An email has been sent out to members who attended Monday’s booster meeting. These changes address transparency, fix minor punctual errors, amend our process of becoming an “active member” as well as modify the responsibilities of members of the executive committee. 

All changes made are written in blue.

All changes listed are agreed upon by the executive committee. Disputes regarding changes in  wording, as well as content, were voted on and approved by a majority vote exclusively at executive meetings with all members present. 

These changes are being made to create the best possible music program for the creative students at Madison. I can say with 100% certainty that this is the primary goal of the executive committee and the booster program as a whole. It is critically important that we make these difficult, and sometimes laborious, changes to our process to ensure our booster program is modern, secure, and functional.

It was mentioned at Monday’s meeting that many other booster organizations in the district do not adhere to such strict practices and expectations; this is a true statement. It has never been the music boosters style to be followers: 

A few years back Joel Brown effectively bridged a lapse in communication with the “Team App”. This app is now widely used throughout the building by multiple organizations, propelling the school into an era of communication based around the phone we all have in our pocket.

During 2020’s bandcamp, when organizations were still dealing with how to handle COVID, Shelley Fuge led the executive committee in creating systems and practices that would keep our students safe. These practices were decided upon with no previous model in the area to base ourselves off of and many of those practices ended up being adopted by other organizations in the building. Zero outbreaks have been traced back to the band as of writing this email (knock on wood!).

Joe Solomito (with the assistance of Tina Amatulli!), whom we are sad to see part ways from the executive committee, showed fellow booster programs the level of care and dedication needed for undeniable profit margins in a concession stand; very few other organizations come close to that amount of income from a single source. If you hang out around the concession stand at basketball games you’ve probably heard students and parents from other schools talking about “Oh this is THAT concession stand, the good one”. 

We are one of only a handful of booster organizations in the area who consistently renew and maintain their tax exempt non-profit status, ensuring we can look to as many mediums as possible when finding fundraising ideas for our program. These opportunities are completely untouched by organizations without tax exempt status.

The music boosters have, and will continue to, define the standard. We are constantly modifying the metastrategy of how a successful booster organization functions at Madison high school. I have the utmost faith in you as a general membership and our executive committee to continue upholding this standard. 

With your continued support the band and choir will maintain its standard of excellence as well. The boosters have morphed the covid pandemic’s effect on the band and choir from a metaphorical broken leg to a bruised knee. With a healthy and dedicated general membership we will navigate the tail end of the pandemic and set our sails towards recovery. 

General booster members with currently active status (as defined by the membership attainment process listed in the un-amended bylaws) will be able to participate in voting on approval for the changes made to the bylaws at an upcoming general booster meeting. 

Thanks for taking the time to read; if you have questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to email me, Shelley Fuge, or Andrea Sheff and we will address them to the best of our ability.

Have a relaxing Wednesday,- Jordan Terbrueggen