Article 1: Name and Purpose
Section 1. The name of this organization shall be Youth, Educators, and Storytellers (YES!) Special Interest Group.
Section 2. The purpose of the Youth, Educators, and Storytellers (YES!) Special Interest Group is:
To advocate for, and offer support and resources in storytelling to mentors, educators, and storytellers who work with, or plan to work with, young voices from early childhood through adolescence, and to the young storytellers themselves.
This purpose is accomplished by:
- Establishing a nation-wide network of communication, assistance, encouragement, and support for youth storytelling coaches, teachers of young tellers, educators for grades PreK-12, librarians and other media specialists, storytellers, parents, and adults who work with youth in clubs or other organizations.
- Advocating and supporting integration of storytelling into the PreK-12 curriculum, and the courses of study for educators and mentors of young voices in grades PreK-12.
- Providing advice, support, mentorship, and information to young tellers, and motivating young tellers to tell for enjoyment as well as to enhance the learning process in a variety of settings.
- Planning and presenting an annual or biennial preconference of informative workshops and networking at the NSN conference.
- Through the many ways of networking via web site, conference call, e-newsletter and/or newsletter, and any other media available, informing members of storytelling’s connections to national standards in education, and resources in the art of storytelling.
- If requested, assisting in the documentation of study and research on the benefits to education, life skills, and lifelong learning, in youth storytelling.
Section 3. Youth, Educators, and Storytellers (YES!) Special Interest Group is a recognized group of National Storytelling Network (NSN) members and adheres to the NSN bylaws, policies, and procedures.
Article 2: Membership
Section 1. The Youth, Educators, and Storytellers (YES!) Special Interest Group is open to those individuals who have a personal membership in NSN. Persons who are not members of the Youth, Educators, and Storytellers (YES!) Special Interest Group may attend meetings of this special interest group, but may not vote.
Section 2. The Youth, Educators, and Storytellers (YES!) Special Interest Group may charge its members group dues in addition to the general membership dues charged by NSN to each of its members. The minimum amount of such group dues shall be determined by the Board of NSN. The entire amount of such minimum group dues shall be allocated to the cost of basic services provided to Youth, Educators, and Storytellers (YES!) Special Interest Group by NSN. The special interest group may charge group dues in excess of the minimum group dues, however, and such excess may be used by the group for any appropriate purpose. By the affirmative vote of a majority of the Youth, Educators, and Storytellers (YES!) Special Interest Group’s Executive Committee, the special interest group may change its dues, to any amount not less than the minimum dues (the NSN administrative fee) currently in effect. Dues may be changed only once a year, provided notice of the dues change has been given to NSN no later than the date determined by the board. If the special interest group does not specify group dues to be charged, dues will be set at the minimum rate.
Section 3. The Youth, Educators, and Storytellers (YES!) Special Interest Group must maintain at least 30 members. If the Youth, Educators, and Storytellers (YES!) fails to maintain at least 30 members for two consecutive years, the special interest group will disband.
Article 3: Organization of the Executive Committee
Section 1. Responsibilities of the Chairperson:
The chairperson is a member of the Executive Committee and assumes responsibility for the actions assigned to the Executive Committee.
The chairperson shall: preside at all Youth Educators and Storytellers (YES!) Special Interest Group meetings; assist in the planning and coordination of all programs sponsored by the Youth Educators and Storytellers (YES!) Special Interest Group, and prepare and submit an annual report to NSN that includes the NSN fiduciary officer’s budget report, prepared with the assistance of the secretary, chairperson, and chairperson-elect in accordance with information disseminated by the fiduciary agency, NSN Board.
The chairperson will be designated as the person whom the NSN Board may contact for any communications regarding the special interest group.
Section 2. Membership and Responsibilities of the Executive Committee:
The Executive Committee, under the leadership and direction of the chairperson, is responsible for planning and coordinating all programs sponsored by The Youth Educators and Storytellers (YES!) Special Interest Group.
The Executive Committee of the Youth Educators and Storytellers (YES!) Special Interest Group is composed of a minimum of five members, elected to serve for terms commencing November 1 by the membership of the special interest group.
The Executive Committee consists of a chairperson, a co-chairperson and/or chairperson-elect (according to the needs of the committee), a secretary, a membership and e-directory listings chairperson, and a webmaster. Former chairpersons and co-chairpersons shall act as advisors to the Executive Committee.
