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Booster Club Meeting Minutes 4/15/99

4/15/99 7:00-9:30 pm in PSHS Building B Auditorium

About this meeting, Stephanie Hecht

Stefanie Hecht (President, 972-307-3439, Stefanie.Hecht@mymail.com) and Jan Thompson (VP, 972-596-2126, thompson@objs.com) conducted the meeting. Craig Thompson acting for Kathy Miller (Secretary) took the minutes. Fifteen people attended.

Stefanie said this is the final Booster Club meeting of the spring season.

Financial Report, Treasurer John Malchi/Brian Sturgeon

John asked Brian to go over the financial status. Brian provided a handout (Attachment A) detailing Cash Inflows and Outflows and a net balance of $4,084. He explained the line items. Lynn Sturgeon mentioned there is an inventory of spiritware, money is still expected from antennae ball sales, and Stefanie mentioned around $2000 is still coming for the two banners so the season ending total is over $6,000 but we expect to spend money over the summer on capital improvements. See below.

Action Item: Stefanie asked Brian to break out each player's record of $ in/out to satisfy UIL audibility rules. Also, Brian will prepare a final financial statement to be available as a handout at the banquet.

Spiritware Report, Lynn Sturgeon

Stefanie mentioned that, as planned this year in the early meetings, Spiritware is not intended as a money maker but is for the families and spirit. We sold items not for a profit but pretty much to break even. Stefanie commented that Lynn Sturgeon did a tremendous job coordinating this (all agreed).

Lynn described a number of problems she has had dealing with this season's spiritware provider (unexpected shipping charges, problems with returns, still don’t have some items). Discussion followed.

Motion: Lynn to head up Spiritware Committee next year and Lynn to locate a new provider, preferably someone local. 1^st: Ed Stacy. 2^nd: Susie Zeffery. Vote: unanimous

One possible provider recommended by Peggy Stacey: Sharon Bennet, Artistic Textile Graphics. Lynn will decide.

Field Banners Report, Stefanie Hecht

This new committee, initially gung-ho, did not get off the ground, which was unfortunate as it had the potential to be a major source of revenue. Many parents did not understand how to contribute. Finally Stefanie ended up taking back the responsibility. The Hecht's sold two posters for $1000 + cost of production each. By 50 cold calls, Stefanie located 3 prospects for next year: Subway, Advantage, and Beauty Supply. No one else sold any banners.

An issue for next year to resolve is that PESH boys' baseball field has many banners that do not follow the supposed guidelines either in banner format or in cost charged ($500). A PISD memo indicates banners are to sell for $1000, be in school colors (PSHS: maroon and white), good for one year, no more than ten banners per field, and 40% of poster money is to go back to the school (some of which is redistributed back to the softball program). Stefanie has asked Glen Davis several times to clarify if we can sell banners in customer-specified formats for $500 (much easier) but received no ruling or explanation of how PESH does it.

A lesson learned is that we need to start very early next year, perhaps over the summer since we can put banners up in September so they will be up all year. Also, the process takes 8 weeks or so to get a banner made.

Brian Sturgeon and John Malchi both think they can sell a poster apiece next year (if $500, custom format is permitted).

Motion: Ed Stacey and Paul Vetter to chair Banner Committee next year. 1^st: John Malchi, 2^nd: Peggy Stacey. Vote unanimous.

Motion: Booster Club will purchase one banner with something like Home of the Wildcats on it for centerfield. 1^st: Brian Sturgeon. 2^nd: Connie Malchi. Vote unanimous.

Discussion: Team Program, PR, Varsity/JV, Video

Program. In past years there was a homegrown but low cost program (with girls team pictures, bios, ads, etc) and the girls sold a quota of ads. There was no program this year by conscious decision because it is a tremendous amount of up-front work, it is tremendously more expensive to do a glossy program, and no one volunteered to head this effort which might equal several other efforts combined. A number of other sports do have very glossy programs. One question was, can we combine our program with Boys’ Baseball’s. The current likelihood for next year is no but if sufficient networking is done that might someday be possible. It is currently not planned to have a program for next year but we might be building support in the Booster Club to work toward this in out years.

PR. A comment was made that we should work on ideas to insure high attendance at games partly by focusing on high schools and better PR. One idea for this was to insure announcements are made on game days via school PA systems. Another was maybe some sort of clinic where Varsity kids helped the Coach and kids from middle school and/or high school are invited. Another idea was to get the Coach to visit the high schools to solicit involvement.

