Tuesday, January 8, 2013 · Band Room, KPS
Welcome everyone!
Meeting was called to order by President Lynn Cooper.
15 Parents are in attendance.
The minutes were read by all. A motion to approve the minutes was made by Todd Oschner and a 2nd by Ronda Jaeschke.
Treasurer’s Report: Tammy Madsen is sick this evening, we don‘t have access to the report, so we will go over December’s and January’s report in February.
Underclassman honor band: Monday, January 14th. We will need volunteers for serving lunch. 1 or 2 people to help at 11:00 and 2:45 for snacks. 3 or 4 people to help from 11:15 to 1:00 to set-up and serve lunch. Lunch and snacks will be served in the Central Elementary cafeteria. Mr. Mitchell, or Ali Nelson will be our point of contact for this.
Big Band Dance – Friday Feb. 1st. 2013 7:00 – 10:00 at Sunrise Middle School – Jolene Berke, Lauren Harbols, Arlene Jones and Robbie Samuelson will be coordinating this event. 12 – 15 fancy desserts cut into approximately 12 pieces are needed. $10 for adults, $5 for students. Proceeds go to support the Jazz band.
Runza Night: We will have both stores this year since we were unable to host an evening last year. Monday February 11, is our confirmed night at both locations from 5:00 – 8:00. We bus the tables and advertise the band, we will receive a portion of the sales during that time. We do have 2 banners so we could display a banner at each location. Elementary conferences are that evening, which may help turnout. We will need to sign up a couple of people for each shift at each location.
Uniform turn in: We would like to turn them in earlier than last year. Liberty cleaners would like them all within the 2nd week of January. The 3rd week the clean uniforms will come in from the kids. The 4th week of January and the beginning of February, the dirty uniforms will come in from the kids. After that fines and fees will be sent out from the office. This will be on the website also. We have to use Liberty Cleaners in order to keep the warranty on the uniforms. If you take your uniform in during this time, you will receive a discounted rate.
Honor Bands: We have had quite a few students in each honor band. What an accomplishment!
Fundraiser: Scrip Cards – Please take a look at the websites, you will be able to get a very good idea of how this will work. You purchase gift cards to businesses for the amount that you are wanting, there is no price increase or surcharge. Great Lakes Scrip Centers will pay a certain percentage of the gift card back to the band parent organization. Several area churches/schools have been using this fundraiser and have found it to be very profitable. This concept will grow, it may start off slow, but each year as people get used to the idea they will use it more and more. These cards can also be used as a budgeting tool. If you know how much you are budgeting on groceries, you but that much in the gift cards to the grocery store, the same for fuel and so on. This is a way for people to contribute to the band without having to have any extra expenses. There is a way for you to receive a card immediately at a few businesses. The card comes to you in an email and you print off a code. If your printer isn’t working properly, you will have the opportunity to print it again, if the code is printed more than 1 time, it can only be used 1 time. This can be an on-going fundraiser, one that lasts for years, instead of days or weeks. We can end this fundraiser at any time with no obligation or fees. Each individual can put their bank information in the account and the money will be deducted directly from your bank account for a fee of $.15 per order Instead of receiving a plastic gift card, you will receive a code to your computer, which you can then print. You are able to then take the printed copy to the retailer to spend as a gift card. You are able to use these gift cards yourself, or you can use them as gifts there is no expiration date on these cards. You order the cards and receive them a week later. We are thinking of starting the program with ordering every other week, until we see how well it will work. We may be able to have some inventory on hand but don’t want to have any to begin with. There is quite a bit of money tied up in a few cards, let’s see how well this goes first and then we can start a small inventory. The amount of money you earn for your student will depend on how you utilize this program. We will be able to split the rebate back to the band parents into separate accounts, such as 50% to the general fund, 50% to student accounts, if we purchase the software. This software will also let us know how much each student earns toward their account. There is a 2 month free trial and then the purchase price for the software is $99 per year or $9.95 a month. We hope to start the program soon, but it will need to be voted in to get the ball rolling. You have to buy the cards in the increments they have available, some could be as low as $5, but generally in amounts of $25 to $250. We will need to set up a separate checking account, the cards are paid for as an automatic withdrawal from this account. Robbie Samuelson will be our person of contact here at the school, this has been approved by Dr. Dostal. Checks will need to come to Robbie and the cards will be able to be picked up from Robbie. We will need to have set times for dropping of checks and picking up the cards, Robbie still has her job to take care of, we can’t monopolize her time. During the summer months, there is a full time secretary that will be able to sign for the cards. You are able select the band as your organization to get the rebates through a code we receive after setting up our account. You are able to fundraise through scrip for several organizations at a time, you just need to make sure you are using the code for that organization.
