LaPalma-Cerritos AAUW Administrator, Treasurer and Secretary
La Palma-Cerritos AAUW
Board Meeting Minutes
September 4, 2025
- Call to Order
Administrator Celia Spitzer called the informal meeting to order at her home at 2:05pm.
Attendance: Marilyn Forsstrom, Joan Pylman, Celia Spitzer, Chris Taxier
- The Minutes for the January 6, 2025 Board Meeting were distributed and read. Marilyn moved that the minutes be approved, and Chris seconded the motion. The minutes were approved as submitted.
- The Treasurer’s Report dated June 30, 2025 was accepted as submitted.
Branch Account: $7,781.19
The proposed Annual Budget for 2025-2026 was distributed and discussed. Three categories were removed: Cerritos College Display, LACIC, and Leadership Training.
Joan presented an idea on how to recruit new members at Cerritos College. She suggested using budget funds from three categories (Public Information, University/College Relations, and Miscellaneous) in order to pay for ads targeting students in the college newspaper. She also suggested that flyers be put up in faculty lounges.
- Program
September 25 Program will include informational presentations by the various chairs, facilitated by Celia. Prepared salads, pizza, lasagna and dessert will be brought in for the kickoff. All meetings will be held at the ABC USD Adult School Cabrillo Lane site.
October 16 Program will feature Tech Trek alumnae, facilitated by Edna Ethington and Celia. Nine of the sixteen Tech Trek alumnae were contacted to participate in this program.
November 20 Program will feature the topic of Book Banning. A speaker recommended by Tobi Balma will be presenting, with Faith Herschler facilitating the program.
January 15, 2026 Program will feature the speaker Jodi Balma who will address the current White House/ Administration in its attempt to rewrite history.
December 20 Holiday Party will be held at the Niederman’s home.
- Fund
Gail Ross will arrange for dine out fundraisers.
- Academic Achievement Awards
Joan Pylman reported that two Cerritos College recipients received awards of $1,500 each, for a total of $3,000. This was based on $3,550 being sent from our AAUW Fund to National in 2024. Both recipients were “continuing” students this last spring.
Joan reviewed the requirements mandated prior to the students receiving their awards. In the spring, each student must send a copy of her acceptance letter to the college. Then her enrollment in classes must be verified before the “drop date” in the fall. When these two requirements are met, then Joan forwards that information to Marilyn who then releases the funds to the recipients.
For 2026, we are limited to $2,350 for student awards. This is based on what our branch sent from our AAUW Fund to National in 2025. If we were to select two recipients, this would mean about $1,175 per student.
- AAUW Five Star Recognition
Celia reported that during the summer, she filled out an annual branch survey. Based on those results, recently Celia received an email from Tremaine Parquet that our branch has been awarded Four Stars out of the Five Stars possible!
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City of Cerritos Meeting Notices will no longer be available in printed editions. Furthermore, the digital versions will no longer include any community groups, including our branch of AAUW.
- Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Christine Taxier, Secretary
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La Palma-Cerritos AAUW
General Meeting Minutes
November 20, 2025
- Call to Order
Administrator Celia Spitzer called the meeting to order at 7:01 pm in the auditorium of the ABC Unified School District Adult School Cabrillo Lane site.
Attendance: 16 (including the speaker)
Starting at 6:30 pm, attendees had social time.
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Minutes for the October 16 General Meeting were passed around on a clipboard, and three signatures were obtained to approve them.
3. Treasurer’s Reports were accepted as submitted.
Branch Account: $6,869.54
Fund Account: $1,557.37
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Program
Faith Herschler introduced the speaker, Leslie Criswell. The title of her presentation was “The Battle over Books and Ideas: Protecting? Ideological Control? Are We at a Tipping Point?” She outlined a brief history of book banning in the United States, discussed the role of the U.S. Constitution in book banning, and reported current challenges, both locally and nationally. She pointed to the issue appearing in both school district arenas and in public libraries.
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Reports
Academic Achievement Awards
Joan Pylman reported that one of the award recipients is taking a hiatus from UCI due to her non-resident status. The AAA Committee agreed to hold the funds one year in abeyance for her. Once she has California residence status, her scholarship will be awarded. Joan also asked for volunteers to serve on the AAA Selection Committee this next year. Currently, volunteers are Gail Ross, Edna Ethington, Chris Taxier, and Esther Aronson.
