SHS BPA BOARD MINUTES – July 5, 2016
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Pres.Lee Katker at 6:30.
Welcome: Introductions were made by those attending. Lee Katker (President, 1 child in band – a senior). PL Malcolm (18 years at music director at SHS, 2 students in band), Gena Buker (media, one child in band – a senior), Dyneshia Cadman (Fundraising, 1 child in band), Kari Kreichbaum (Band camp, 1 child in band – a senior), Richard Carr (Chaperones, 1 child in band – a senior), Bob O’Brien (VP Operations, 1 child in band – a senior), Jen Polk (Treasury, 1 child in band), Jill McAuley (Treasury, 1 child in band), Julie Stevens (Treasury, 1 child in band), Marjorie Brown (Events, 1 child in band), Jodie Shadron (Continuity/Spirit Wear – 2 children in band – seniors).
Director’s Report:
Present: we ordered some percussion items, coming into the front office. Exciting.
Future: July 14th summer rehearsal scheduled. It’s been a relaxing summer. Jack Carr and Mr Malcolm went to the Penny’s camp. Sponsored by the BPA. Worthwhile and he would like future leadership to go to this camp (section leaders, etc). Drum Majors will be going to FSU for a DM camp. Good team building. Starting to get prepared for the halftime show music. The band numbers are not nailed down yet. According to the database it may be bigger. We were around 215 students. It could go as high as 233. Those numbers will flush out as we get into registration and the beginning of school.
There was some discussion about a possible 9th grade center being implemented by the County and the challenges it may have on the band program. It is a few years off so not an issue right now.
There are many homes games at the beginning of the season.
Uniforms – Mr Malcolm is talking with the County about it. It takes several months to get the order complete. Any new changes or ideas must be implemented by January. We will be ordering around 230 of them.
Westview Baptist would like to donate a snack to the band students during Band Camp as a community service. We will pick a day. This church has been a huge support to the band program.
Looking for feedback on the band trip dates: Should we go during Spring Break or at the end of the school year? At the end of the school year advantages: not as crowded, military events are available during that time frame that are not available during spring break time. It would also give the students more time to fundraise. We do have a large senior class this year. We are still waiting for the school board to approve the trip. He would like to have it all in place by band camp. Band students will not have their schedules during band camp since band camp is the week before schedule pickup. They can have the chance to buy locks during band camp and get their lockers ahead of time.
Committee Reports:
Fundraising: Buffalo Wild Wings (waiting to hear back from them about a spirit night). Wawa (waiting to hear back from them). Waiting to hear back from Christine Broeker about setting up or continuing spirit nights (Menchie’s, Panda Express, Chick Fil A at the mall, Chipotle). The best ones are the places that you do not need to bring a coupon or flyer with you. Dyneshia will follow up with them. Chick Fil A manager – Andrew has a new contact person – Brittany. They will supply us with calendars to sell again. They are coming out in August. Sales could help with student account/upcoming band trip. We really need someone to take on Quarter Days. This is important. We have someone to do equipment. We need someone to set up the dates and run the signups. Lee is happy to help since she has done it in the past. If anyone knows a band parent that may be interested please get that contact information to Lee or Dyneshia asap. We need to come up with some new places and we can use the existing list to start booking dates. This position can be done from home. Not required to come to meetings or chaperone at the quarter days.
Dyneshia would like to discuss doing the apple fundraiser instead of the Christmas tree fundraiser. Mr Malcolm is concerned that we will have some upset parents if we take away the Christmas tree fundraiser. Our profit has decreased in the last three years for this fundraiser however it is an easy fundraiser and the profits go directly to the band. The product is high quality. Many board members voiced their support for keeping this particular fundraiser. Malcolm would like to know more about the apple fundraiser. Lake Brantley has done it for years and it is lucrative. Advertising opportunities in a program was an idea from last year. Dyneshia would like to explore sponsoring opportunities for e-blasts, website, etc. Seat cushions/cups would also be a good idea for advertising and bring good profit for the band program. Lee mentioned the Sweet Seminole Jazz concert. It was so successful do we want to look into holding a second concert this school year. Malcolm is thinking of doing an orchestra concert or combos at Westview Baptist. He would like to move the date of the concert to a Friday instead of a Wednesday. There was also discussion of setting up a table to sell locks, water, snowcones and spirit wear during schedule pickup. Lee would like to see this planned and set up ahead of time. 2 people for the spirit wear table, 1 for locks and 2 people to work the snowcones. It is only for one day on Tuesday August 2nd. Lee reminded Dyneshia to go in and do an inventory of what is available for locks. Publix usually has buy one get one free. Looking at what we sold in previous years will allow us to determine how many we need. Malcolm will need to fill out the paperwork with the school so they are aware of what we are selling. Band students usually have the opportunity to get locks ahead of time and choose their lockers. We will also sell them during Registration.
