Join us for the December General Membership meeting

Saturday March 24th 1-3pm

Vermont Hall, Austine School for the Deaf

Brattleboro VT

If you have items for the agenda, please send them to

Kristal at kristalhaynes@hotmail.com

Hello Everyone!!!

I hope everyone saw our blurb in the VIEWS this past month….I did my best:) I look forward to seeing everyone at our March meeting, hopefully we can arrange the call in option as we have in the past..look for updates in the email list about that.

Enjoy this beautiful weather we are having and I hope to see everyone soon:)

Later,

Kristal

RID Video Interpreting Committee Update

Video Relay Service Standard Practice Paper

Mary Henry Lightfoot, CI &CT

RID Video Interpreting Committee Chair

The Video Relay Service Standard Practice Paper will be available for review and comment this month and sent out for mail referendum later this spring. This Standard Practice Paper was designed with a yearlong process of membership feedback and input in order to address membership needs.

The Process

The Video Interpreting Committee (VIC) solicited feedback from RID members through 12 forums held at conferences across the country over a one-year period. The forums allowed members from a variety of interpreting constituencies to supply comments on the existing Standard Practice paper. Constituencies included working VRS interpreters, traditional face-to-face interpreters, interpreting organizations representing interpreters of color, and interpreter educators. In addition, we corresponded with members via e-mail, distribution lists, and through the RID web site. The committee also sought comments from Deaf organizations and Deaf blind organizations through the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consumer Action network (DHHCAN). This coalition of Deaf organizations represents a cross section of Deaf organizations including NAD, TDI, among others. As a side note, the committee is a member of the DHHCAN and works collaboratively to address concerns of Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Deaf Blind people with telecommunications issues. Issues related to interpreting in VRS settings are also relayed at this meeting.

After deliberating on comments regarding the paper, the first decision was to have separate Standard Practice Papers for Video Relay Service and Video Remote Interpreting . Due to the heavy involvement of the FCC, some issues are specific to VRS. Also, Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) is currently gaining momentum in areas such as legal, medical, business, and educational settings. If the Video Relay Service Standard Practice Paper meets membership approval, the Video Interpreting Committee will start work on the Video Remote Interpreting Standard Practice Paper during the next RID committee year (September 2007).

This year, the committee has been working to synthesize comments from the year long process as mentioned above. The goal is to create a paper which follows traditional guidelines for Standard Practice Papers while addressing concerns of the membership. The information has been synthesized into a SPP document which is below the 4 page limit. In addition, an additional detailed document is available on the RID website this spring to address the needs for advocacy with VRS providers as well as for knowledge building. This document is an expansion of the SPP with details and references.

In addition, we will have information on the enhanced RID website which tells members how to stay informed about FCC actions and call for comments, as well as the procedure for submitting comments. The upcoming interactive RID web site will allow for greater flexibility with information sharing between the committee and the membership.

Timelines:

The Standard Practice Paper will be complete during March 2007. A one-month comment period will then allow for additional feedback with the final document ready for voting by the end of April. This time line allows for mail referendum voting prior to the RID biennial conference this summer.

The committee will next focus on Video Remote Interpreting and will go through a similar process to develop a VRI Standard Practice Paper. If the motion to adopt the VRS Standard Practice Paper passes, we will devote the time in San Francisco during the Video Interpreting Committee forum to gather comments for the development of the VRI Standard Practice Paper. In addition, there will be a cyclical process of updating the Standard Practice Papers. We have seen rapid changes within VRS over the last several years. Part of the challenge with rewriting the SPP for VRS is that information can become quickly dated. Thus, we have seen that we need to address overarching principles and concepts with details only at a level that it will not quickly become outdated as well as have a realistic updating process for keeping information current. A process of two year cycles of first creating the documents, then updating the documents will be established to keep information current. In addition through use of the web, electronic documents can more easily be modified.

The committee appreciates the many comments of members who participated in one or more of the 12 forums held last year. We welcome additional comments as we prepare the Video Relay Service Standard Practice Paper for mail referendum.

Warmly,

Mary Henry Lightfoot, CI & CT

RID Video Interpreting Committee Chair

2005-2007

________________________________________________________________________

Possible Region I Representative Appointment

TIMELINE

If there is no opposition in the race for secretary, then we will know by the end of the first of April that Rachel Coppelli will be the new secretary. If there is a race, then the election will be in May and we will know by the end of the first week in June whether or not there is a vacancy to be filled for the Region I Representative position.

PROCESS

If Rachel Coppelli, the current Region I Representative, does become the secretary then an appointment to fill the vacancy will be made by the RID President.

The steps prior to the appointment will be similar to those of that of committee appointments. Each person interested in being considered for the appointment will be required to submit a letter of interest and resume to the RID President. These shall be sent via e-mail to angela_jones@mac.com or via US Postal Service to:

Angela Jones 4201 Mt. Voss Drive San Diego, CA 92117.

DUE DATES

If we know in March then letters of interest and resumes should be sent to the president by April 15. If we know in June then letters of interest and resumes should be sent to the president by June 15.

