Manhattan Beach Education Foundation
Board Minutes – February 4, 2003

Meeting Place: Mira Costa High School, Adult Living Center, Room 113

Attendees:

Directors (22/25): Geoff Bremer, Wendy Carson, Randy Dotemoto, Mike Dunitz, Ruth Graf-Urasaki, Chuck Kaminski, Craig Kline, Carolyn Leserman, Anne McLaughlin, LeRoy Nelson, John Oshiro, Pat Parker, Lisa Paulsen, Judy Reece, Greg Rosen, Carol Rowe, Julian Ryder, Freddi Segal-Gidan, Jeff Thaler, Ida VanderPoorte, Gary Wayland, Richard Wennekamp

MBUSD Representatives: Lynette Campbell, Dr. Sheralyn Smith

MBEF Staff: Sherry Kramer, Susan Patterson

Guests: Missy Bosch and Tana Hausch, Wells Fargo; Kevin Currey, Rita Kreig and Monica Kreindell, Model United Nations students; Delores Kreig, Model United Nations Advisor

Handouts: Agenda, January Minutes, Board List, Financial Reports, Mid-Year Budget and Staffing Adjustments (from School Board agenda packet), Budget item explanation sheet, District budget crisis proposals, MBEF Policy regarding directed donations, Membership Report.

Call to Order: 7:32 PM by President Carolyn Leserman.

1. Presentation of Donation by Wells Fargo: Sherry Kramer introduced Missy Bosch and Tana Hausch of Wells Fargo, who presented a directed donation of $2,500.00 to three students and an advisor representing the Model United Nations program.
    

2. Minutes: A motion to approve the January minutes was made by LeRoy Nelson, seconded by Geoff Bremer, and approved by voice vote.
    

3. Administrative Director’s Report: Susan Patterson reported that we have sold about 100 tickets to the Backlot Ball.
    

4. Financial Report: Treasurer Gary Wayland presented the financial reports. The results through the end of January were better than last year except for interest income. Individual donations were $209,582 versus $169,430. Ending fund balance was $1,653,832. Investment Officer Geoff Bremer reported that we moved $320,000 to Smith-Barney for our bond portfolio. The average maturity is just over 1 year. The average yield is 2.84%.
    

5. Budget Crisis Discussion: Carolyn summarized the status of the District’s budget. At the last School Board meeting, Carolyn advocated taking a coordinated, global approach to solving the problem, with all sites and organizations buying in. Many subsequent meetings were held with the PTAs to prioritize budget items. The next school board meeting is tomorrow night.
   
   The MBEF Executive Committee met last week to discuss how to deal with the District’s budget crisis. Gary Wayland handed out a paper with several proposals based on that discussion.
    

   1. Endowment Funds: Gary proposed that we suspend any transfers to the Endowment Fund for the year July 1, 2002—June 30, 2003 and add the approximately $120,000 projected addition to our Grants budget. A motion by Gary was seconded by Carol Rowe and unanimously approved.
       

   2. Special Joint PTA/MBEF Fundraising: Gary proposed that we strongly support the PTAs and ask that their representatives, a district representative, members of our Grants Committee, and a representative of our Executive Committee meet to (a) coordinate the fundraising effort to raise the most dollars at the least cost to MBEF’s ongoing membership drive, (b) to determine how those directed donations will be forwarded to the District, and (c) look to future years to explore methods by which PTAs and MBEF can work together to expand the directed donation program. A motion to adopt this proposal was made by Gary and seconded by Randy Dotemoto. John Oshiro proposed setting and tracking against specific goals. Several people were concerned that the issue is already losing a sense of urgency. Lynette Campbell felt that the list will not be approved tomorrow because the high school was disproportionately hit by budget reductions. The role of MBEF is to help facilitate the distribution of directed donations and to encourage uniformity between the elementary schools and across the district. John Oshiro suggested the IMBC model of having donations in exchange for goods or services. John suggested that MBEF receive a portion of the directed donations. MBEF would deduct its administrative overhead costs. The motion was unanimously approved.
       

   3. Special Fundraising Committee: Jim Norvell, a fund-raising professional, has volunteered to convene a special committee to develop new fundraising policies and programs for MBEF. A motion to form such a committee by Gary was seconded by Pat Parker and approved. Greg Rosen would be happy to help. This is a long-term project, but our budget issues are probably long-term.
       

   4. Grants: Copies of our current directed grants policy were distributed. On behalf of the Executive Committee, Gary asked the Grants Committee to meet and report back at our next scheduled meeting with suggestions as to how we might change our grant policies, grant timing, and application process.
       