Maddie O’Brien heard that Publix will donate pallets of water. You need to go online and fill out paperwork. You can request water and other snacks. Etc. Could be helpful for band camp and SCMF. It is all done through corporate. There are 72 cases of water on a pallet. We need to have a parent that is willing to call around to local businesses (car dealerships, Sams, etc) to see if we can get any sponsorships. The fundraising committee should try to find someone to do this. We also need office supplies for the office. (copy paper, pads and tampons, chalk, envelopes, band aids, etc.). Jill McAuley has the lists that the student committee chairs created with what they need for supplies.
Chaperones: Dyneshia discussed the option of using Volunteer Spot for SCMF. It would be helpful and easier to sign up for volunteering. It sends out reminders, etc. Kari uses it all the time for school and will be using it for band camp. They discussed it with Richard Carr to see if he would be interested in learning about it to make signing up easier. They will share the information with him in case he wants to use it for SCMF. Richard will make arrangements with Gena to have photos taken of board members for new school year id’s. He will forward them to the contact at school to get them printed.
Events (Marjorie Brown) she met with Dyneshia and received all the information. She will get with Richard to get volunteers for Registration. Maddie O’Brien has a list of student volunteers to assist during registration as well. Malcolm likes balloons. Last year went smoothly. Suggested promoting breaking up registration by last name (A-L earlier, M-Z later). We will need notary’s. Richard will reach out and make those arrangements. We should put them up front this year and keep only one in the treasury room.
**REGISTRATION: Malcolm discussed the possibility of the BPA paying someone to become a Notary. Possibly the Treasurers. Wed the 20th is the run through. Thursday is returning student registration. Friday is new student. New forms have been created and Lee has posted them to the google drive. They will be posted on the website just before Band Camp. Lee asked everyone to look at the forms on the google drive and send any suggestions/edits etc. There is a new folder for 2016/2017. Forms have been streamlined. Registration for band banquet was done online this past year. Malcolm is wondering if some of this paperwork can be done online ahead of time. They could run through registration easier. It may be something to look into. Malcolm’s concern in earlier years was how to order band meals, payment plans with treasury, band uniforms, etc. Online registration may assist us in future years. Some board members expressed concern with whether parents would end up coming to registration and then they would have to be chased for payment, information, uniforms, etc. Lee said at this point we will send the documents ahead of time. Let parents print and fill them out. Maybe we could look into doing some kind of Express Lane – for families that completed paperwork ahead of time. Something to consider for future years. It is imperative that we are very careful with private personal information of our band families. We cannot be speaking about confidential information around school etc.
Media Specialist (Gena Bukur) – Got some new parents signed up from the eblast that Susan sent out. She has a few signed up to go to Band Camp and help out. She will follow up with Dave Brendle about Glamour Shots. We did not take photos of sectionals. She will add that into her schedule this year. She is always organizing and adding folders to Shutterfly. Already has up 1st band rehearsal. Gena is already starting on the senior database and have volunteers to help sort pics to prepare for Senior Night. She is very thankful to the team effort. Malcolm praised Gena for all her hard work. We want our website to be geared for parents and students. The students LOVE the photos. Maddie O’Brien spoke from the point of view of the students and said that the students just love seeing them posted. Maddie is encouraging students to tag pics in twitter and Instagram as well.
