newsletter
DECEMBER 17, 2023

Weekly Newsletter - December 17, 2023

Finals week is here!  Congratulations to everyone for getting this far.  Stay focused and finish up strong.  4 more days to a well-deserved break.

I just have a couple of things I need everyone to stay on top of as we go into the break - Jazz Festival Sponsorships and the impending Charms Retirement.  Read more on that below.

 

What's in this newsletter?

Here's what I have for you all this week:

 

This week in band...

Wednesday 12/20

Thursday 12/21


Now on to the details...

 

Jazz Festival Sponsorships

Jazz Festival planning has already begun. Jazz Festival is an annual event hosted by Eldorado High School and UNM, and involves dozens of jazz bands from all over the city and state.  As such, it takes a ton of planning, volunteers, and financial resources to pull it off.  One of the main ways we raise money for this event is through sponsorships.  Note that this is different than our full-seasons sponsors that we get over the summer - this is sponsorship of this specific event.

All the details, including a sponsorship letter that can be provided to potential businesses and a form they can use to be a sponsor, are available below (and always on the Jazz Festival site):

2024 Jazz Festival Sponsorship Letter 

2024 Jazz Festival Sponsorship Form 

What do we need from you all?  We need you to go to your dentists, orthodontists, auto shops, favorite restaurants, family and friend owned businesses, etc. and ask them if they would be willing to sponsor this event.  With students and family members from 40+ schools attending over 3 days, its a ton of great exposure.  Provide them the letter and form, which gives them all the information they need to support this great community event.  

The deadline to sponsor this event is Jan 26, 2024.

Don't have a business, but still want to donate?  You can provide a general donation via the same form.

If you have any questions, you can ask our Jazz Festival chairs, Beth and Liz, at jazzfestival@eldorado.band.  THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!


Charms Retirement

You should have received an email this week outlining what is happening with respect to the retirement of Charms, our program management software.

The short version is, we are switching to a new system - CutTime - in January.  This first phase will only be for communication, but because of the more robust contact management system, and the fact that text messages will become the primary method of communication, we need to clean up our contact information data.

I need every band family to fill out the Contact Information Form as soon as possible to ensure that your contact information is correct and you wont have any delays in communication from us come January.

Once I have updated contact information from most of the families, I will send out updated instructions on how to get connected.

Note - this change will not affect fees this school year.  You will continue to pay your fees in the band store for the rest of this school year.

For more details on this change, and to keep on top of everything related to this migration, see the Charms Retirement page.


Student Accounts

Please make sure you are staying on top of your student accounts.  A couple of reminders regarding accounts and fees:

NOTE: we have a large number of accounts slated to attend spring trip that have not paid anything toward their spring trip balance.  Please make sure you start paying that down, as we need those funds to start paying for reserving the various elements of the trip.


EHS Band Alumni

The boosters are undertaking an initiative to keep band alumni and parents engaged with the program.  This afternoon, we sent out our first email to our new alumni email list.  The initial group of people that received this email were emails we had on file from the 2022 and 2023 graduation years - it would be impossible to gather email addresses for every year this program has been around...  That email simply asks people to spread the word by forwarding that message to known alumni and ex-band parents and following the new alumni Facebook page.

And that is what I need from all of you as well.  If you are an EHS band alumni, or know someone who is, let them know about this effort.  We have an alumni page on our website now that allows individuals to join our email list.  It also has the link to our Facebook page.  

We plan to use this to increase engagement through communicating concerts and performance schedules, upcoming fundraisers and sponsorship opportunities, and other important EHS band events.  Don't worry - we wont spam this list...  Email frequency will average about 1 per month.

Thanks in advance for your help in growing this alumni community.

Alumni page: https://www.eldorado.band/alumni 


Volunteer Opportunities

No current volunteer opportunities available.

 

Have a great week!

Go Eagles!

JD

 

AND a word from Mr. Sayre...

Hello Eagle Band Community!

Congrats on a great December Concert Series!  This week is a pretty easy one.  We will be organizing and cleaning the band room in preparation for the spring semester.  Jazz bands will be putting the final touches on the Jazz music library.  


Zero Hour will be a study hall this week.  We will not be taking attendance for zero hour. We want to make sure you are in a position to pass all your classes this semester.  Please take this time to make sure you are taking care of your grade so you are eligible for the trip.   


Here is the plan for the week. 


Happy Break and Happy Holidays!


GO EAGLES!

Mr. Sayre