   5. Public Relations: Gary proposed that we consider our upcoming 20th anniversary as the perfect opportunity to increase the City’s understanding of MBEF instead of just throwing a big party. Gary proposed that we form a PR Committee composed of experts in this area. Julian is an outstanding advertising/marketing person, but that is not the same as PR. It was proposed that we ask principals, George Mihlsten, anyone who has PR contacts for leads. Pat Parker, Sherry Kramer and Craig Kline volunteered to serve on a committee to make some calls to try to find good people.
       

6. Business Education Partnership Report: Sherry Kramer is on hold until budget issues are resolved.
    

7. Assistant Superintendent’s Report: Dr. Sheralyn Smith reported that budget issues are taking a lot of time for Principals and Administrators. She mentioned a new 9th grade class in earth science. Someone asked if there is any way to encourage older, less enthusiastic teachers to leave instead of the younger teachers who will be affected by the budget cuts. The short answer was, “No.”
    

8. MBUSD Board of Trustee’s Report: Lynette Campbell provided a handout of the latest budget reduction proposal from the School Board agenda packet plus a sheet of explanations. She is concerned that the School Board has not yet had an opportunity to discuss the philosophy and rationale for approaching and deciding budget reductions. The School Board needs to approve a Parcel tax measure by March 5 for the June special election. There will be organized opposition to a parcel tax. It was suggested that the District needs a PR person to address issues that raise concerns, such as the new district office. It was suggested that we include links to the MBMS PTA budget page from District and MBEF web sites. There were some concerns about the recent letter to the community from the Superintendent.
    

9. Fundraising Reports:

   1. Golf Tournament: Julian Ryder does not have a date yet.
       

   2. Membership: Richard Wennekamp handed out a Membership Report as of January 30. Participation were up by 47%. Dollars were up by 10%. Dollars per donor were down. The budget crisis stalled our membership drive in January. We received 62 donations per week in December, compared to 31 in early January and 17 in late January. There was an even more dramatic drop off in Super Circle donations. The Membership Committee proposes to de-emphasize the end date (Feb 28) and participation bonus. Instead, they plan to print and distribute more contribution envelopes and stickers with campaign phrases like “Now more than ever” and “Help fill the gap.” MBMS is going to stop sending home packets after this week. Next year, Richard would like to replace the “membership drive” concept by “fundraising”. The classroom bonus has been our most effective incentive at the elementary schools at this time of the year, but it does not seem appropriate to focus on it this year. It was suggested that we encourage pledges (4 payments per year). Only four people made pledges last year, so this should not pose an administrative burden. John Oshiro suggested a “Non Event”.
      
      Lynette Campbell thinks we do not usually reach most high school parents. We have an opportunity to get their attention this year by alerting them to the consequences of the proposed budget cuts. Pat Parker offered to write a letter to MCHS parents if the Membership Committee is willing to pay to mail it to MCHS parents. Greg Rosen thinks we need to tell people that MBEF is raising money to close the gap. Gary Wayland thinks the future of MBEF is directed donations and that we need to give parents an opportunity to donate money where they think it is most important. The consensus was that the current membership drive is effectively dead. Anne McLaughlin said that the PTA/MBEF budget crisis task force has a goal to establish priorities and then communicate the need to the community. New teachers are not interested in the classroom bonus this year, since they are not sure they will be here next year. Experienced teachers are still interested.
      
      It was pointed out that the Backlot Ball will help make up for the shortfall in membership this year. Richard was concerned about the emphasis on Grad Night in the pre-sale letter. Pat Parker indicated that we are negotiating to decrease the amount allocated to Grad Night. Lynette Campbell pointed out that many high school students live outside of Manhattan Beach, and their families are typically not able to donate at same level as Manhattan Beach residents. Several high school booster clubs have proposed merging their fundraising efforts with MBEF – a variant of the United Way concept. Richard concluded that our theme for rest of the membership campaign would be “Now more than ever.”
       

   3. Wine Auction: Jeff Thaler had no report.
       

   4. Backlot Ball. Pat Parker mentioned that the pre-sale letter is out. Invitations will go out later this month. John Oshiro mentioned that the pre-sale letter was missing an opportunity for people to make a donation if they could not attend the event.
       

   5. Oktoberfest: Pat Parker reported that the date is October 11.
       

10. Grants Committee Report: Anne McLaughlin had no report.
     

11. Old Business: None.
     

12. New Business: Richard Wennekamp requested nominations for officers via email. Gary Wayland announced that the groundbreaking for new track would be held on February 17. The track will be fenced off until the end of May. There will be no home track meets this year. Anne McLaughlin mentioned pending legislation to increase flexibility in class size reduction. She encouraged everyone to support this legislation.
     

13. Meeting Adjourned: 9:30 PM.
     

14. Next Meeting: Tuesday, March 4, 2003, 7:30 PM at Mira Costa High School, Family Living Center, Room 113.

Respectfully submitted by LeRoy Nelson on February 28, 2003
Section 5b expanded to include the full text of the proposal.
Minutes approved as corrected March 4, 2003.