Spirit Wear (Jodie Shadron) Will keep the same polo shirts. Shorts from last year have been discontinued. She showed options for this year. Medium length (7 in), Short length (3 in) and boy length gym short (9 in). Same print as last year. We will also use the same cinch bag but Jodie will try to find one with higher quality but at the same cost. She will order blank bags and print them through her local printer to save money. She will look into ordering two years worth if the design will not be changing. The spirit jerseys will be in shortly and ready to sell at Registration night. We can sell what we have and then take orders going forward. Stadium seats would be a good fundraiser. She gets them for $20 each. Lacrosse sold them for $45 or $50 each. Great profit. Embroidered with the logo or without. We want to be sure we are not stepping on the toes of the school but Malcolm has not seen anything like that being sold so this should be ok to market and sell. Jodie suggested that it would be a way for kids to sell them and do it as a fundraiser for them to raise money for their student trip account. There was discussion about having a spirit wear table at the football games. Lee will need to get approval for it. We would need people committed to volunteer at it and to have banks prepared and ready each week. Malcolm would like the Band Director polos to be different than everyone else so that they can easily be spotted.
Treasurer’s report: She has not reconciled the accounts yet due to summer vacation. The Trip Account has approximately $24,000. The BPA Account has approximately $30,000. About $4,400 in outstanding band dues from last year. All underclassmen. All seniors from last year paid in full so they could graduate. The school department has been using Skyward to keep track of outstanding debts. Students are not able to get parking passes etc. unless all debts are paid in full. Jill and Lee have been working with QuickBooks to combine accounts. Every user would have their own ID and log in so we know who has access and when. We are currently paying for two subscriptions. The one difference would be that the Treasury team could easily move money since it will technically be one account. The way it is set up now is inefficient. The new way would be more streamlined. Lee opened it up for discussion. Malcolm asked the Treasury team their opinion. They think it makes sense to have them together. The only negative may be that students do not want to use their money to pay down their dues. It will allow more freedom for students and parents to pay for spirit items as well. Malcolm is all for making things more efficient. He does not want to make things difficult for the treasurers. Band shirts, polos and gloves sometimes need to be invoiced for the students. This would be easier to do through the QuickBooks if the accounts are joined. Parents could send in additional payments to credit back the account if they are covering items for the students. Any leftover funds in a student account revert back to the band program at the end of Senior year so students should use all of their funds ahead of time. Malcolm wants to know if there will be any change to the policy to allow students to use their funds to pay for other items (ie: band bandquet).
New Business:
SCMF. We need a lead for the First Aid area. All other leads are filled. We are having a Clean Up crew this year and need a lead for that group. We will beef up the gate ticket area. We need more people there to help during the rush times. Richard will need to get 109 volunteers. About 15 more than last year. Jen suggested using SHS alumni – especially students at UCF who are around locally and would be willing to earn community service hours for volunteering. Volunteer Check In/Check Out process will be changed this year. Richard had many volunteers disappear instead of continuing to volunteer and work. Some changes: Ticket/Gates: Jen Polk/Jill McAuley, VIP:Susan/Marla, Family Liasons: Julie, Meals: Marjorie (Jill offered to help her), Concessions: Jenn O’Brien, Donations: Dyneshia, Volunteers: Richard, Media: Gena, Tshirts/Spirit wear: Jodie. These people are the leads and will have volunteers under each of them. Two concession stands under the stadium will be used this time. Use the other one near VIP for storage. We need more signage. We need more announcements as soon as the gates are open. We need to do more concession sales in the stands. Staging areas possibly on the track area. Another meeting will be held before the first of August so we can review what we learned from last year and to start preparing. First Aid lead could be a paramedic. Kevin Sims may be willing to help out. Someone needs to reach out to him. The group will need to decide where to use regular hotdogs or use the Deland big hotdogs. Bob will follow up with videographer to start to get that set up.
Band Camp – Kari used Sign Up Genius and already has signups. She has reached out to start setting up meals for camp dinner. In the process of getting prices and negotiating prices.
OFFICE STAFF NEEDED – Mr Malcolm would like to hire a band office support staff employee. Hire someone through the BPA. Come in a couple of days each week to do paperwork etc. for the directors. He would like some consistency by having someone come in on a regular basis. Lee brought up these questions: How many hours would be needed? How much would we pay?
Next Meeting Date and Location: The next meeting will take place on August 9th at 6:30 pm in the SHS Band room.
Adjournment: Lee Katker at 9:17 pm