Any officer may be re-elected at the end of his/her term. The chairperson-elect accepts the position of chairperson immediately after fulfilling a term of office. With the exception of the position of chairperson, any unfilled position on the board can be occupied by an appointed officer for a period of one year, with the approval of a quorum vote of the Executive Committee. In order to maintain this position, the appointed person must then run for office in the following year for a term commencing November 1; said term will complete the number of years left for that seat on the Executive Committee.
Duties of the members of the Executive Committee are as follows:
The co-chairperson shall: assist in the planning and coordination of all programs sponsored by the Youth Educators and Storytellers (YES!) Special Interest Group; act as chairperson if needed due to the absence or illness of the chairperson, or due to other circumstances which make it necessary for the co-chairperson to preside.
The chairperson-elect shall: learn the responsibilities of the chairperson; assist the chairperson in the planning, coordination, and implementation of programs; act on the chairperson’s behalf in the absence of the chairperson, and assume responsibility for facilitation of Executive Committee meetings as needed.
The secretary shall: serve as recorder and archivist; preserve a complete recording of the proceedings of all meetings, and submit minutes for approval of the Executive Committee and distribution to members of the Youth Educators and Storytellers (YES!) Special Interest Group and the NSN liaison by the membership/e-directory listings chairperson. In conjunction with the chairperson and/or chairperson-elect, the secretary will prepare and submit an annual budget and annual report.
The membership and e-directory listings chairperson shall: maintain the list of members of the Youth Educators and Storytellers (YES!) Special Interest Group; communicate with the membership when needed, and disseminate information to the membership as needed or requested by the Executive Committee.
The webmaster shall maintain the Youth Educators and Storytellers (YES!) website, and disseminate pertinent information at the website and on the listserve. The webmaster may also be asked to post announcements at various electronic information sites, and to assist in the submission of articles to publications such as NSN’s Storytelling Magazine if needed.
The Executive Committee shall initiate the planning and coordination of all programs sponsored by the Youth Educators and Storytellers (YES!) Special Interest Group.
The Executive Committee, under the leadership and direction of the co-chairpersons, is responsible for preparing and submitting to the NSN Board an annual budget and an annual report by July 1 of each year, detailing the activities of Youth Educators and Storytellers (YES!) Special Interest Group. If the special interest group fails to submit an annual report or an annual budget, the Youth Educators and Storytellers (YES!) Special Interest Group will disband. Copies of the annual report and annual budget shall be available upon request to members of the special interest group.
Terms of office and responsibilities of all members of the Executive Committee will be listed in a policy manual, updated as needed.
A majority of two-thirds or three-fifths of the Executive Committee, depending on upon whether there are 6 or 5 members of the committee in a given year shall constitute a quorum for the purposes of voting, planning, and other necessary business of the committee. If both chairpersons as well as a chairperson-elect are in office, a majority of two-thirds of the Executive Committee shall constitute a quorum.
Article 4: Meetings
Section 1. The special interest group will conduct at least one meeting of members every calendar year. If the special interest group fails to have an annual meeting for two consecutive calendar years, the special interest group will disband. Meetings of the executive committee and of the general membership may be may be telephone or e-mail conferences.
Section 2. The special interest group may request space at the annual conference for a meeting. Such space requests are due when conference proposals are due. Special interest groups may request space at the National Storytelling Festival or at any other NSN functions. Deadlines and criteria for such requests will be established by the NSN Board.
Article 5: Contracts, Loans, and Checks
Section 1. Unless authorized by the Board of Directors or Executive Committee of the NSN, no special interest member shall enter into any contract or loan, or execute and deliver any instrument in the name of or on behalf of the special interest group or the NSN or in any manner bind or obligate the special interest group or NSN.
Article 6: Amendments
Section 1. These bylaws may be amended at any meeting of the special interest group by a two thirds vote of the special interest groups members present providing that written or printed notice of the proposed amendment (s) be announced to the members by the chairperson and vice- chairperson at least 30 days previously.
In accordance with NSN policy, these bylaws also may be amended by mail with an affirmative vote of two thirds of the special interest group members responding. The closing time must be stated clearly on the ballots and the ballots must be mailed to special interest group members at least 30 days before such closing time.
Article 7: Status of Members and Officers
Section 1. No member or officer of the special interest group shall be or be deemed to be an officer, employee or agent of NSN unless specifically so appointed by the Board of Directors of NSN.