[Osta-board] Response to Norie letter

Mon Oct 19 10:55:12 PDT 2020

As a Member of the Conference Committee I must speak up,

I am not a voting board member and am aware of that but this thread does not include the perspective of any member who actually helped plan the conference or manage the exhibitors.

I am very proud of the work done by the conference team in an incredibly challenging time. They pulled off something that I didn’t think was possible in our timeline. They did it well and with class. We have had feedback that it was better planned and produced then National Conferences. They put in more hours then I ever thought possible. So THANK YOU to those people.

I have attached the Exhibitor Guidelines that we followed. It is the same ones as the NSTA. These are the guidelines we used.

We did not sensor their presentation. They did not submit as a teacher would from a school. They registered as an exhibitor. The expectations and standards for an exhibitor is different and much higher then submitting a single presentation as an educator or an individual. They registered as the Oregon Forest Resources Institute (not as ODE). We also rejected California Casualty and a few others this year based on staying in accordance with the WSTA standards for exhibitors.  Exhibiting is different then presenting.

I can not speak to how OFRI was contacted to provide their refund, because I was not the one who did it, but I would assume that it was clear that we were rejecting their exhibitor fee not their presentation. 

The theme of the conference was Climate Change and Climate Science. We made the decision in line with the guidelines. The recent Press along with decades of actual press releases from OFRI are clear that they disagree with the peer reviewed science on climate change.

I hope this makes our reasons and positions more clear. 

Regards,
Tiffany Windle-Hanson

Guidelines copied below;

Terms & Conditions

By submitting your booth space reservation, you are confirming you have read and agree to all the Exhibitor Contract Rules and Regulations and NSTA Safety Guidelines regarding this registration, refunds and cancellations, and your participation in the conference.  You also agree that your display and materials distributed are in accordance with NSTA's Official Position Statements.

NSTA has the sole right to determine eligibility of any company or product for inclusion in the conference, for accepting an application and assigning use of space and booths to exhibitor, subject to the availability of space preferences, special needs, and the compatibility of exhibitors.  The space assigned by NSTA and the exhibition floor plan may be changed at any point as determined in the sole discretion of NSTA.  NSTA reserves the right to make the final determination as to the acceptability and appropriateness of all displays, and exhibitor will promptly remedy any objection NSTA has to its booth display.  All measurements and space layouts on the exhibition floor plan are as accurate as possible. NSTA reserves the right to adjust the floor plan and change booth assignments as may be necessary to meet the needs of NSTA.

Sent from my iPhone

>> On Oct 19, 2020, at 10:30 AM, Donna Rainboth <drainbot at eou.edu> wrote:
> 
> HI Connie,
> Thanks for sharing your thoughts and concerns. This issue has bothered me as well. As Norie pointed out, she was not proposing a session on OFRI but rather on a CTE Program of Study. She was also presenting with an ODE employee. We censored Norie because of the organization she works for which really had nothing to do with her presentation. If the presentation had been about OFRI then eliminating it from the conference might have been appropriate but I do not feel we can eliminate folks from presenting because we have a problem with their employers. I believe this needs to be recognized in the letter to Norie.
> Donna
> 
>> On Sun, Oct 18, 2020 at 9:44 AM Connie Robbins <crobbins at craneedu.org> wrote:
>> Hey there,
>> 
>> I just want all of you to know how this has really bothered me to have to address the Norie email like this. As I feel responsible for this situation, I also feel the need to make it right. There should not be a decision made that doesn't follow a policy. If no policy, no decision should be made, whether popular or not. This will be addressed at the next meeting and a decision for a policy needs to be made. 
>> 
>> That being said. I read further into the OPB article. At this point, there is no ethics investigation by the Oregon Government Ethics Commission on the matter. Only the OPB article pointing to a possible violation. According to the minutes from the summer retreat, an online vote should have been conducted after WSTA was informed and board members had more time to read the article in order to have a more informed decision. 
>> 
>> I have attached a draft of the letter that may be sent if the WSTA policy shows a justification of asking the organization to step out of the conference. If the policy does not have such language, we will be issuing an apology letter to Norie and the organization. Tiffany tells me that she has requested the document. I would like to send it with the email response if the policy addresses this situation.
>> 
>> Again, this is disheartening for me to have to address. I hope we can do the right thing and get this situation taken care of in a positive way.
>> 
>> My email has change so all my saved emails are gone...so please send me a request for access of you cannot open this letter...thanks!
>> 
>> Connie Robbins
>> 
>> 
>>  Norie Dimeo-Edige letter
>> 
>> 
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> 
> 
> -- 
> Donna Rainboth
> GO STEM
> Eastern Oregon University
> drainbot at eou.edu
> 541-962-3720
> 
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