MINUTES

WHS BAND BOOSTERS MEETING

11 September 2008

 

The September meeting of the WHS Band Boosters was held on Thursday, 11 September, at 7:00 pm in the Drama Room.

 

Director’s Roar:  Ms. Neal reported on her presentation of the Disney Trip to the school administration.  Mr. Smith thinks the band deserves to go on the trip and liked the idea.  Mr. Kehne had several concerns.  He said that leaving for Disney on March 25th (last day of the term) would be a problem and suggested leaving on the 26th instead.  Ms. Neal countered, saying if the band leaves on the 26th, the busses would not arrive until early morning on the 27th.   This would mean that one hour after their arrival, the band would have to go straight to the marching band competition and play, after spending the entire night on the bus.  Mr. Kehne did offer to allow the band to add an extra day at the end of the trip, but Ms. Neal was not happy with that.  Mr. Kehne’s concern was that the teachers will not agree to allow the students to miss the last day of the term.  Mr. Kehne also had concerns with the handling of the trip money for non-marching band participants; specifically with the WHS Band Boosters acting as the middle man between the participants and the travel agency.  If something happens and the trip is cancelled, Mr. Kehne wants to make sure that everyone has all of their money returned. 

Mr. Kehne suggested that instead of going to Disney, the band could take a multi-day trip to Williamsburg or Hershey Park.  Ms. Neal was against this idea.  She thinks that Williamsburg and Hershey Park are for middle school bands.  She wants our band to compete with other high school bands and to be critiqued by national judges at Disney.  This opportunity is not available at the other parks.

It seems that other Frederick County high schools do not run into the road blocks that we have encountered trying to set up this Disney trip.  Our administration does not appear to believe in us.  Someone suggested that one reason could be that the past WHS band director, Damon Dye, did not run into this type of interference because he had tenure and Ms. Neal does not.  Mrs. Briske asked if the PTA might be able to help us make the Disney trip a reality.  She also asked if the teachers could be approached about this subject since Mr. Kehne was just assuming that they would not allow the kids to miss the last day of the term.

 

Onto other things, Candy Manges has booked two school busses for the Queen Anne competition on October 18th.  She fought for the school busses based on past history with other FCPS schools.  There was a question as to whether the distance to Queen Anne was beyond the limit allowed for the use of school busses.  Chartering school busses will be much cheaper than hiring charter busses, and will save us money that we’ll need later in the season for ACCs.

Speaking of ACCs, Candy reserved two charter busses for the trip.  The bus company is Eyre and each bus can carry 55 people.  Ms. Neal announced that we are going to ACCs no matter what happens this season.

 

For our first competition (against Liberty) we were the first Group II band to sign up.  Traditionally, that would allow us to perform last in our Group, which is an advantage.  However, one of the three Group II bands has an earlier competition and may be late, so they have been given the last slot and for some reason, we have been bumped up to the first slot.  Ms. Neal is going to push for us to perform second.

 

Ms. Neal is going to send out an e-mail to all of the band families listing the “rules and regulations” of staying after school.  Some of the rules are that students cannot leave the school property while they are supposed to be under Ms. Neal’s supervision, also, Ms. Neal’s office is not a “hangout”.  No one is allowed in her office unless she is helping them.  She asked that parents to please reinforce the rules with their kids.

 

A question was asked about the status of the props for the show.  Ms. Neal said that the sketches were given to Freddy so he could pass them onto his dad, John Clark.  However, the sketches are missing in action and the props cannot be built unless the construction crew knows what Ms. Neal wants.  Ms. Neal will resend the sketches (in softcopy) to Suzanne.  We need to make two screens roughly 7’ by 15’.  Don Friend and the prop/pit crew will do the construction.

 

Administration’s Report:  Assistant Principal, Mr. Mark Smith, was unable to attend the booster meeting.   So there is no Admin Report this month.

 

President’s Report:   Mark Smith recommended that everyone view the Randy Pausch YouTube video called the “Last Lecture”.  It’s an hour and 16 minutes long, but well worth watching.  The video was suggested because of some recent drama between parents and staff members, regarding criticism of band members.  Mark thought the Randy Pausch video might help parents understand that there is a reason our staff is tough on the students.  The staff cares about our kids.  They are a competitive marching band and the staff is trying to help them do their best.  Everyone is a critical member of the band, there is no second string.   Sometimes, band members need to be pushed in order to achieve their best. 

** From now on, any parental complaints about staff members need to go through Mark. 

 

Secretary’s Report:   The minutes for August were approved with one change (principal, not principle).  Betsy Kobbe will post the booster meeting minutes to the web site. 

 

Treasurer’s Report:  Debbie Stevens reported on account balances.  Account balances include:

           $16,324.26 in the general account

           $4099.49 in the scholarship account

           $15,456.24 in the reserve account

           $4,216.37 in the student account.   

Student accounts are up to date.  The third band payment was due September 6th.  This year we have a “No pay, no play” policy, which means that if you want your band member to perform this weekend, you’ll need to make your final payment by this Thursday.  This policy was put in place because in the past, we have had quite a few band members who did not pay all of their band fees.  If the payment schedule is difficult for you and you need to make financial arrangements, please see Mark Smith or Debbie Stevens.   If you have any questions about your band member’s account, please contact Debbie Stevens.

