3.7.23 Parent Meeting Minutes

 

Whitehall Music Parents Association

Parent Meeting 3/7/23

In Attendance: Sue Cascioli, Tiffany Holderman, Michelle Anthony, Deb Baer, Angel Leiby, Amy Pimental, Laura O’Donnell, Dana Menscher, Allison Maldonado, Christina Flannery, Brian Strauss, Tom and Karen Coughlin, Rachel Schmoyer

Spring Trip

This coming Sunday March 12th is the trip to Grammy Museum and Riverdance concert. Bus pick up is by the gym.

Equipment Update

The new podium was delivered and will be ready for next season! Still working on getting a trailer. Mr. Tanzos already picked one out and he is still waiting for that for go through the administration approval process. If it is ready in time for next season, we will not need to rent a Uhaul to transport equipment.

New Marching Band uniforms have been approved. They were more expensive than originally planned, but Dr Steckel said that’s okay and the district will pay the extra cost. Thank you, Dr. Steckel!

Director Transition

Mr. Tanzos said thank you to all of us parents and he is thankful for all of us and he will do all he can to make the transition smooth for the next director. We will miss him and we are so grateful to him for going above and beyond for each one of our children.

The job of the Middle School/High School band director has already been posted. As a Parent Association we would like to communicate with Dr. Mayes and other administrators and teachers participating in the hiring process to let them know what we expect in a new band director. After some discussion, we noted that our Whitehall Band is known to be classic, competitive, and courteous. We expect the new band director to maintain this reputation which has been well-earned by our students under the director’s leadership. We also expect the new director to prioritize clear communication and consistency.

Rachel will draft a short letter expressing our expectations. This letter will be distributed to WMPA board members for feedback. Once it is revised based on the feedback, the letter will be distributed to all the band parents for signatures for whoever would like to sign it. The letter will then be sent to Dr. Mayes, Dr. Steckel, Dr. Schiffert, the School Board, and the teachers who are likely to participate in the interviews. After the letter is sent, we will arrange a meeting with Dr. Mayes and perhaps some others to communicate our expectations in person as well.

We know the Whitehall administration desires our band students to be successful and to learn necessary life skills such as perseverance, setting and reaching goals, and hard work. We believe our classic, competitive, and courteous band is best suited to achieve these standards for our students and we desire this to continue.  

2023 Championships

Calvacade of Bands championships will be moved forward a week and it will be at high school stadiums rather than Hershey. Some of the Home Shows have been asked to move their date, but we are planning to keep ours the same date.

Banquet

The Banquet is the afternoon and evening of May 7th. Senior parents decided on blankets as gifts for the seniors. Island Expressions will be catering. Drinks and desserts will be listed on a sign up genius for parents to bring. Jacob is coming as DJ. Alison, Dana, and Amy will take care of decorations. Rachel will bring tablecloths. Several weeks before the banquet we will distribute reservation forms. Last year people arrived at 4, dinner at 5, dancing from 6-8.

Next meeting is Tuesday, April 4 at 7:00 in the band room.