newsletter
August 18, 2024

Weekly Newsletter - AUGUST 18, 2024

Sent 8/18/2024, 7:22 PM.

First things first - a HUGE THANKS to all that donated to our fundraising campaigns.  What an amazing community we are all a part of.  We had 15 local businesses partner with us and over 400 individual donors to our Golden Boosters to help us raise $50,000! The impact of this effort (outlined in more detail below) is absolutely huge to our band families this year.

It is still August, so much of what was in the newsletter last week remains true this week - especially around Spring Trip commitment and Activity Fees.  Please take action on those items ASAP if you have not yet already.  But there are also some new items, so please read thoroughly.

Here we go...

What's in this newsletter?

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

• Parental Reminders - gentle reminder to sign your handbook acknowledgement, pay activity fees, and other small notes for parents

• Spring Trip Commitment - Spring trip commitment is open.  You need to register and pay the $250 non-refundable commitment fee by 9/15

• Fundraising Updates - a number of upcoming fundraisers to get ready for, and update on our fundraising campaigns

• Student Accounts - performance fees and direct charges will be added to all student accounts this week

• Volunteer Opportunities - plenty of volunteer opportunities are open right now - take a look and consider grabbing a slot

• And a word from Mr. Sayre - always make time to read through this section

This week in band...

Monday 8/19

• Woodwind/Brass Sectionals - 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Tuesday 8/20

• Tuesday Rehearsal - 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Wednesday 8/21

• Color Guard Sectional - 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Thursday 8/22

• Percussion Sectionals - 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Saturday 8/24

• March-A-Thon - 8:00 AM Report Time - See the March-A-Thon page for event details

• Slice Parlor Restaurant Night - 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM - See details and flyer at Restaurant Nights page

Now on to the details...

Parental Reminders

I have a few small reminders and notes for all the band parents - please take care of these items before the season gets crazy:

• If you have not yet done so, please sign the parent handbook acknowledgement form.  This form is available in your students Cut Time page (using the magic link sent from Cut Time) - scroll down to about the middle of the page to find the link.

• Speaking of Cut Time, I know some students' phones may have controls on them that do not allow messages from unknown numbers.  As it is important for them to receive Cut Time alerts as well, it is advised to allow our Cut Time phone number on their devices.  The phone number you can use is (844) 385-8463.

• If you have completed your Unsupervised Clearance process with APS, please do not forget to scan and email the clearance form they provide you to our VP, Robby Claspell at vicepresident@eldorado.band.  We want to keep track of all of our volunteers cleared for unsupervised access.

• Also, if you have not yet done so, please pay your $80 activity fee as soon as possible so we can fully fund the activity fund for our directors.  This fund is required by APS and pays for buses and other critical class elements, so it needs to be fully funded.  You can pay this here: https://eldorado-band-course-fee.cheddarup.com

Spring Trip Commitment

Spring trip commitment season is open.  If you plan to attend spring trip, please pay the $250 non-refundable commitment fee at the link below by 9/15.

Some things to remember regarding spring trip...

• The trip is optional

• We are going to Washington, D.C. on April 15-19.  The total cost is $1200.

• ALL fees, including direct charges, performance fees, and spring trip costs must be paid by 3/6/2025.

• The $250 commitment fee goes toward the $1200.  Once you have committed to going on the trip, the remaining balance will be added to your student's account in Cut Time.

Spring Trip Commitment Link: https://ehsband-spring-trip-registration.cheddarup.com 

All the details are on the Spring Trip 2025 page.  If you have any specific spring trip questions, you can contact our trip coordinator JP at springtrip@eldorado.band.

Fundraising Updates

Thanks for helping us have a successful fundraising campaign this summer.  Through the generosity of 15 local businesses and over 400 individual Golden Booster donors, we were able to raise $50,000!  

So, what does this mean for your student accounts?  Well, if we had NO fundraising at all, student performance fees would have been ~$775 per student.  Through these successful campaigns, we are able to provide a $375 fundraising credit to each student, lowering fees to only $400.  This is lower than last year's fees AND we have a fall trip to NAU this year, so this is huge.

