Board of Directors

JOHN MUIR HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Minutes of Meeting of the Board of Directors
Held March 1, 2008

A regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the John Muir High School Alumni Association was held on Saturday, March 1, 2008, at 10:00 a.m., on the campus of John Muir High School.

1. Introductions. Mark Levy, President of the Association, chaired the meeting. All those in attendance, a list of whom is attached to these minutes, introduced themselves.

2. Approval of Minutes. Copies of the minutes of the meeting held February 2, 2008, which had been distributed by e-mail and mail, were made available to all of those in attendance. Neal Brockmeyer mentioned corrections that had been brought to his attention relating to the alumni softball game organized by the boys baseball coach, Michael Bendy, and a typo. Upon motion duly made, seconded and unanimously carried, the minutes were approved with these corrections.

3. Report on JMHS. Sheryl Orange reported on a number of matters. She mentioned the four small learning academies that were planned as part of the reinvention, and that the period for applications had closed and interviews were beginning. She passed out a flyer on three community forums dealing with the reinvention, the first to be held on March 26, 2008, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the Muir auditorium, and asked for some assistance from alumni. Finally, she said that there would be no summer school due to construction on campus.

4. Organizational Matters.

a. Casino Night. Doug Kosobayashi reported that letters had been mailed to alumni about Casino Night. Gift certificates had been obtained from restaurants, Santa Anita Racetrack and Pasadena Playhouse, and the directors were urged to solicit additional gift certificates to award that evening. A vendor list was also obtained from Muir for solicitation, and it was suggested that the sponsors be recognized on the Association’s webpage. All those present were urged to sell tickets to make the event successful.

b. Publicity Committee/Director Election. There was a discussion about publicity, which in Karen’s absence had been handled by Jim Henderson, Doug Kosobayashi and David Rutherford. Jill Hawkins was proposed as co-chair of the committee with Karen Hubbard-Luster, and she was so appointed. It was also suggested that Jill be elected as a director of the Association, and upon motion duly made, seconded and unanimously carried, Jill Hawkins was elected as a director of the Association and the exact number of directors was set at 29.

c. Quarterly Open Forums. It had been suggested that the Association sponsor forums on a quarterly basis to inform alumni and other interested persons about what is going on at Muir. This led to a discussion of the purpose of the Association, and it was the feeling that what was needed at present was community awareness that would be furthered by the three forums scheduled by John Muir and the PUSD. Perhaps something might be done at the end of the school year for alumni.

5. Projects.

a. Marquee. The dedication of the marquee had been scheduled to occur at the Open House in April. Doug Kosobayashi and Brian Russell will arrange for a plaque recognizing the major donors. There was a discussion of coordinating this with the Tournament of Roses Foundation and working with the PUSD on the installation.

b. Student Home Receptions. The student home receptions had to be deferred, and Carina Jacob will see about organizing these early next year.

c. Support of Other Activities. There was a discussion of structuring a process for financial support of activities. It was pointed out that the emphasis had been on raising funds for the marquee, and that other activities had been the subject of contributions on somewhat of an ad hoc basis. Neal Brockmeyer reminded the directors of the allocation process that had been originally envisaged, and said that he would report at the next meeting about how this might be organized. It was suggested that these smaller contributions be balanced with larger projects, such as the auditorium, some of which might require sizeable grants from others. Neal Brockmeyer, Jill Hawkins, Mark Levy and Ed Moses agreed to participate in this process.

It was proposed that the Association partner with student groups or programs, on a matching fund or similar basis, so that the students and possibly their parents would be encouraged to get more involved. Community service was also suggested as a condition to some contributions. David Rutherford reported on a meeting with the journalism students that produce the Blazer. He said that they have a need for a digital camera, layout software, a digital video camera and a digital video recorder. The thought was expressed about buying an ongoing ad in the Blazer to fund some of these needs. David Rutherford also mentioned that the alumni softball game had raised $900 for the boys baseball program. It was suggested that an additional contribution from the Association be considered. David said that he would make a proposal about the journalism students and boys baseball program at the next meeting.

6. Committee Reports.

The next item of business was a series of reports from the standing committees.

a. Membership. David Rutherford reported that a letter was being prepared for a membership and renewal solicitation. Doug Kosobayashi added that Brian Russell had purchased paper weights to be given to those who had become lifetime members.

b. Finance. Doug Kosobayashi reported that the Day at the Races netted about $1,700. He added that as of February 27, 2008, the balance in the Association's Wells Fargo operating account was $$ , the IndyMac special account had a balance of $$ and the Pay Pal account had a balance of $$ . Major expenses for January were $336.01 for the banner (a mock up of the banner was displayed by Mark Levy), $500 each for the boys and girls basketball programs, $671.15 for printing and advertising for Casino Night, $351.81 for paper weights for life members and $962.50 for the balance owed for the Day at the Races. Deposits for January in the operating account amounted to $$ , which included proceeds from the Day and the Races and $ from the alumni softball game. The sum of $$ was deposited in the IndyMac special account for the Museum, including $$ from the Class of ’52. He said the Nettie Piggee scholarship fund had a credit of $$ and the John Zweers scholarship fund had a credit of $$ . Finally, a total of 460 members were listed in the Association’s database, including 10 life members.

c. Communications. Jim Henderson said that there had been 3,628 visitors to the Association’s website, 819 of whom were new. He had checked the database provided by Harris Connect from the directory, and confirmed that it was searchable by segment and can be used to produce mailing labels. He estimated that about 7,000 good addresses were included in the database.

d. Fundraising. Chuck Malouf introduced Tamara Baghdassarian, a member of the Class of 2005 and one of Chuck’s former students. As a school project, she was planning a concert next May to benefit the arts at Muir that would include performances by graduates. She planned to use alumni contributions of printing, lighting, and other needs for the concert. Sam Estrada, who had organized concerts at Muir, agreed to work with Tamara. There appeared to be sufficient interest such that she was asked to make a proposal for co-sponsorship by the Association.

Ed Moses suggested that the website be used to sell Muir items, including yearbooks, dvds of reunion programs, etc. He agreed to look into this possibility.

e. Hall of Fame. Lewis Peters reminded the directors that the deadline for nominations to the Hall of Fame was March 14^th, and said that seven nominations had been received. The induction would be made at the Open House in April.

f. Historical Museum. Loren Shirar commented on the contribution of $1,300 from the Class of ’52 for the Museum. He indicated that he had been filling the gaps in the displays. He found that some of the pages/pictures in the yearbooks in the collection had been cut out. During the month, the Museum had 15 visitors, including students, parents and others. There was a discussion about master keys, and a separate key for the Museum would be explored. It was suggested that a plaque be placed at the Museum recognizing the past contributions that had been made.

7. Next Meeting. The next meeting will take place on Saturday, April 5, 2008, at 10:00 a.m., preceded by an Executive Committee meeting at 9:30 a.m.

8. Adjournment. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at approximately 12:05 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Mark Levy, President

Exhibit A
Attendance
(3/1/08)

Directors	Committee Members and Guests
Brockmeyer, Neal	Baghdassarian, Tamara
Henderson, Jim	Estrada, Sam Jr.
Estrada, Sam	Hawkins, Jill
Jacob, Carina	Orange, Sheryl
Kosobayashi, Doug	Sheffield, Pamela
Levy, Mark
Malouf, Chuck
Moses, Ed
Peters, Lewis
Rutherford, David
Shirar, Loren
Tharp, Larry