Friends of CVU

Oct 2 Minutes

Attendees:

Diane Vecchio	Barb Johnson	Dennis Bedard
Char VanSleet	Marcy Fox	Debra McConnell
Marcy Kass	Melinda Petter	Amy Berger
Diane M Moore	Suzanne Kneller	Margie Sisco
Sharon Weaver	Jeanne Ransome	Kay Gault
Elizabeth Skarie	Susan Legendre	Cliff Bibeau
Kim Kilmartin	Patty Knowlden	Mary Pellegrino
Nancy DeSimone	Joann Frymire	Karen Whitby

Dennis introduced himself and gave a brief overview of the organization.

Karen talked about College Admission night – there is a need for a chair and a co-chair for that event.

Review of Freshman Parent Night – parents who were there thought that the student speakers were the best part of the event.

Review of Spirit Day – There was no girls soccer game this year. This caused turnout to be significantly down. There was some discussion about how to broaden the scope of this event. The Vermont Principals Association sets the schedule for the soccer games; Kevin Reill sets the date for Spirit Day.

Ideas were:

· More drama and music related activities – an outdoor stage for student bands and singers was suggested.

· Consider making the date for the event later in the season to give more time for planning.

· Start planning in the Spring of the prior year.

· Get ideas from other schools.

· Contact student council for more student involvement.

· Increase advertising.

· Jeopardy/scholar’s bowl.

· Art displays, drawings, other art projects.

General discussion about committees and how much of the planning for specific events should be taking place at our regular monthly meetings. We talked about inviting speakers to come to meetings and talk about topics of interest. It was felt that we wouldn’t want to do this every month because some of the event planning does need to be done at the monthly meetings. Most of the planning for the events is done by the Chair and Co Chair of each committee.

Ideas for speakers:

• Someone (the architect?) to talk about the building project and specifically how it will affect the current students during the school day.
• How are students with varying needs being served by the school – someone from guidance perhaps.

There was confirmation that the organization really needs a separate fiduciary committee that meets regularly.

Marcy Kass mentioned that the school logo seems out of date and not very aesthetically pleasing. This led to a discussion about what the school logo actually is and we realized that there are several different ones that are used. We also discussed the Crusader theme and its implications and concerns that have been raised about that in the past. Debra McConnell agreed to draft a letter to present to the next meeting. The purpose of the letter would be to raise the question with the school administration about the school logo – is there an official logo, can it be updated?

A discussion of the open committee chair positions took place and people were encouraged to sign up for committees. Dennis also emphasized that the organization does not have a Co-Chair and that it is a position that really needs to be filled.

Someone asked whether this organization has ever considered the possibility of organizing an all night party for prom night or graduation night. This has been considered in the past – the major hurdles are the amount of commitment that is required both in time and money, and that the students must want to attend such an event.

Mary agreed to make more copies of the event lists.

Joann(our treasurer) mentioned that if anyone needs to give money to her they should make sure that her name goes on the envelope that is placed in the mailbox.