- Order from your computer, send in a check for payment. Pick up cards from school.
- Order from your computer, pay using automatic withdrawal from your checking account for a $.15 per order fee. Pick up cards from school.
- Order from your computer, pay using automatic withdrawal from your checking account for a $.15 per order fee. A code is sent to your computer, print the code to use as the card. (Very few businesses have this available.)
- Scrip now – a code comes to your computer.
- Presto pay – you can pay directly from your bank account for a $.15 per order fee. (Like Paypal)
Phone Books Delivery – Groups are being approached to deliver phone books door to door. We will keep this in mind for next year. It may not be a good idea to have these 2 new fundraisers at the same time. Plus of the 3 days available to do this fundraiser, 2 of the days the kids are in school.
Directors Comments
There are so many students that are in the band room after school practicing their music, that we have a hard time finding them a room to practice in. This is so great to see what a wonderful problem to have.
Booster club purchased 2 performance tubas with our help providing the shipping costs. The music has a much better sound. Thank you!
Student testing should be completed soon, the evaluations will be done in plenty of time for students to sign up for the correct classes next year. If your student didn’t feel they tested to their best ability they have a chance to retest.
Color Guard tryouts at the end of January actual auditions Feb. 1st.
Booster Club parents: We would like to have a group of parents to keep the booster club moving in a forward direction. Mr. LeFeber has a vision for the club, he just doesn’t have the time to devote to making sure things are happening. We would like to have an upperclassman parent and an underclassman parent in the role, so the role will have a little stability without a lot of pressure. If you are interested please see Mr. LeFeber.
Band trip to Chicago May 2014: No date yet, we will be using C&C tours which has been reliable to deliver a great trip for a good value. 500-600 dollars, depending on fuel prices and the number of students going on the trip. Chicago Symphony Concert Hard Rock Café, perform at the 6 flags park, Navy Pier sight seeing and shopping, Michigan Ave expensive shopping, Aquarium and Oceanarium. Gangster tour: a tour through the city with stops that show the gangsters and activity, city history like the Chicago fire. A dinner and dance on Lake Michigan like we had on the Potomac River. A stop at the museum of science and industry. 3 or 4 days that will be packed full on this bus trip. The tour group will provide us with some cameras and flash drives, so we can load our pictures on them and they will create a video of the trip for you to order. We will take as many parents as want to go. We will be able to plan a little better when the schedules come out for the performances at 6 flags and the Chicago Symphony.
Volunteer Roles
Executive Board Members needed for next year: President Elect, Treasurer Elect, and Secretary. The President Elect will be a 3 year commitment, the Treasurer Elect and Secretary are both 2 year commitments. If you have any questions about these positions, or if you know someone that would be a great fit for these positions, please see Lynn.
Uniform committee, we would ideally like 1 parent from each grade to help make this process run smoothly. Tammy Duncan will be there this next year to guide the committee. We need to have someone in place for this fall. You do not need to have sewing experience, someone that pays attention to the details. This would be during band camp/football season/marching season.
Concessions Stand manager/Stadium Clean-up: This is a 1 year commitment and the opportunity to make money for your students account
Bearcat Marching Festival Chaiperson: Tracie Falconer took on this task this year and did a wonderful job.
UNK Concessions: This is for UNK football games and some of the games generally fall on the marching competitions dates. We may need to sign up for fewer games in the upcoming years, so Tim Higgins will be able to sign up other groups as needed.
Basketball Concessions Update: We still have several slots that are open, people aren’t getting them signed up for. There are several parents that have worked their 3 available shifts, can we let parents work another shift for a total of 4. Do we need to send out another email blast to everyone, not just the people that were interested in concessions?
Upcoming events
- February 1st Big Band Dance at Sunrise Middle School
- February 1st – 3rd UNO Honor Festival
- February 5th Band Parent Meeting @ 7:30
- February 7th-9th Hastings Honor Band
- February 14th – 16th Wesleyan Honor Band
- February 22nd – 23rd UNO Jazz Festival
- March 2 – UNO Concert Band Festival Wind Ensemble
- March 12th Band Parent Meeting @ 7:30
Hoop heads sales: We still have them available, not much of a call for them.
A motion to adjourn was made by Ed Uden and a 2nd by Todd Oschner .