January Program
Celia reported that the speakers for the January meeting will present information about AI in our schools.
Holiday Party
Celia announced that the annual holiday party will be hosted by the Niedermans at their home on Saturday, December 20, starting at 7 pm. Joan Pylman asked us to bring donations for the Falcon’s Nest to the party. Donations would include clothing, food, and feminine hygiene products.
Nominating Committee
With the assumption that the current secretary and treasurer will continue in their roles, Celia asked for volunteer(s) for the role of Branch Administrator(s) for next year. Celia commented that of the 33 current membership, 12 have served as President for at least one year, and some have even served for two years. If no one volunteers, our branch will cease to exist. We will need several months to decide what to do with the money in the General Fund.
Branch Recognition
Edna Ethington shared that Tony Strickland, member of the California State Senate, recognized the service rendered by the La Palma-Cerritos AAUW Branch for its dedication to advancing education, leadership and opportunity for girls and women in our local community. Senator Stickland also honored Edna Ethington herself for her commitment and dedication as a member of AAUW, making a lasting difference in the community.
Fund
Tobi Balma spoke about the benefits of donating to AAUW Fund through committing to a bequest as a member of the Legacy Circle and through donating directly from an IRA.
Publicity
Celia thanked Edna for writing articles for the Los Cerritos Community News and for the Event News Enterprise.
- Announcements
Our next general meeting will be on Thursday, January 15, 2026 at the Cabrillo Lane Adult School auditorium with social gathering at 6:30 pm and the meeting starting at 7:00 pm. Celia is facilitating the meeting about AI and our schools, with speakers from the ABC Unified School District.
Celia recognized the birthdays for AAUW members in November and December.
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Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 8:25 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Christine Taxier, Secretary
Note: These minutes have not yet been approved.
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La Palma-Cerritos AAUW
Planning Meeting
June 19, 2025
- Lunch
At noon, incoming Branch Administrator Celia Spitzer welcomed the many branch members in attendance at the planning meeting for the 2025-26 AAUW year at the Cabrillo Lane ABCUSD Adult School site. She invited everyone to enjoy the lunch of pinwheel sandwiches, various salads, fruit, rolls, cookies and beverages that were coordinated by Chris, Marilyn and Celia. Hospitality Chair Ceci brought the paper goods the like. The meeting began at 12:40 pm.
- Recognition of Harriet Moses
Celia thanked Harriet for serving as our branch Administrator this last year. Then Marilyn Forsstrom announced that, in recognition of Harriet’s service, a donation was made to the fund of Harriet’s choice – Academic Achievement Awards.
- Installation of New Administrator
An acknowledgement was made that Marilyn Forsstrom and Chris Taxier are continuing to serve in their roles as Treasurer and Secretary. Then Celia was asked by Marilyn if she would accept the responsibilities as our new Administrator, and she said that she would.
BRANCH OFFICERS for 2025-2026
Elected Officers
Administrator: Celia Spitzer
Secretary: Chris Taxier
Treasurer: Marilyn Forsstrom
- Distribution of Agenda, Calendar and Folders (with paper for notes)
Celia reviewed the schedule for future board meetings, which will include Administrator, Secretary, Treasurer and the facilitators for the upcoming general meetings. Board meetings will be held the first Thursday of September and probably in January and March.
- Attendance at Planning Meeting (17)
Judi Adams, Edna Ethington, Cathy Niederman, Esther Aronson , Joan Flax, Joan Pylman, Ceci Borja-VanZitter, Marilyn Forsstrom, Gail Ross, Sue Carruthers , Faith Herschle, Celia Spitzer, Sondra Cohen , Diane Merrick, Chris Taxier, Karen Cox, Harriet Moses
Celia commented that of our approximate branch membership of 28, we have more than half of our membership in attendance today.
- Treasurer’s Reports dated June 19, 2025:
General Account: $7,409.05
Academic Awards: $3,780.83
AAUW Fund Account: $998.73
Marilyn pointed out that the Academic Achievement Awards fund appears under the umbrella of the General Account. Aside from the Academic Award monies, the unrestricted balance of the General Account would be $3,628.22.
- Focus, Direction and Big Picture
Celia led a discussion on what we hope to accomplish over this next year and on the future of our branch, including ideas about what to add, discontinue, and keep the same.