The president will create a list, make copies of documents and share with the region's AC presidents, the NO staff and the RID board. These individuals will review and then give recommendations to the president who will then make the official appointment.

If you have any questions, please contact me.

Sincerely,

Angela Jones

________________________________________________________________________

VTRID Meeting

December 2, 2006

Bethany Church, Montpelier

2:00pm

Attending: Nancy Groff, Ruth Coppersmith, Lianne Moccia, Lynette Reep, Nora Kennedy, Elizabeth Bjerke, Barb Walker, Janice Wightman, Karen Mueller-Harder, Janet Dittilio, Kristal Hier, Joan Pellerin, Lisa Bixler

Reports

President (K) - Nothing to report.

Treasurer (D) - Not a whole lot of activity.

Mentorship (L) - **See: New Business**

Scholarship (E) - No new requests. One scholarship returned due to not attending a workshop.

VIRS (N) -Chugging along. More to come later on in the meeting. Advisory meeting coming up on Friday, Dec 8th in Randolph. New advisory committee member: Carrie Foster. She is replacing Kara Ghio. Other members are: Keri Darling, Alwayne Worchester, Marge Wells, David Krueger, Lynette Reep, Cory Brunner, Virginia Clark, Will Pendlebury, Bill Hudson.

Library (J) - Still have one. Contact info and list is on the website.

Professional Development (C) - See Below.

Website (C) - Everything is running well. E-letters are posted.

CEUs (K) - We provide CEUs. Same ol', Same ol'.

Old Business

None.

New Business

Mentorship 2007 (Lisa) -

Series of Mentorship workshops!!

1: January. Professional Code of Conduct (am) & Billing Practices (pm)

2: February. Kathleen = VR

3: March. Jim Lipski = anatomy/classifiers

4: May. Anne Potter = Features of ASL and Storytelling.

Budget...$7,707!! Can we use some of our budget to purchase things for the VTRID library? *YES* Lianne moved that we allocate $300 for that. So moved. The above workshops = $35/each. One-One mentoring has had one request so far. It is still an option; we just have to brainstorm how to get the word out to people, as well as contact terps to see if they are willing to mentor. Notices that most times the ownership is on the protégés; sometimes the protégés did not follow thru. There will be the roundtables discussion groups again. That was started that last year. Format is as follows: once a month a seasoned (with rosemary & thyme) terp is invited to an open forum where protégés are able to have informal discussions regarding the profession. We have people lined up...dates are TBA. Elizabeth and Lisa will chat about setting up roundtables in Brattleboro. Will get the info on the website. The schedule will be on the e-list and website. Keep an eye out! :-)

Grant Workshop (K) -

We will be working with DVAS to provide training for interpreters working in situations surrounding domestic violence. Keri has people lined up. If there are any topics you want her to focus on, let her know. Also, we have to figure out the time line...food for thought. Keri wants to include Maine, VT, NH, Mass terps...so the training *might* not be in VT.

VIRS Role Revisited (L) -

The Department of Health (DOH) has a contract with VIRS, which dictates our individual billing policies...kinda happened slowly and gradually, but now we're wondering why VIRS is in the role of negotiating rates/billing/policies. It's important that we keep our independent business person status. Thus the topic of reviewing the role of VIRS. Originally, Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) wanted to use triad, and then become an agency. That did not fly. Interpreters want to & need to maintain autonomy. VR's idea behind this was to have a way for people find and hire interpreters. Triad wanted to use a database. Barb's experience in RID's Freelance SIG was that those who worked under agencies felt powerless and dissatisfied. When VR came up with the "agency" idea, yikes!! So, a board was established with terp representation at 50% so that our needs were addressed. With a referral service, it's great because we can be hired and still feel autonomous. Also, the colleagues really were on the same page and professional respect and comradery was so strong as things stood back then. We functioned almost as our own referral agency. The interpreting community was small and best practices were understood. And, standards were high. When the referral service popped up, it was established to maintain maximum (ask lianne). It used to be that DOH gave a chunk of money to VIRS to pay for the bills submitted by interpreters for DOH jobs. VIRS took care of the bills. Later on, DOH kept the chunk of change, but VIRS was still the billing site. Occasionally, the Deaf client was not at the assignment and "no-show" (or something to that extent) was put on the bills. In turn, DOH didn't want to pay for "no-shows". So...a cancellation policy was brought up. They wanted a 48-hour blanket rule. That, however, does not cover longer assignments. Also, everybody's business practice for cancellation is different. Lynette would like us to address:

Should VIRS have the contract with DOH at all? What are the benefits?