JV. This raised a general concern for how to get the JV to feel fully included in booster club activities. It was pointed out that the Booster Club is here for all including people in high schools too. All are welcome to contribute. But its primary mission is fund raising to support the softball program. That said, in almost all activities the Varsity and Junior Varsity are included equally (e.g., including team dinners, pictures, practice, the banquet). The team poster is one of the few activities that recognize just the Varsity (consistent with other sports at PSHS). So discussion ended up with some suggestions on how to get the JV to feel more included. A primary point was that a problem for this season was the small number of girls who stayed on JV after selections so that the team did not always make for games and missed several. A suggestion was to ask the coaches to get the Varsity and JV to support each other by cheering through each others' games when at the same place. Another suggestion was that maybe the tradition of the JV and Varsity going out on Friday nights is a good idea (like PESH does – but note they only had a varsity, no JV). Another suggestion was Big Sister/Little Sister pairings. Another was some group activities in the fall. Another was to ask JV parents to work on all committees next year to insure a good transition to the following year. Some of this is more up to the players and/or coaches than the Booster Club.

Team Appearance. Several people mentioned that our team often appears scruffy during games. There may be some uniform problems (tears, etc) but the main problem is that not all wear the same thing at the same time so that there are some kids with warm-ups on and others not, and warm-ups vary from sweats to nylon pants. They need to all look the same to look sharp.

Stefanie and Jan will bring these last two items above to the Coach’s attention.

Allen Dot Race. Several enjoyed the Allen Dot Race. Suggestions for instituting such activities are requested. Also volunteers.

Video. There is a current plan to get an end of season video made. Lynn, Stefanie, Jan, and Connie (with help from Stan Reed, Craig Thompson, and Dale Hecht) will review the pictures (and some video), organize a sequence and employ a professional video service to make the video. Everyone has been contacted to submit pictures of all kids, Varsity and JV, by Monday 19 April. It was mentioned Stan Reed has taken many pictures of both teams [we got these and video from Stan].

Web site. Not mentioned at the meeting but there are two PSHS Web Sites:

• http://web2.airmail.net/b0002305/PSHS/
• http://www.reedcon.com/wildcats/

Other Committees for Next Year

• Capital Improvements - Brain Sturgeon and John Malchi volunteered to co-chair this committee next year. Responsibilities include oversight of the field maintenance, improvements, equipment needs.
• Jim McAfee (j-mcafee@tamu.edu), our turf specialist, will be sending Craig Thompson recommendations about soil conditioners and sprinklers soon.
• Stefanie says Mike Curey at Services indicates we must use approved companies to get bids. School must approve due to liability insurance.
• Flower Sales - Connie Malchi will chair this committee next year.
• Team Dinners - Connie Malchi will chair this committee next year.
• BBQ Dinner - Lynn Sturgeon will chair this committee next year.

Summer/Fall Activities

Summer/Fall. There is still more to be done, not just the upcoming end-of-season banquet. A car wash was mentioned as possibly in the works, timing permitted. Also, capital improvements over the summer, banner sales, and planning.

One of the real opportunities for next year is to get started on key activities earlier where possible. This is not always possible as teams are not picked until late January so a lot must happen fast for pictures or posters or a program but other things like capital improvements, spiritware and fund raising can happen earlier (summer and fall).

Motion: The current Booster Club board is empowered to spend our budget from the current $6000+ down to a balance of $1500 on capital improvements with priorities being:

1. work on the field (soil conditioners per recommendations from the turf specialist; sprinkler system for the infield; clean boundary between infield and outfield; and any sand/soil to level outfield.
2. Sign on back of scoreboard visible from Independence saying Home of Lady Wildcats (or similar)
3. Look into a flagpole or flagpoles. Possibly we buy and the school installs.

1^st: John Malchi; 2^nd Paul Vetter; Vote unanimous.

Thank you. At the end of the meeting (as well as at times throughout) the key people who had been responsible for so much success and accomplishment were recognized and thanked. While many contributed, Stefanie Hecht, Jan Thompson, Lynn Sturgeon and Connie Malchi were especially recognized for many hours spent on many activities. This year has accomplished more that any recent Booster Club, starting with limited continuity and records from previous years. The accomplishments include (not a complete list): the screen around the field, field dragging equipment, painting the dugouts, restroom/storage building (in construction), the Field of Dreams poster (now posted all over school), team pictures, team dinners, spiritware, the BBQ dinner, the banquet, fundraisers (two banners, two flower sales, Tom Thumb program). These accomplishments will be highlighted at the end-of-season banquet.

Challenge. Our challenge is to build on the success and try to do even better next year.

Motion to Adjourn

Ed Stacey motioned and Brian Sturgeon seconded.

Attachments

A Financial Report prepared by Brian Sturgeon through 4/14/99