Students have until the end of April 2009 to meet their $150 fundraising obligation.

 

Committee Reports:

 

Ways and Means:  Betsy Kobbe gave the Ways and Means report.

 

Raffles:  Sue Miller’s cousin will be making/donating a quilt for the band to raffle as a fundraiser.  The quilt is still under construction.

Wal-Mart:  According to Kris Woolley, the Junior Fire Company will not be participating in the Children’s Miracle Network fundraiser at Wal-Mart, but the Walkersville Marching Lions will.  Kris is going to coordinate this effort.  Wal-Mart will be hold a gift card raffle.  If we sell 10,000 raffle tickets, the band will earn $5,000.  The raffle drawing will be held on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) at 7:00pm.  We will need volunteers to man a table all day (from 4:00am) on Black Friday, to sell tickets.  There needs to be one parent and two kids minimum.  We can do this in shifts to make it easier.

Kris also talked about the day that the TJ Marching Band backed out of selling hot dogs at Wal-Mart and our band stepped in from 11:00am to 8:00pm.  Thirteen kids and 5 or 6 parents volunteered.  Wal-Mart was so grateful that they gave the band a check for $1,000.

Flower Bulb Sale:  The Dutch Mill flower bulb fundraiser is due today (September 11th).  All profits will be designated for the Disney trip.

The Yankee Candles fundraiser begins next week.

The Longaberger Basket Book Party will not be happening in October.  We may try again later in the year.

Sub Sales:  The next sub sale is scheduled for October 7th (orders and money due).   Pick-up day has been moved to THURSDAY, October 16th.

The Uncle Ralph’s Cookies fundraiser will begin October 13th.

The Basket Bingo with Junior Fire Company is set for Saturday, November 22nd.

Winter Concessions begins on Friday, December 5th with a Girls’ Basketball game.  There may be some trouble that night because the Drama Department’s play (Annie) begins that night, too.

Ms. Neal would like the band to perform during the Kris Kringle Parade, which is also on December 5th.  Ms. Neal sent in the paperwork for the band to participate, although it was a couple of days past the deadline.  For each participating band member, the band would earn $150.  If we do not make the parade this year, we should definitely attend next year.

Breakfast with Santa will be on December 13th.

The Parent Info Board is out tonight.  The Band Council will be responsible for setting up the board from now on.

The 2nd TAG DAY had to be moved due to Tropical Storm Hanna.  The new day is this Saturday (September 13th).  There are new sign-up sheets.  Right now we only have 15 kids and 3 adults signed-up, and we’ll definitely need more to cover the areas scheduled.   These are our big money maker neighborhoods (Deerfield, Copper Oaks).  Meet at the school at 8:30am, leaving at 9:00am.  Maps will be provided as well as a pizza lunch, which is at 12:00 noon (at the school).  Everyone should return to the school by 3:00pm.  Participation in Tag Day is mandatory.  You only need to work one of the two days. 

 

Battle of the Bands:  We had a good turnout for the first BOTB meeting.  We now have 5 bands signed up for BOTB.  They are Tuscarora, TJ, Brunswick, Liberty (Group I) and Annapolis Area Christian (Group II).  Seventeen other bands have been contacted.  The next BOTB meeting will be September 24th at 6:45pm in the band room. The meeting will adjourn at 7:30pm.  Wal-Mart has offered walkie talkies (maybe only 6) for our use during BOTB.  We usually use about 12.  Start time has been moved to 6:00pm (from 5:00pm).  This will give us more time between the Brunswick show and our show.  Plus, with only 5 bands, the competition will end early.  Unfortunately, there is no exhibition band this year due to the late planning start.  Anyone who would like to coordinate next year’s BOTB, please speak to Mark.  He doesn’t want to chair BOTB again next year, but he will be a resource and help out.

 

Old Business:  Suzanne Clark asked about lighting for the practice field.  Mark said he needs to contact Donny Osborne soon because it’s getting dark earlier now.

 

New Business: 

Debbie Stevens turned in the band shirt orders for the students.  They should arrive in time for the first competition.  The parents’ shirt orders will have to go in later.  The order forms are in the green bins. 

Vivian Laxton (Colin Laxton) asked about the location of the car battery that is used to power the amps for the guitars.  It seems to be missing, but will be needed for the show.

The Band Council suggested that the band go to Adventure Park instead of having a party, since they will be competing at the Chapter V competition the same night as Homecoming.

Vivian also mentioned to be on the lookout for the next two editions (October or November) of the Frederick Magazine.  We don’t know which one will include an article on local high school marching bands.  Walkersville was one of the three bands.  Pictures will also be included.

Someone asked if the kids would be provided with lunch on Saturday, since they are not allowed to leave the school during practice.  For now, it was suggested that each family should make sure their child is feed.  The staff will not be available to pick up food for band members.  The lunch situation may change later in the season.

 

The next meeting will be held on TBA at 7:00 pm in the Band Room.  School is closed on 9 October, which would be our usual booster meeting day.

 

Meeting adjourned at 8:15pm.