We have the following fundraising events upcoming:

• • March-A-Thon - coming on 8/24 (see the March-A-Thon page for details) - volunteer opportunities are available, see below

  • Slice Parlor Restaurant Night - coming right after the March-A-Thon on 8/24 (see the Restaurant Nights page for details)

  • Fall Car Wash - coming on 8/31 (see the Car Wash page for details) - volunteer opportunities are available, see below

  • Mattress Sale - coming on 9/8 (see the Mattress Sale page for all the details - GET THE WORD OUT TODAY!)

Student Accounts

Student accounts have been assigned appropriate fees in Cut Time.  Uniform direct charges, student performance fees, and spring trip balances (if applicable) are all live and assigned in the accounts.  You may begin paying down your student account balances.

These may not be the only fees assigned during the year - Jazz uniforms are forthcoming and any replacement/penalty fees may yet be assigned, if applicable.  The account balance is always available in Cut Time.

Don't forget, Cut Time provides the opportunity to "Share" the costs of these fees, if desired, with family or friends who might be willing to help out.  Use the share costs capability in Cut Time to take advantage of this capability.

One note - Cut Time automatically charges card processing fees.  We do not have the capability to turn this off.  While we prefer payment in Cut Time, as it simplifies the process and ensures the correct amount is assigned to the correct account, we understand that you may opt to pay by check to avoid those processing fees (NO CASH PAYMENTS PLEASE).  Know that if you choose to do this, it may take 1-2 weeks for those payments to be received and credited to your accounts.  Should you decide to do so, please make sure you make the check out to Eldorado Band Boosters, you denote somewhere the student name and that it is for their student account, and either drop it in the gray safe next to Mr. Sayre's office, or mail to us at:

Eldorado Band Boosters
PO Box 14424
Albuquerque, NM 87191-4424

If you have any questions regarding fees assigned, or if you believe the fees are incorrect, please let us know.

Volunteer Opportunities

Here are the current active signups available.  You can also always see any open volunteering opportunities on the Volunteering page.

• March-A-Thon Volunteers: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0D48ADAA2DA1FB6-marchathon1#/

• Fall Car Wash Volunteers: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0D48ADAA2DA1FB6-carwash1#/ 

• Hydration Volunteers: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080F4BA4AD23A4FE3-50748878-hydration#/ 

Have a great week!

Go Eagles!

JD

Now, a word from Mr. Sayre...

Hello Eagle Band!

We are now in the full swing of things!  As many of the students have made aware, our morning rehearsal time is fairly limited so we strive to be as efficient as possible and use our limited time to learn as much as possible.  In order to make this a reality students have found that they may need to come a bit sooner than normal to make sure they are caught up and ready for rehearsal.  Besides getting caught up, students and staff are using the 10-20 minutes before rehearsal to hang out and listen to some great music provided by our Drum Majors, Owen and Joe.  Our first week of sectionals and after school rehearsals went very well.  Keep up the good work Eagle Band!  

This week we have a MAJOR event on Saturday.  The March-A-Thon is a long held tradition here at Eldorado and this year we are adding a few stops along the way that your family can post up and listen to a few of our pep tunes.  We will be at SY Jackson Elementary School at around 9:25 or so to stop and play for the community.  Bring your lawn chairs to sit and cheer on your EHS Band as they complete one of the coolest community events we do all year.  We will also be posting door hangers and spreading the word this week.  If you know some people in the neighborhood who might be able to support us we encourage you to encourage them to support this program.  Call time will be 8:00 AM.  We will meet in the band room then head out to form a parade block. 

Some Eagle Accolades for this week:

Most Improved Member: Diana Fleitas-Leon in the clarinet section.  We love to see that you are getting better and better every single day.  Congrats!

Outstanding Student: Lucas Hind for not only nailing his memorization tests on mellophone but also nailing his test on bassoon in Concert Band.  This is his first week playing bassoon. 

Outstanding Section: Mellophone Section!  For setting a high standard and continually improving. 

This week we have:

• Sectionals on Monday with your section leader

• Full Band rehearsal 4-6 on Tuesday- we will meet in the band room

• Color Guard sectionals on Wednesday

• Percussion sectionals on Thursday

• MEMORIZATION test for the 1st movement DUE on Friday in Google Classroom. 

Here is the plan for the week.  As usual the plan may change based on how we progress as a group.  

Please continue to report absences using the ABSENCE REQUEST and DOCUMENTATION form.  

Go Eagles!

Mr. Sayre