ECA Stipend Cuts

As you have probably heard by now, due to funding problems throughout MCCSC, all ECA (extracurricular activities) stipends have been cut for the coming year. For the band program, this has meant a loss of about $5500 each for Ms. Stockhouse and Mr. Wilson. These stipends are for all the non-classroom hours they put in on behalf of ALL the BHSN bands, including many, many hours for Marching Band. (Doesn't seem like much for all they do, does it!?) All expenses other than these stipends are covered by student fees and fund raising by the Band Boosters, not by the school.

On June 7, the Band Booster officers, parents, and a few students met in the band room to discuss recent developments. The consensus was to proceed with planning the marching band season (etc.) and to raise the extra money needed for the stipends, for one year, as a stopgap measure. Unfortunately, we discovered that, for legal reasons, the Boosters cannot pay the stipends directly. The money would need to be funneled through the MCCSC Foundation.

As reported in the Herald-Times, the Foundation has decided that the only fair thing to do is to run an "All for All" campaign to raise the money needed to fund all of the extracurricular stipends throughout MCCSC at once (everything from sports to Science Olympiad). The goal is to collect $750,000 by Aug. 1, via donations from parents, community members, and businesses. They have a great website at www.give4ECAs.org where you can find more information and options for donating!

Band Family Phone-a-thon

On July 1, a group of hard working band boosters came together and made a difference. Over the course of 2.5 hours, they reached out to current, future and alumni band families to raise money to replace 2010-11 ECA stipends and ended the evening with an impressive $7,000+ in firm pledges. Another 20 families made commitments with amounts still to be determined. When the numbers are totaled it's conceivable our effort could top $8,000 in contributions, or even higher.

Our thanks to:

• Karen Wyle, new to Band Boosters herself as a Color Guard mom, who called incoming band families
• Barb Hatton, who called those in twin sons Wyatt and Justin's incoming junior class
• Vicki Polanski, our new Band Boosters president, who called sophomore son David's classmate families
• Rosemarie McGerr, mother to Patrick who called fellow incoming senior families
• Esther Smail, now alumni mom to son Evan, who contacted outgoing senior families
• Wendy Lumsdaine, mom to percussion alumnus Ben, who contacted families from Ben's class of 2009
• Janis Stockhouse, director and phone-a-thon hostess, who dusted off her old directories and reached out to many band families from years past

The night did not have enough hours to get through the directory so to those families we missed, our apologies but with continued encouragement to contribute to this important effort. Feel free to contact any of us for information. And to those of you who pledged your support, a tremendous thank-you.

The campaign to raise $750,000 across the MCCSC ECA spectrum continues through this month. Contributions can be made directly through the Foundation's "All for All" website, www.GIVE4ECAS.org, or by mail to FMCCS, 315 North Dr., Bloomington, IN 47401.

Susie Graham
Band Boosters Vice President

4th of July Parade

The Bloomington 4th of July Parade featured an MCCSC Foundation parade entry with the theme "Strut Your Stuff to Save our ECA's." This entry included a combined North-South high school marching band and a walking unit of many students, parents, teachers, and coaches. Thanks to everyone who participated, showing their support for ECAs!!