BEN W. MURCH HOME AND SCHOOL ASSOCIATION
General Meeting
Meeting Minutes January 8, 2019
HSA Co-Presidents Elisa O’Keefe and Jess Regan called the meeting to order at 7:07 PM on January 8, 2019 in Room B112 of Murch Elementary School.
- Executive Board Members present: Elisa O’Keefe (Co-President), Jess Regan (Co-President), Ashley Webb (1st Vice President), Julie Lobb (2nd Vice President), Virginia Marentette (Past President), Diane Beasley (Secretary), Maurice Werner (Treasurer), Paula Cuevas (Assistant Treasurer), Megan Duffy (Assistant Treasurer), Chris Cebrzynski (Principal), Marcy Hairston (Teacher Representative), Heather Barlow (Communications), Jason Levin (Fundraising/Community Engagement), and Robin Goracke (Budget Chair).
- Approval of prior minutes – Diane Beasley
Diane presented the minutes for the December 4 general meeting, which were posted to BaseCamp for review on December 5 and sought the Board’s approval of the minutes.
Diane made a motion that the Board ratify the previously posted minutes for the December 4 meeting as the official record of that meeting. Jason seconded the motion, there was no objection, and the motion passed by unanimous voice vote.
- President’s Report – Elisa O’Keefe and Jess Regan
- SOS Update. Elisa informed the Board that the SOS donations are currently at $93,000 (goal is $120,000). The SOS campaign will be wrapping up so that the fundraising focus can shift to the auction. We are still looking at the donation metrics (percentage of families donating, amount per child, percentage by grade level) in order to inform future campaigns and Elisa noted that additional donations will continue to trickle in because of scheduled payments, but that the final amount collected will be well short of the total goal. The group agreed to consider a last push after the auction and towards the end of the school year and discussed potential ideas for increasing support (set up an ambassadorship, hold classroom competitions, and utilize room parents to increase awareness).
- Staff Gift Giving. The HSA collected $4,554 in donations from the Murch Community towards the staff holiday gifts and supplemented that amount with $1,500 from the HSA budget in order to provide gifts to all non-classroom staff. Discussion ensued regarding doing another staff collection at the end of the school year.
- Zengo Charity Ride. Mrs. Pines has organized a Zengo ride for the HSA and Elisa encouraged the Board to sign up.
- Talent Show. A talent show tryout was held on January 7 and a second tryout is scheduled for January 11. The talent show will be held on February 7 at 6pm in the auditorium, with a snow date of February 8 (same time/place). The HSA will organize pizza and ticket sales at the event.
- Wine Cellar Party. The Wine Cellar party benefitting the auction will be held on February 2 at 6pm. The “entry fee” for the party is a bottle of wine donated from curated lists maintained at several local liquor stores. The donated “wine cellar” is then put up for bid at the auction.
- Auction Update. The auction theme is Homecoming and it will be held at the school on March 16. Jess noted that the auction committee would like to promote the auction to the Murch community, alumni, and neighborhood and will be doing a call for donations in the coming weeks. They are looking for outreach help in procuring getaways (generally the hardest auction items to get). She also noted that sponsorships are down from last year, so the focus must be on bringing in money through the auction items. Elisa added that a dance floor is required to protect the wood floor in the auditorium; the one-time rental is $1,500, but it costs $2,500 to purchase the floor, so the HSA is opting to purchase it and use it for future events.
- Principal’s Report – Mr. Cebrzynski
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- Mr. C reported that a portion of the early childhood playground fence is no longer there; it is supposed to be replaced by a decorative wall made by an artist who created some of the other metalwork pieces at the school, but there have been some bureaucratic delays. The school is working through this to ensure the safety and security of the playground. He also noted that basketball season is starting and thanked the HSA for working towards a purchase of new uniforms for the boys’ and girls’ teams this year. Four games of the season will be played at Murch and he encouraged interested members to attend.
- He also stated that on January 15 the MPD Band will be playing at the school and the event will be covered by WAMU, DC’s NPR station, as well as other press coverage. Additional details regarding the performance are forthcoming.
