasurers
Report (See
report)


Note from the treasurer; the 2012 budget hasnt been put in the book
due to a slip up. Jill recommends putting the budget up on the
projector and while morning tea is on, feel free to peruse the previous
budget.


Budget


- Comparison of 2012 budget with 2013
- The only expense that changed noticeably over was the exter-
nal conferences budget. Of this amount, $8000 was recouped
back through fundraising and grants.
Motion; that the 2012-2013 Budget be accepted.
Moved; Andrea Craig Seconded Kelly Davy CARRIED


Portfolio Reports


Services Numbers are down with Tutor Fees and Assistive Devices.
Talking on the remits from last year, the applications are coming in
and we will consider applications out of the formal criteria.
Kits 80 is an average number for a year. Were around average for
the last year. Lots of great feedback comes in from families.


Election of
Officers

Nominations;
President Kate Whale (Wellington)
Vice President Kelly Davy (Taranaki)
Secretary -
Treasurer Jill Taylor (South Canterbury)
Committee Lena Smith (Auckland)
Janet Ballie (Auckland)
Andrea Craig (Due to a typo, Andreas name was missed from the
print out. She is an Incumbent from Wellington.)

Judith will introduce Janet as shes not here. Brief blurb regarding
Janets background.

Motion; that the nominations for the 2013-2014 President, Secretary
and Vice President be confirmed.
Moved; Judith Sosich Seconded; Barbara ONiel CARRIED

Motion; that Robert Hewison be appointed as the returning officer for
this election.
Moved; Kelly Davy Seconded; Kate Whale CARRIED


Remits

None


General
Business


- (Alan Hughs) - Smoke Alarms for deaf children
A machine called a Bellman which sends the alarm wirelessly
through to a panel that vibrates under the childs pillow. These are
utterly awesome. Has an alarm with it, and has a battery back up
so its portable, and able to be attached to a door bell, baby
monitor, etc. Otago has managed to get funding from the Lions
Club and has received funding for 30 of these devices to distribute
locally, with a discount for bulk buying.
Alan is looking at rolling this out country wide with Lions Club,
Masons, etc. to get these devices out to all kids, starting with older
children (eg. Flatting, or at University etc) and moving down age
groups through who is needed.
This is something that could be rolled out through the regions, so
fundraising within an area can be kept in the area, with any
possible deficit going to regions without the ability to fundraise.
Best to go national with all the fundraising; eg. The Fire Service,
the NFD, etc. Tried to incorporate with Deaf Awareness week, but
didnt roll out in time. Hoping to get some exposure in the next
one.
Note from NZFDC; we can help out with assistive devices with
this, with a maximum of $200 per family. This is a fantastic
product, and something that the NZFDC would be very interested
in getting on board with.

- (Peg Makinson) Deaf awareness and Culture in Schools
After listening to Brian re. Inclusive education, I wonder if we cant
challenge the ministry to focus on schools who are going to have
a Deaf child, and putting in a Deaf Awareness programme for the
whole school, then detail for the classroom teacher specifically.
We need to get a really good push from NZFDC to put forward
some kind of proposal to involve schools.
Response from Rebecca Long Term; all schools should be
capable to deal with special education in whatever form it comes
in. Short term; schools need transition from being what they are
now to being super inclusive, and they need to be equipped to
deal with the short term stuff, eg. Youth led strategies. And
providing information, training and development for individual
teachers.
Response from Judith experience shows the focus is on national
standards achievement. Unfortunately this is making many issues
such as inclusion, fall behind in prioritising. We need to try and
make it practical and easy for teachers, to assist all school
students.
Note if you can make a collective push from a larger group of
disability support federations. If we can push as a mass, this will
make more of a difference.
Kate Its something that the NZFDC are looking at putting in
place for a stop gap; providing some information to the teachers to
act as a stop gap for them to deal with the children in their class.
Alan His children made up an awesome little booklet for their
teachers giving hints and tips of what they like, what they struggle
with, what they would really like in their classroom.
Ursula Deaf Aotearoa has a half day course available for
teachers to have an idea of Deaf Culture, etc. Very good feedback
from them.

- Oh behalf of the exec and hopefully the parent groups, wed
like to thank Kelly for all her work as secretary over the last year,
and for Alan for his years of hard work.


Meeting Closed


11.40am









15/09/2013
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Date