Consultations & changes at WSDC Ltd

James Probert, chairperson of the Directors of WSDC Ltd writes;


Dear colleagues and fellow members of the WSDC community,

You will be only too aware that at the conclusion of our AGM in February the Board of Directors pledged to consult the World Schools community on the details of the new membership system introduced by the bye laws adopted at that meeting. This consultation will include both a finalised version of the wording of the amendment to the bye-laws proposing a system of counting votes of members in blocks by country, and a schedule of fees payable by different categories of member.

Recently Andrea Coomber, chair of the board of directors from 2008 to 2009 and again from 2010 onwards, has decided for personal reasons that she is unable to make the level of commitment to WSDC in the future that the role of director requires, and has resigned. I would like to thank her both personally and on behalf of the entire community for her sterling service and hard work up to this point.

At the most recent meeting of the board of directors I was elected chair. At the same meeting I’m delighted to say that Trevor Sather was co-opted onto the board of directors, and following my resignation as chair of the development committee has taken up that challenge too.

There is much work ahead of us, the WSDC community embodied in WSDC Ltd, as we move toward registered charity status and subsequently play an important role in helping and driving the development of the series of annual tournaments, focussing, as agreed at the last AGM, on widening access, in a number of different ways, to the competition. I very much hope that we will be able to build on the work of the board to date, which has sometimes been of necessity slow and steady, and quicken the pace of the organisation’s maturation and growth.

The last meeting of the board of directors agreed to begin as soon as technically practical the consultation on membership fees and voting systems, with a view to implementing the preferred version of both before Dundee. Therefore, in addition to being an update on the changes of personnel on the board of directors and development committee, I would also like this email to serve as an advance notice of the online consultation, which will begin in one week, on 6 July 2011, and last for two weeks, until 20 July 2011. Instructions for taking part will be sent out in due course.

I look forward to as many of you as possible participating in the forums, and to a bright future for WSDC as the new and exciting measures necessary for our growth and development are put into place.

Best wishes to you all,

James

James Probert,

Chair, WSDC Ltd.