We are spending our money for them. For doing DOH's administrative work, DOH give VIRS 10% of the fees, which equates to about $300-$500/quarter. That money goes to the community fund. It would be hard to let that money go. Another thing to consider is that we don't want to have all state agencies end up setting one rate and then be stuck with that for years before negotiations happen again. Or, even having it all go centrally. Right now, we sign an individual contract with VR/DAIL. But, all of the sudden, DOH is negotiation with VIRS about rates/cancellation policies. That does not feel right. This topic will be brought to the advisory board. Again, it would be nice to keep the 10% $ in the community fund kitty. Maybe it's possible to change the arrangement with DOH where VIRS still does the administrative work and keeping the contract between VIRS & DOH, not terps. Could we change the language on the contract? Also, right now, Nancy is working with the "contracts" person at DOH, but there are other people in the department that would be willing to work on this issue who know terps/terp field. It could be set up such that just the billing goes thru VIRS. Right now, most of the referrals are gone thru VIRS, but not always. If a terp happens to book additional work after a DOH/VR assignment and get hired directly, that's fine. But, if we start asking about how that affects things, it could open a can of worms. The main thing we want to reemphasize is that VIRS is a referral service that supports interpreters and the community. They do help us out so much. We just need to make sure that we are still taking ownership for negotiating our needs. That way the referral service can remain just that: a referral service. At the same time, we want to be careful not to lose the extra funds to the community fund.

**The community fund was explained for newcomers**

This spring will have another fund-raiser for the community fund in conjunction with Austine's Alumni Weekend: May 19th! Dinner, comedian, raffle.

AA meetings (N) -

Funds are dried up. No one else has picked it up. Right now, newcomers to the program are basically up a creek without a paddle. ODAP denied our last request for funds for interpreting alcohol treatment.

VIRS Confidentiality (N) -

Reminder that the Code of Ethics (Code of Professional Conduct) & confidentiality are very important: Interpreters are *not* supposed to talk to anyone about the jobs they do. Yes, we are a small community. Sometimes people mention jobs that come up and then others have called wondering why they have not been called for a job. VIRS does have policies and procedures that we follow for booking jobs. It was sent out a few months ago and is on the VIRS website. Sometimes people get bent out of shape when they don't have to, nor should they have the info which caused the shape bending in the first place. And, sometimes people get the info not from another terp...thus the call. It has happened that interpreters will call VIRS and say "The Deaf person wants me for such and such a class...", but VIRS can't assign that person without the Deaf person telling VIRS. So, it's important to keep Deaf people in the loop, which is why there is a 1,2,3 preference list at the referral service/college.

Interesting tid-bit: In NH, the referral service tells the Deaf person who the terp will be for an assignment. We should think about that for VT. Ideally, the requester (IE - doctors' offices) should be the ones to inform the client that yes they have a terp, and the name of terp. It's a step in the right direction. VIRS does have in the database Deaf people's preferences, and always ask if it's fine to use another terp if the preferred ones are not available. In some ways it would be so much better for the Deaf person to talk directly with VIRS because then they could get more details that the requesters often don't know of (language preference for example). Deaf people need to start to feel that they can call VIRS to ask details about the terp/assignment.

We can help with that. A bigger issue is with requesters not wanting to call VIRS due to finders fee. They sometimes do try to find interpreters, but not to the full extent that they could...

Teaming Workshop Update/Funding (L) -

Trying to put together a workshop with Betty Colonomous. Lianne, Cory and the Professional Development committee are working with NHRID's committee on a workshop series. It would look like:

April 12, 13 & 14: Friday night, Saturday all-day, Sunday morning. Betty: Theories of Teaming.

A Saturday in May: all-day. Local talent to run practice session.

A Saturday in early June: all-day. Local talent to run practice session.

June 29, 30 & July 1: Friday night, Saturday all-day, Sunday morning. Betty: Deaf-Hearing Teams

The first weekend would be a must. It will be residential (bed & breakfast). Working on the budget now. Should we involve Maine? If we did, it would help defray costs, but would Mainers make the drive? What is VTRID willing to contribute, monetarily speaking? Still working out details on fees...should is be such that there is a residential vs. not residential fee? Having a series is more appealing than a one-day thing. Northeastern does not have funds to support this. Costs for the series could be $550/person which includes accommodations, food, etc for all 4 sessions. 3.4 CEUs would be awarded for the whole series. People could pay in installments. Could get money from DD. And could use mentorship funds. Lianne moves that VTRID contribute $500. Who would go? Working terps? Would Foundations of Interpreting be a prerequisite? If there are not enough signed up, it will be cancelled. No terps will be provided for the series. An additional amount of funds from the mentorship pot (up to $500) will be used as leverage with NHRID: If NHRID does contribute a certain amount, then the mentorship money can be put to a scholarship fund to allow for more Vermonters to attend the series. Both amounts agreed upon. Will advertise as a stay-over workshop. NHRID taking care of CEUs and advertising.

Other -

*Barb has a bunch of TBC newsletters...will give to Lianne.

*Would like to again have our December 2007 meeting in conjunction with DVAS' soup day.

Adjourned: 3:45pm.

Scholarship Committee Information

Are you interested in giving away money that isn't yours?

Being the bearer of Great news?

Being a part of the overall improvement and professional development of interpreters in Vermont?

If so, you could be the newest member of the Scholarship Committee!

If this is something that interests you, contact Elizabeth Bjerke at apuddlejumper@yahoo.com

For Scholarship Application and Guidelines see our website www.vtrid.org

VTRID "Gossip"

Janice Wightman

We are light on gossip this E letter….oh well..maybe next time.:

If you have any gossip you'd like to share with VTRID members, please send it on to Janice at Janice.L.Wightman@Dartmouth.EDU