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- Treasurer’s Report – Maurice Werner
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- Review of Monthly Statements. Maurice provided a summary of the monthly financials. He first reviewed the Balance Sheet, and highlighted the cash position compared to this time last year, which showed that we are down about $80,000 from last year. He noted that the majority of this shortfall is attributed to making one-time purchases associated with the new building and the SOS shortfall. He also recommended that general reserves be updated to reflect the true amount in reserves.
Maurice made a motion to have the general reserves amount be updated from $85,000 to $150,000 in order to reflect the true reserves value. Jess seconded the motion, there was no objection, and the motion passed by unanimous voice vote.
Next, Maurice reviewed the Income Statement. He pointed out that we have already raised about $4,000 in auction revenue through sponsorships and went through the HSA funds raised through other avenues (miscellaneous fundraising, checking account interest). He noted that the savings account APR is very low, but that the new CD for $30,000 has an APR of 2.44%. In terms of total income, the HSA has earned 40% towards our yearly budgeted amount, which is good since we are not yet halfway through the school year and still have the auction ahead. He reviewed the expenses to date and noted that we are just about breaking even at this point with a net operating income of negative $322.31, which shows spending is on track. - Yearly Financial Statements. Maurice reviewed the draft financial statements for the years ended June 30, 2018 and 2017. He noted that he didn’t receive any corrections from the Board and as such will be moving to finalize the draft. The review compared assets and income for the last two years which showed that the HSA overspent on the yearly budget by $32,178 in 2018 and by $27,890 in 2017. While we have the reserves to cover the overspending, he noted that the trend cannot continue if we are to maintain a yearly reserve of $150,000.
- Review of Monthly Statements. Maurice provided a summary of the monthly financials. He first reviewed the Balance Sheet, and highlighted the cash position compared to this time last year, which showed that we are down about $80,000 from last year. He noted that the majority of this shortfall is attributed to making one-time purchases associated with the new building and the SOS shortfall. He also recommended that general reserves be updated to reflect the true amount in reserves.
- Fundraising/Community Engagement Update – Jason Levin
- Giant A+ Rewards. Giant A+ Rewards enrollment is now up to 137 (compared to 66 at the start of the year). Jason reported that we are pacing to earn between $1350 and $1400 in Giant A+ rewards.
- Shopping at Whole Foods. The Fundraising committee organized a one-time “shop and sip” event at Whole Foods last year that earned about $1,200 for the HSA. Jason is in discussions to hold a similar event again this year.
- Restaurant Nights. There are several confirmed and tentative restaurant nights coming up. Potomac Pizza Night at the Friendship Heights location will be held on January 30, and Jason is in discussion to hold restaurant nights at Potbelly’s (week of March 25) and Tesoro (week of April 29). We also have a tentative restaurant night scheduled at Guapo’s for June 6.
- DC United Event. Jason is working with DC United representatives to coordinate a fall event incorporating an on-field experience (working on locking down a game date). The DC United representative asked if Murch had a school choir that could sing the national anthem and Mr. C recommended that Jason touch base with Dr. Branch.
- Old Business
- Tree Mulching (Julie Lobb). Julie reported that $887 was raised for the HSA at the Tree Mulching held on January 4.
- Murch Movie Matinee at the Avalon (Ashley Webb). The Murch Movie Matinee will be held at the Avalon Theater on January 12 with a 10am showing of “The Secret Life of Pets”. She noted that a $740 payment is due that day and will coordinate check distribution and pick-up with Paula.
- LSAT Report (Robin Goracke). Robin stated that the January 8 LSAT meeting was postponed because a DCPS budget process roundtable will be held within the next two weeks. They want to hold the next LSAT meeting after the roundtable so that the results of it can be incorporated into the LSAT budget process.
- New Business
- Murch Alumni Tour (Ashley Webb). Ashley reported that she received an email from a Murch alumni parent asking about the potential of school tours for Murch graduates and their families. Discussion ensued regarding the possibility of organizing a tour for a larger group of alumni and tying the tour to a fundraising effort. Elisa and Jess recommended that Ashley meet with parent to get more information, as well as reaching out to the auction chairs to see if they are interested in holding tours for alumni in conjunction with a ticket purchase.
Elisa and Jess adjourned the meeting at 8:09 PM.
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