Parent Music Association (PMA) Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, February 4, 2025
Location: Norwood High School – Library
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm with a quorum present
- Jan meeting minutes approval postponed to next meeting.
Attendees
- Jeff Kerr (Director of Fine Arts), Gigi Michalec (President), Siuyien Mathews (Vice-President), Dany Abdallah (Treasurer), Kieu Wong & Zeina Abdallah (Vice-Ways & Means), Bill Maguire, Bebhinn O’Connell, Kelly Farewell, & Joe Della Carpini
Director of Fine Arts update – Jeff Kerr
- Mr. