North Region Bylaws

Mission Statement, Goals, Organization and Bylaws

Mission Statement:

To foster a sense of goodwill, equality, community and belonging

Goals:

· To promote respect, cooperation and friendship among students in the north region

· To provide an educational alternative which develops students’ creative problem solving skills through experimentation, original thinking and risk taking

· Cooperate with the educational communities

To Model:

· An expectation of winning because you are smart, have good ideas and work hard

· That it is OK if you don’t win, sometimes someone else’s idea is better. Respect it and learn from it.

· That we represent more than ourselves, and everything that we do reflects the feelings and attitudes of our community, school and family.

· Behavior that we want students to exhibit

To Remember:

· That “it is nice to be smart but smarter to be nice”

Organization:

Executive Officers, who also serve as Executive Board Members

Regional Director (non-voting member of the Executive Board):

· Non-partisan director of the north region.

· Represents the interests of the north region at state meetings and competitions.

· Presides over board meetings, insures consistency of teams, knows national, state and local rules, serves as the mediator in bylaw interpretation, chairs the membership committee, insures prompt registration (along with Secretary), insures regional representation at local, state and national competitions (judges and volunteers) and can sign checks. Prepares the agenda for board meetings and Serves as Tribunal member.

· Must have been a coach for a minimum of two years, or a coach for one year and a Site Director for one year.

Site Director:

· Chairs site coordination committee and reviews team information prior to registration; knows national, state and local rules; secures insurance permit(s), security and custodians as required by the site school district for regional competition; maintains security of competition sites throughout competition year; arrange for concessions at regional competition through hosting school

· Serves on Tribunal

Secretary:

· Serves on the membership committee, records meeting minutes, distributes minutes in a timely fashion, creates regional membership roll from team rosters in proper registration input format and can sign checks.

· Must have some administrative background.

Treasurer:

· Responsibility for preparing a budget for regional competition and monthly financial update reports, writes and signs checks and secures second officer signature for all checks, informing membership coordinators for each district of moneys due and collecting that money

· Must have some professional financial background.

The Merchandise Director:

· Obtain and select merchandise for regional sales

· Manage sales at tournaments/ Distribute order packages to Regional Director/respective ordering team

Executive Officers, WHO ALSO COACH

- MAY NOT ATTEND JUDGES TRAINING

- MAY SET UP FOR A TOURNAMENT

- MAY HAVE THEIR TEAMS PROPS at prop storage Friday AT DESIGNATED TIME ONLY

Problem Captains (one per problem, one Spontaneous Problem Captain and one Score Room Captain, selected from volunteers representing as many Districts as possible.):

· Returning Problem Captains have the right of first refusal to serve in consecutive years, unless there is a need for and the availability of additional District representation among the Problem Captains.

· Attend training in Houston in January of each year

· Train regional judges according to state mandates and guidelines

· Directs respective site set up, check supplies and confirm judges the evening before competition

· Responsible for all competition paperwork prior to and concluding a competition

· Serves on Tribunal for respective problem disputes

Membership Coordinators (one per established ISD or home school charter, hereinafter referred to collectively as “District”):

· Serves on the membership committee, form teams at respective schools according to the Bylaws, submits team information to Secretary, submits judge and volunteer information to Regional Director. Liaison with respective schools, making sure to follow District guidelines and ensuring timely communication of information and requests from the any Regional officer or the National organization.

· Must have one year experience in Odyssey.

Tribunal Members (two volunteers or appointees who are not from the same District as the Regional Director or Site Director):

· Serves on Tribunal in the event that a dispute involves a team from a District in which two of the three serving members of the Tribunal reside

· Must know all problems prior to competition and attend local judges training to review problems with Regional Director

Additional Members of the Executive Board of Directors: (each District shall be entitled to appoint one voting member per every three memberships or portion thereof to the board less the number of executive officers in that District already serving. For easy reference see Appendix A.)

· Attend monthly meeting of the board, assigns written proxy to another District representative if he/she cannot attend monthly meeting, serves on committees, communicates minutes of meeting to other District teams, represents the District’s opinion in voting process.

Committees:

Membership:

· Orders memberships, registers for tournaments, orders team T-shirts, organizes judges and volunteers, assigns new non-teamed students

T-Shirt Committee:

· Order regional t-shirts, collect funds for t-shirts and distributes t-shirts at local competition.

Trophy Committee:

· Order trophies for local competition, transport and arrange trophies at local competition

Souvenir Concessions Committee:

· Procure and sell Odyssey souvenirs, including pins, at local competition

Signs and Directions Committee:

· Prepare and install loading, unloading and directional signs at local competition

Set-Up Committee:

· Recruit volunteers from every District to assist in set up of site for local competition.

· Organize and direct site set up the evening prior to local competition

Clean-Up Committee:

· Recruit volunteers from every District to assist in clean up of competition site.

· Organize and direct site clean up immediately following local competition.

Volunteer Committee:

· Organize and staff competition-day volunteer assignment table, including volunteer check-in and assignment of volunteer tasks.

Ad Hoc:

· Handles whatever comes up.