Panther Club Meeting
Minutes 9/8/15
Introduction of those present.
Treasurer’s Report - Bronwyn Weygandt:
•The Girls’Softball grant of $1,000 was approved & received by them. Panther Club received a thank you card.
•The Athletic Director has $1,000 set aside for the Coach’s Back to School Nite.
•Panther Club is starting the 2015-16 year with $22,000 in the bank.
In the future, the previous month minutes will be included with a monthly meeting reminder. This will facilitate meeting time by using a “consent agenda”format for the minutes.
A special thanks to all Freshman parents who are attending & who have offered to participate in Panther Club.
Team Reps. Report - Chair Marianne Boeke:
•Attendees were encouraged to sign up to be a sports team rep. for their child’s team.
•Duties of a sports team rep. were explained. The most important job is to initiate & maintain communication between the coach, the parents & Panther Club including a limited number of summer e-mails. The purpose is to keep everyone in the “information loop”about what’s going on with their child’s team.
•Team Reps. are still needed for 5 sports: girls’basketball, soccer, swim/dive & tennis and boys’swim/dive.
•BHS girls play LAX on a “co-op”team with Centauris so girls’LAX does not have a team rep.
The new Athletic Director Eddie Hartnett was welcomed.
•Eddie is happy to be at BHS as AD.
•Eddie is also the head of CHSAA & will continue in that capacity.
•His door is open. He welcomes & encourages communication.
•He is happy to have face to face meetings, schedule permitting and will respond to e-mails as soon as possible.
•Eddie is excited about the Gala and will assign coaches various participation duties.
•He hopes the “BHS family”sees positive changes this year & into the future.
Athletic Director Report - Eddie Hartnett:
•Two coaching jobs will be filled in the near future.
•The AD may schedule a short meeting with the Panther Club team reps.
•Coaches are encouraged to attend Panther Club meetings & give a presentation about what they’ve been doing.
•The AD will find out if individual coaches want to be on the distribution list for Panther Club information and meeting minutes.
Spirit Gear - Sheri Price
•Maria Tesla researched & established an online store to sell spirit gear.
•After speaking with 3 companies, she selected mylocker.net a well-known national company. Purchases can be customized & items are shipped directly to the purchaser.
•Panther Club will receive 12% of purchases on a quarterly basis.
•A marketing goal is to get rid of existing inventory without losing too much money.
•Continued sales during Friday lunches & home varsity football games will depend on volunteers stepping up to help.
•Maria Trysla has created a Sign-Up Genius site for volunteering for various Panther Club activities.
Banner Sales - Janice Hughes
•An “operations manual”now exists so volunteers can learn the system.
•Banners are about bringing sponsorship to BHS.
•It is excellent exposure for any company because the outreach extends to almost 2,000 families, not just kids.
•Locations include Reich field, softball field, drive-by 17th Street & the main gym.
•All past unpaid banners have been removed.
•Some Gala sponsors have banners included in their sponsorship package.
•Banners are a huge profit center. They can generate over $20,000 for Panther Club.
•Banner advertising can bring a business great return on it’s investment.
•What is the time commitment to volunteer for Banner Sales? - About 10 hrs month not counting Gala preparation/promotion.
•Ideally the chairperson would be business minded.
Grant Program - Betsy Silvester
•The process for grant distribution to teams is new this year & is just getting off the ground.
•Coaches submit grant requests twice a year, spring & fall for how much they want, how they plan to use the money and quotes they have received from vendors.
•The grant is an online Google document.
•The requests are then put into a spreadsheet.
•Grant criteria has been established & communicated to the coaches.
•The Executive Committee makes recommendations to the AD who makes the final decision about money distribution.
•Teams receive their funding following the Gala.
•It will be important to get testimonials from coaches & students about how their grant money was used.
•Testimonials, photos & data will be presented online.
•The AD has advised coaches multiple times about the new grant process.
•Betsy would like the Grant Program Committee to meet once in the fall & once in the spring.
•Communication will be by e-mails.
•It is hoped that recipients will attend the PC meeting to receive their grant checks.
PR/Marketing - Janice Hughes
•This year there is a re-awakening spirit around sports & it’s due to communication.
•We need to begin planning now by using Constant Contact designed e-mail templates to make parents aware of Panther Club.
•Money previously spent on our spirit gear storage unit will now go towards Constant Contact expenses.
•A goal this year is to cleanup the sports registration process. Currently, there is no system in place other than short term intensive database work each sport season - fall, winter & spring.
•If an improved registration process is developed it could totally change the Gala.
•The Gala goal is to raise school spirit & make money available to sports teams.
•There is no BHS Alumni Association.
•An alumni association needs to be established & an alumni database constructed.
•The two goals just mentioned - improve student sport registration & establish an alumni data base are how the Gala will get more exposure & ultimately grow.
•Another growth opportunity is via Facebook.
•Janice needs volunteers to help make the goals realities.
•The Gala is the largest funding source, but it can't be the ONLY source of revenue.
•the 2016 Gala will be held at the Elks Club.
•With the exception of Student Ambassadors nominated by the coaching staffs, the Gala is the only adults only school activity.
•The first Gala netted $44,000 & last year netted $76,000.
•In 5 years, between spirit sales, banner sales & the Gala, Panther Club could net $200,000. Various skill sets needed for all kinds of volunteer activities.
•After homecoming, a meeting of committee chairs will begin an outreach of sponsor promotion of Panther Club.
Hall of Champions –Shelley Sullivan
•This year there is a shadow chair learning the ropes.
•What is posted now is current but will change as the sport seasons go along.
Homecoming - Janice Hughes
•Volunteers are needed to decorate & clean up at Reich field.
•Some decorations have been saved but donations are needed to supplement them.
•The bridge will be decorated.
Team Rowdy history explained - Eddie Hartnett
•Formerly Team Rowdy was only by invitation & only for Seniors.
•This group had recognizable single-style singlets which they could personalize with socially acceptable wording on the back.
•Then students who were not invited &/or were not Seniors, created their own Team Rowdy.
•This group created a wholly different baseball-style shirt but were personalized with questionable wording & signs.
•Now everything has changed by the AD & administration.
•It is a formal BHS club for Seniors only with a teacher representation.
•The AD is enthusiastic about the noisy, rowdy, passion & appropriate energy this group brings to all of BHS sporting events.
•He wants students to root for BHS, not against the opponent.
•The AD wants to buy a big flag which can be used at all sports events.
•At the end of the school year a tradition of passing the flag from Seniors to Juniors will be established & take place during a special event.
•The Administration & BPD will be on hand to police students & parents at the FHS game.
Bring 2 friends to next meeting.
The meeting was adjourn @ 6:30pm
Respectfully submitted,
Sheri Price, Secretary