One suggestion was to have more interaction with students in a mentoring or support capacity. Reference was made to a past reading program with students at Wittmann Elementary School. Also suggested was tutoring students in math or in foreign languages. It was pointed out that to volunteer our skills in classrooms now requires background checks. Members expressed an interest in these suggestions. Faith Herschler offered to explore this possibility and to write an article for our newsletter on this topic.
Members supported continuing fundraising for the AAUW Fund, specifically with the dine-out events. Members also wanted to continue supporting the Academic Achievement Awards Fund.
Marilyn commented that once the $3,000 that has already been earmarked for two recipients this fall is gone, we will have about $781 left in the Academic Achievements Awards Fund. Joan Pylman commented that we need at least $1,000 to make an award significant for the recipient. Marilyn reminded us that the AAA amount cannot exceed what we give to the AAUW Fund during the year.
Members expressed an interest in continuing support for the Falcon’s Nest at Cerritos Community College. Joan Pylman said that she could be the contact person for this project and would also write an article for our newsletter about it.
Another suggestion was to recruit new members for our branch. We had a discussion about why many of our current members had joined this branch in the past – citing social reasons while raising young children. But currently many young people join organizations for professional reasons. AAUW’s mission is not focused in that direction. However, we could focus on retaining membership, a more practical priority.
In order to make us aware of what’s at stake for our branch, Celia reminded us that we need volunteers for the Administrator position next year in order for our branch to continue. Over the last few years, the responsibilities of leadership have been considerably lightened by changing from having a president to having an administrator. That position has less responsibility.
- Program Ideas – Brainstorming
Although our bylaws require only five meetings, it was decided to plan for seven. September would still be an introductory meeting for the year, including interest group descriptions. If we decide to have a potluck, we would need a location other than the ABC Adult School. If we decide to bring in prepared foods, we could hold the meeting at Cabrillo Lane Adult School. Most attendees stated that either plan was okay.
After brainstorming, attendees selected the ideas that were of most interest to them by using sticker dots. Each person was given 15 sticker dots and could put all on one idea or split them up in any way. There were 17 suggestions. The following is the ranking of the top seven program ideas:
1 – Book Banning and History Erasing
(26 votes) Possibly Jodi Balma as speaker and Faith Herschler as facilitator
2 – Games Night
(20 votes) Thea Siegel as facilitator
3 – Author (or panel of authors) as a meeting, or with Catered Lunch As Fundraiser
(19 votes) Faith Herschler and Karen Cox as facilitators
4 – Tech Trek Alumni Panel
(17 votes) Edna Ethington and Celia Spitzer as facilitators
5 – Safety in the Home (police, fire, …)
(17 votes) Need facilitator
6 – Women’s History Month – lesser known women
(15 votes) ChrisTaxier as facilitator
7 – Artificial Intelligence –related to use in schools
(11 votes) Need facilitator
- Break (10 minutes)
- Discussion of chair roles for 2025-2026
Membership – We need new sign-in sheets and volunteers to welcome guests to the general meeting.
AAUW Fund – Gail Ross will continue to facilitate dine-out fundraisers.
Academic Achievement Awards – Pending fundraising success, Joan Pylman will organize committee selection for recipients of the Awards.
College/University Relations – Tobi Balma
International Relations – OPEN
Public Policy – Sondra Cohen will continue to keep us aware of legislation and public policy issues.
Publicity – Edna Ethington will write informational articles and take pictures for local publications.
Hospitality – Ceci Borja-VanZitter will continue providing refreshments.
Newsletter – Marilyn Forsstrom will continue posting monthly articles from the Administrator, Public Policy Chair, and the program facilitator for the next two months.
Telephone Tree – Sue Carruthers and Patricia McClelland will continue to phone reminders of upcoming meetings and events to those who requested it.
INTEREST GROUPS for 2025-2026
Cover to Cover Thea Siegel
Gourmet Joan Flax
Great Decisions Dorothy Edwards
Readers Theater Esther Aronson (would like more members)
- Honorary Life Members
Current Honorary Life Members are: Sondra Cohen, Mary Ann Quinn, Tobi Balma, Thea Siegel, and Dorothy Edwards. Next year Joan Flax and Celia Spitzer will join the list.
- End of Meeting
Celia thanked everyone for coming and helping to keep our branch alive.
The meeting ended at 3:55 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Christine Taxier, Secretary