Dakota Booster GENERAL Membership Meeting

January 10, 2011




The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Christie Green-Forbes, President.


The President addressed the general membership. “Article IV – Organization, Sections iv-Duties of the Officers of the booster by-laws, as President of the Dakota High School boosters I am forming a committee to provide an in-depth look at the booster donation process, the booster liaison process and the roles and responsibilities of the coaches, directors, administrators, organization and liaisons. I will be appointing a chairperson accordingly.


This process has not yet been in effect for a full calendar year and we are starting to see that there may need to be some refining to it for future years. While making changes during this calendar year is not going to be the focus of this committee, it will be the committee that studies the current and past situation and move the process forward.


This committee is not to change the way we do business today – as of today our system is set to recognize individual groups and will remain so until the study is completed – but we need to look for effective ways to move the process forward and to seek the best way to keep the process fair and equitable across the board.


Our main concern today is the hostile attitude that is coming through regarding our current issues and the rumored actions of groups to storm our meetings and disrupt our process. We have been accused of many things that are simply not true and the rumors are actively being spread. The boosters will not tolerate abuse or disparagement from parents that may not be satisfied with our decisions. Our response to people that may not agree with certain policy and procedures is to get involved. Being productive and making positive change is much more fulfilling than complaining about how things should be.


The boosters have not changed any way of doing business to date which includes how we recognize groups – the process has changed and with any change there are going to be bumps. As we looked through several documents we have found that we have some holes in places other than just how credits are earned – groups are not coming to us prior to earning credits, they are not completing forms correctly – what is seemingly apparent is that the groups work, earn credits and then make requests – this is not how the process was set up in the by-law amendment change.


This committee will be tasked on looking at the process and making recommendations to the process and then proposing a solution that is fair and equitable to all. My goal is to have this process reviewed and have guidelines set forth for a robust way of conducting the donation distribution system.


I will be assigning a chairperson in the coming days. I need to think this one through as there is much passion on both sides as it relates to this issue. The chair needs to be focused on the goal – not how it relates to their specific groups needs.


We have asked the following parents to be a part of this committee: Cathy Impemba, Mary Ann Couto, Karen Zerilli, Denise Kujawski, Jim Burke, Cheryl Barden, Lori Labudde, Tom Inger and Rick Beverin. This committee will review the current booster donation process. Theis review will look at how groups and organizations are recognized, the earning of credits, fairness as to how the donations are processed and how the booster organization can better communicate and assign opportunities for needs. Current booster board executive members submitted names of parents who they felt could be a focused and objective member of this committee.


Members of the committee were selected based on the following:

  1. Working knowledge of booster events to reflect on the hard work that goes into running a profitable event.

  2. A child or children that is or was in more than one club, sport or organization that is supported by the boosters.

  3. People that have shown interest in holding an executive board member position in the future.

  4. Former executive booster board members not currently serving on the 2010-2011 executive board.

  5. Regular attendance at booster general membership meetings.


Once I have received a confirmation from the selected members a chairperson will be appointed. I hope to have all of the members of this committee confirmed by Friday. Three positions have been filled.


Minutes of last General Membership Meeting of November 8, 2010 were read by the general membership and approved by Lisa Bialows (1) and Lisa Jo Kuhns (2). There were no minutes for the December general membership meeting as it was cancelled due to inclement weather.


Treasurer’s Report:


Checking Balance-bank: $ 24.90 Savings Balance-bank: $ -0-

Checking Balance-CU: $ 36,395.24 Savings Balance-CU: $ 4,503.33


The treasurer reported the revenue and expenses for the craft show. The next profit is $16,507.02. We are awaiting the bill from food services.


Report was approved by Kathy Impemba (1) and Lisa Jo Kuhns (2)


Administration Report:


John Briningstool addressed the general membership:


Tom Heethius addressed the general membership:


Student Report:


The Winter Guard liaison addressed the board and general membership on concerns regarding the process used to submit donation requests to the boosters. The president, Christie Forbes-Green explained that the process begins with the group submitting a donation request to the booster donation trustee. Based upon the amount of the donation request and the per dollar credit the donation trustee reports to the board how many credits are needed. The board looks at the concession openings and determines the number of concessions that have to be worked and assigns the dates for each group so they may earn the donation amount requested.


Question from the floor: How can the boosters purchase flags for the Winter Guard if our by-laws prohibit us from purchasing items that are deemed essential to the performance of the club/group/sport?


Question from the floor: If the flags stay with the school are they deemed essential and mandatory to perform?


Several board members spoke to the need for the committee to look at these and other questions and a revamping of the booster by-laws may be warranted. The committee will make recommendations to the Board, the board will review the recommendations and propose by-law changes and bring those proposed changes to a vote by the general membership.


Currently, the booster organization recognizes the band, marching band, winter guard and drum line as separate entities. The committee will review the process of recognizing groups/clubs/sports to be sure how we determine the entity is fair and consistent to all groups/clubs/sport organizations.


The secretary, Donna Kirchhoff, stated that a portion of the credit that is earned by each group goes to school-wide events and functions that benefit large numbers of students and/or support academic functions.


Mr. Heethius weighed in that high schools do not have fund-raisers to help restore school building budget cuts and has increasingly looked toward parent organizations to help fill in the gaps.


Fine Arts Report: Doug Sayles

Band:


Choir:

Musical:

The musical “Anything Goes” has been cast and the names are posted in the choir room. The play will open the weekend of April 14-16, 2011


Service Report: Kim Zuchora


Sports Report: Don Hornberger


Craft Show Report: Mary Ann Forster


Web Site Report: Kim Zuchora



Donation Requests:

Girls’ basketball and Winter Guard. The groups/teams are in the process of earning credits towards these donation requests.


Old Business:

NONE


New Business:

NONE


Motion to adjourn at 8:45 pm by Nancy Pelky (1) and Dave Steinberger (2)


Next Meeting Schedules:


Respectfully Submitted:

Donna Kirchhoff (interim DHS Booster Secretary)