Kelly Hickey, Dawn Miklavcic, Angela Murphy, Ric Towner, Karen O’Connell, Heidi Johnson, Mike Kennedy, Rick Canter, Jason McKee, Mark Evans, Kim Fain, Colleen Grogan, Jane Kennedy, Paula Hanning, Penny Sauer. Each board member introduced themselves.

Secretary’s Report:

No changes were reported to the June minutes.

President’s Report:

Ric Towner introduced new board members Mark Evans, treasurer; Dawn Miklavcic, membership chair; Karen O’Connell, VP of MS Orchestra. Open position available for fundraising director, however, Alison Baty will continue to assist if needed. Ric will contact Rick Kennedy to assist fundraising. Jason McKee cited a good candidate (Kimberly Kidd) for the VP of HS Chorus position, whom he will contact.

The board authorized purchase of Baldwin grand piano for PAC, pending confirmation of condition and value by Jason McKee. Up to $100 will be spent for piano technician Lou Proske to evaluate the piano. Motion to accept by Penny Sauer and Colleen Grogan.

Ric Towner encouraged private lessons and FMPA scholarships for private lessons to improve the music programs. Students seeking scholarships should contact their music teachers. There are no new scholarship applications to date. The form can be found on the FMPA website. Ric would like a music education policy form for the next meeting.

Ric read a kind thank-you note from Gabby Jones for her FMPA scholarship.

Staff and Board Reports:

Rick Canter & Kim Fain (Dept. Issues and HS Band) - Zack Stump and Andy Hartman won All-State awards in the Ohio Music Contest.

The Marching Band, with 106 marchers, is off to a phenomenal start. Rick reports new features in this year’s show that are fun! Band Camp went very well. He thanked all parents who chaperoned, transported instruments, or did a multitude of other jobs to make the process even better.

T-shirts for Marching Band can still be purchased. Due to their popularity, they sold out very quickly this year. If you are interested, please email to Rick your size and I will have another made for you.

Rick’s summer project this year was to start his own Music Publishing Company, where his own compositions, arrangements, as well as my beginning band teaching tool, "Scale and Rhythm Chunks" will be published. Six area schools used "Scale and Rhythm Chunks" last year and will be purchasing student and director books this year. Along with these six schools, some other schools in Ohio, Indiana, New York and Texas will be using this teaching tool this year. Books will be available at Mannerinos Sheet Music next week.

Mike Kennedy & Penny Sauer (MS Band) - Nothing to report.

Heidi Johnson, Karen O’Connell (MS Orchestra), Jane Elliott & Jenny Towner (HS Orchestra)

Heidi is forming a Latin performance ensemble with the MS and HS orchestras. They will have several salsa performances. Every student in the orchestra will play percussion on one of the tunes at the concerts in October.

1) Communication & Technology: If you check the Finneytown web site, you'll find a staff blogs for Rick, Heidi, and I under the Parent/Student links menu. On the blog I've created a blog post with a link to a Google Calendar I've created for the choirs that anyone can access. I'll be sharing this information with students and parents at the beginning of the school year. If you click on an event, you'll find any pertinent information regarding that event. In addition, I'm hoping to have an RSS feed set up so that individuals can subscribe to the blog or to the calendar. Secondly, I'm hoping to create a choir web site for posting practice files and other information.

2) MS Polo Shirts: I will meet with Colleen and Brenda Dennis to develop the best possible course of action for the sale of new and/or used polo shirts.

3) All-State Choir 2009: Tim Ovia has been selected to represent Finneytown in the 2009 OMEA All-State Choir. We're very proud of both Tim and Danielle Chatman for auditioning for this year's group. The group will perform at the OMEA conference in Columbus, which is being held from January 15-17.

4) Goals for 2008-2009 include: Making the students more visible in the community, especially singing the national anthem at home athletic events, encouraging more students to perform special music, particularly in small ensembles, finding ways to get more students to take private voice lessons. The first step will be to invite a teacher to do a master class with interested students after school. Connecting and performing with other high school choirs in the region. Working on a large work that would feature our instrumental students with the choruses. Continuing to build a tradition of excellence and to generate new ideas.

5) May Festival Chorus/MFYC: I am considering auditioning for the May Festival Chorus and would be willing to coach any parent or staff member interested in joining. I will also be encouraging individual students to audition for the May Festival Youth Chorus in September.

6) Concert Choir: The freshman chorus and concert choir have been combined to better fit the educational needs of and to increase musical opportunities for our students. Uniforms will be the same as last year's concert choir.

7) HS Chorus VP: I have been in contact with Kimberly Kidd, Danielle Chatman's mother, about serving as the HS Chorus Vice-President. I'm optimistic that she'll be joining us in September.

8) We are looking at used Baldwin grand piano for the PAC. I will contact piano technician Lou Proske to evaluate the piano.

Marya Rusinak (Elementary School Music) - Not present.

Steve Jones (Elementary School Music) – Reporting for Steve Jones, Rick Canter reported that Voices of Whitaker will meet after school on Wednesdays from 3:10 p.m. to 4 p.m. There will be no Whitaker Ensemble as he can only direct one choir at this time. Percussion practice on Mondays from 3:10 p.m. to 3:50 p.m.

Dawn Miklavcic (Membership) – Received a membership check from Beth Mizelle. Brochures were distributed at Parent Night for Band Camp. Dawn will have a membership table at the first home football game and at the MS & HS open house. Dawn will make more copies of the brochure to have for the upcoming events.

Kelley Hickey (Newsletter) – Newsletter completed and printed Thursday. She was asking for volunteers to help on Saturday morning. She was going to also get in contact with past advertisers to see if they wanted to participate again this year.

Brenda Dennis & Paula Hanning (Uniforms) – There are 19 marching band members to be sized for uniforms. There is a shortage of smaller jackets. In addition, new raincoats must be ordered. Uniforms will not be worn at the first game, but at the second game. We have 5 people who volunteered to help with sewing plus the current helpers.

(Fundraising) – Volunteers are being sought.

Treasurer’s Report:

Motion to accept Brian Lee’s 2007-2008 financial report by Colleen Grogan and Paula Hanning.

Motion to accept Mark Evan’s report for August 2008. Motion to accept by Kelly Hickey and Dawn Miklavcic.

Old Business: Board continues to seek positions for director of fundraising and VP of HS chorus.

Heidi Johnson and Rick Canter made a motion to create a new VP Elementary board position for Angela Murphy.

Penny Sauer is drafting a FMPA Board Positions paper outlining board responsibilities. Penny E-mailed past and current board members and seeks their responses on the roles of these positions. Final copy will be finalized for the September meeting.

Next FMPA meeting will be at 7 p.m., Monday, Sept. 8, at HS Media Center.

Motion made by Colleen, seconded by Dawn, to adjourn the meeting.

Respectfully submitted,

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