MINUTES
WHS BAND BOOSTERS MEETING
13 November 2008
The November meeting of the WHS Band Boosters was held on Thursday, 13 November, at 7:00 pm in the Band Room.
Director’s Roar: Ms. Neal gave a Disney Trip update. Information packages were passed out the night before to other music students and their parents, as well as marching band members. The security deposit has been sent (and is non-refundable) and secures a spot for Walkersville at the Festival. Hotel rooms and busses have not been reserved yet. Deposits ($250) are due Tuesday, November 25th. On that day, Ms. Neal will know how many people are planning to go on the trip and then can calculate how many hotel rooms and busses will be needed. She expects about 35 concert band students and approximately 15 choir students to sign up for the trip. She will need at least 20 marching band students to sign up in order to participate in the parade competition.
If there are not enough people signed up from each group on November 26th, their money will be returned. Once a group has committed to the trip, their deposit will be non-refundable. Students can pay for the trip out of pocket or participate in fundraising activities to raise money for their share.
The estimated price, based on 100 students, is $649 per person. It will be lower if less than 100 students sign up, if we don’t need to take as many busses. The cost to operate the busses is the biggest part of the bill.
Frank Lezier came to the school Wednesday night to talk to further about the Disney trip, especially the parents of the choir and concert band students. Frank reported that our $300.00 deposit has been received by Disney and we have class and performance times for the festival.
Once Ms. Neal knows which groups will be competing at the festival, she would like to start having after school rehearsals instead of waiting until a couple of weeks before the trip. Ms. Neal stated that the national adjudication requirements are tougher than Frederick County’s requirements.
Family members will be allowed to sign up for the trip after student numbers are in. Any parent is welcome to call Frank Leizear for further information. His phone number is 301-570-0800. He did give a ballpark estimate of $400.00 per non-band person for the trip. The price is cheaper because non-band people will have to provide their own transportation and the cost of the bus will not be included in their price.
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 said that he was very pleased with the attendance and the conduct of everyone at last week’s mandatory meeting after the incident on the practice field before ACC’s. He asked if anyone had any questions and the answer was ‘no’.
Secretary’s Report: The minutes for the October meeting were approved.
Treasurer’s Report: Debbie Stevens reported on account balances. Account balances include:
$21,886.71 in the general account
$4,101.20 in the scholarship account
$15,462.69 in the reserve account
$4,218.13 in the student account
Debbie stated that there were still a few more bills that needed to be paid and that the staff payment was coming up soon. There are still a few outstanding band fees, but only about $400.00 worth, which is not too bad. Student reports will be passed out at the banquet. The fundraising fees ($150 each) are not due until the end of April.
We reviewed Mark’s report comparing our budgeted expenses vs. actual expenses. The Battle of the Bands profit was much better than usual, especially since we had to change the date to a Monday night. E-Scripts are a little slow right now, but should pick up later in the year. Mark will use the current budget to make up a budget for next year.
After Mark Gaffigan volunteered the pit crew to cook dinner for the band at ACC’s, Mark said that there is money budgeted for that type of activity and that the band will pay for the food.
Mark made a suggestion that we donate the amount of profit from this year’s Battle of the Bands to the Howard C. Andrews Scholarship Fund, since we haven’t done any fundraising specifically for the fund. The profit reported by the Treasurer is $733.58. The group decided to wait before making a decision on the donation. Vivian Laxton suggested that we donate the profits made from the Election Day Bake Table, which was about $500.00. Mark said that anyone can make a motion to donate funds at anytime, it doesn’t have to be done right now (at the meeting).
Committee Reports:
Ways and Means: Betsy Kobbe gave the Ways and Means report.
The Basket Bingo with Junior Fire Company is next Saturday, November 22nd. The doors open at 5:00 and the games begin at 7:00. There is parking on 6th street (make a right on 6th from Market Street). Outstanding tickets and money is due Friday (at the banquet). All leftover tickets will be offered for sale at the door on Saturday. All baskets have been filled and are ready to go. We still need “callers” to call back the winning bingo numbers and “Vanna Whites” to model the baskets.
The Election Day Bake Table made a profit of $500.00 from sales and donations!
Sub Sales: December sub sales will be the last one this year. Betsy talked to John at Trout’s Market and said that he doesn’t want to make subs for us but would give us a good price on cold cuts, if we want to make our own subs.
Breakfast with Santa is coming on Saturday, December 13th. We will need people to bring griddles to make pancakes. If you can’t make the meeting and would like to help with the Breakfast, please email Betsy.
Betsy is having a Ways and Means meeting on Wednesday, November 19th at 7:00. The details for Breakfast with Santa will be discussed then. Betsy would also like to pitch the idea of having a “craft night” to make items to sell for the band. One of the things planned is teaching people to knit and crochet, so they can help make crafts.
Winter Concessions begins on Friday, December 5th with a Girls’ Basketball game. Betsy has sign-up sheets for the kids who want to volunteer selling concessions. She doesn’t want 10 people to sign-up for one night and no one to sign up for other nights. We will NOT be selling hot food and the only beverage for sale will be water.
Debbie Stevens reported that 133 people have signed up for the Band Banquet. The band banquet will be Friday, November 21st, from 6:00 to 9:00 at the Morningside Inn. The menu has been selected by the staff, so if anyone has any comments to make, speak to a staff member.
The upcoming elections isn’t really a Ways and Means issue, but was brought up before Old Business.
Suzanne Clark and Debbie Stevens comprise the election committee. Mark Smith will be stepping down as President, but will become the Director at Large. Right now we have the following volunteers for board positions:
President – Vivian Laxton
Vice President – Kris Woolley, Penny Chaney
Treasurer – Lucy Rivera
Secretary – Sonia Hernandez
Publicity - ?
Ways and Means – Betsy Kobbe will still work the Ways and Means issues, but needs more people to help so we actually have a Ways and Means Committee. There is a lot of work involved with Ways and Means and Betsy could use some help.
The election will be held at the next Band Boosters’ meeting on December 11th. Anyone else interested in serving on the board should contact Suzanne or Debbie and their name will be added to the ballot.
Old Business: None!
New Business: There are plenty of seats left on the busses for the trip to ACCs. If you want to ride up on the bus instead of driving yourself, a seat will cost you $25. Ms. Neal would like the students to support Tuscarora and North Hagerstown by staying long enough to watch their performances. Tuscarora is scheduled to perform at 5:38 and North Hagerstown’s performance time is 6:20. The busses should be leaving Allentown around 7:00 pm. We should be back at the high school before 10:00 pm.
The pit crew will cook for the band. They will provide hamburgers and hot dogs, chips, sodas and water. If anyone would like to donate dessert or side dishes, the pit crew will transport the items to Allentown. All students should pack a lunch since the bus will not be stopping for everyone to eat. Ms. Neal’s mother is bringing breakfast for all of the students, staff and chaperones. The pit crew asked for donations of pop-up shelters to be used in case of rain.
We will have a post season band clean-up next Tuesday during the usual practice time (5:30 – 7:30).
There WILL be practice this Friday from 6:30 – 7:30. Ms. Neal would like to perform some timed run-throughs since the kids have not been timed since the recent changes to the show.
Rain is a very good possibility on Friday and Saturday.
The next meeting will be held on Thursday, December 11th at 7:00 pm in the Band Room.
Meeting adjourned in record time at 7:45pm! (Ms. Neal passed out info packets for the Disney Trip.)