GHS Band Booster Meeting minutes 091310

Band booster president, Frank Mason, opened the meeting by announcing that the intent was to make the meetings move along more quickly, so we would get right to the agenda.

Motion was made to approve the minutes of the last meeting, and was seconded, all approved.

Mr. Pirzer reviewed the upcoming events, all of which are contained on the current calendar (same calendar that was distributed at the parent meeting at the end of Band Camp 2, and that is currently on the website).

Upcoming Football Games

The band has performances for the next 3 consecutive Fridays, however the middle game (on 9/24) is homecoming so there will not be a show performance during half time. Instead, the full band will play for the homecoming court.

For this Friday’s game, each student needs to contribute $1 toward the food that is being partially donated by Jimmy John’s. Donations of chips, bananas, apples, and other similar snack items are requested of parents.

Note that this Friday (9/17) is going to be a long day for the band students, beginning with an early morning Pep Rally. Band students need to be at school at 7:45am (Students, please wear band shirts). Students will leave for the game (on buses) between 5:30pm and 6pm. Parents should arrive at Citizen’s Field no later than 7:10pm if they would like to see the pregame show. Volunteer parents, if you arrive at the game at 6, there will be no one checking the gates. If you arrive later, you will need to go to the pass gate and your name will be checked against a list of volunteer names submitted by Mike Grantham. You are welcomed to caravan over to the game from GHS, or simply meet at the field. Everyone (except for Pit Crew, who will have their own shirts) should wear his/her band booster shirt to the game. If you don’t have one, Mr. Pirzer has them for sale for $25.

The 9/17 game is a bit unusual in that the visiting team (Santa Fe) will play at the end of the game, instead of at half time. GHS students will stay to watch Santa Fe, and Mr. Pirzer requested that the parents stay, as well.

Other Events

As noted on the calendar, All State auditions are this Saturday. The students who are participating know who they are.

Please take particular note of next weeks’ practice schedule. It is different than the norm due to the open house on Tuesday evening. Pit/Battery/Guard will have their late practice on Monday versus Tuesday. Also, there is no night rehearsal next Thursday (9/23) … practice will be 3-5 instead. PLEASE CHECK THE CALENDAR.

Gator Dockside Breakfast is 9/25. More tickets need to be sold!

There has been a request to add an event on Wednesday, 9/29. It is a walk for Brain Tumor Awareness in Haile Plantation. A subsection of the band will perform – it will be similar to what has been done for the March of Dimes Walk. All participants will get community service hours. Much more info to come from Mr. Pirzer.

State Championship

Mr. Pirzer reiterated there will not be a National Competition, as was announced in the meeting at the end of Band Camp 2.

Band will depart for state championship on Friday morning, 11/19, and will practice at a high school in Tampa for a couple of hours. Then, students will be taken to the movies (or some similar activity) to relax. Actual competition is the next day, Saturday 11/20, with the preliminary rounds to be held at Chamberlain High School, and the Finals to be held at the baseball stadium. Rooms for Friday night have already been reserved at a Days Inn for all students, and 40 parents (20 double occupancy rooms). Cost for parents for package deal (parent bus and room) will be $65 per person. These will only be available as a package, not separately, and bus will leave when student buses leave (Friday morning). Let Mr. Pirzer know if you want to participate in the parent bus/hotel arrangement.

Student Absences

According to Mr. Pirzer, we have yet to have perfect attendance at any of the practices. The absenteeism has been going up lately and it is becoming an issue. Please do what you can to make sure students are coming to all practices.

Treasurer’s Report – Suzanne Clark

As is usual, the fall season has started off with some big expenditures (totaling $31,000). Our fundraisers are contributing nicely (particularly Gator concessions and Yankee candles), but we need more $$. In that regard, the next $75 installment of fair share is due September 30.

Fundraisers – Laura Netardus and SusanWeinstein

Need to push the Gator Dockside breakfast. May want to consider buying 10 tickets and then giving away to friends/family who will use them. These folks tend to leave nice tips, which are then allocated to the fair share accounts of all children who worked the event.

Gator Concessions – Ruth Dean and Liz Brown

The concessions are doing great, based on 2 games of work so far. The following dates still have openings:

10/9 – Same day as Chiefland Competition – need 3-4 more guard parents/siblings and 3-4 more band parents/siblings)

11/13 – Same day as North Marion Competition – need 1-2 guard parents/sibling, and 3-4 more band parents/siblings)

We are not going to do the concessions for the game that coincides with the State Championships and have made other arrangements for the concessions to be handled.

Other upcoming fundraisers:

Chicken Barbecue – begins 10/4

Holiday Wreaths – begins 11/1

Downtown Arts Festival – booth setup and teardown – 1^st weekend in Nov. Randy Handel will provide additional information.

Possible new fundraisers (will be further researched by Laura and Susan):

Dinner at Chili’s (percentage of proceeds come to band)

Pasta Sales

Volunteer news – Volunteer Coordinator Mike Grantham

The Pit Crew is set, and will practice this Thursday evening (Mike has communicated with them separately). Those on the Pit Crew are listed below:

1. Rick Yost
2. Cathy Honeycutt
3. Gene Honeycutt
4. Jayne Hargrave
5. Kimm Tyson
6. George Bryan
7. Carol Bryan
8. Keith Teller
9. Roberta Guidice- Teller
10. Sherolyn Spencer
11. Christian Spencer
12. Cindi Cleeton
13. Amy Mueller
14. Mike Coughlin
15. Frank Mason
16. Cindy Mason
17. Ashton Mason
18. Miranda Mason
19. Chasalee Hurley
20. Susie Hummel
21. Mike Grantham

Pit Crew shirts should be in by game day.

Uniforms – Adela Van Antwerp

Thanks to help from several volunteers, all students have been fitted, with the exception of one person and all jackets are done.

Guard uniforms are in process and will be ready by Friday.

The only items that won’t be ready for Friday’s game are the capes.

Adela let us know that the process was difficult this year as many of our incoming freshmen were very small, and we didn’t have many small jackets. So, lots of shifting around of jackets had to take place. For next year, the band will get a loan to purchase some new jackets (thanks to a special angel not to be named in these minutes), and will do some targeted fundraisers to repay that loan.

Meeting was adjourned at 7:50pm.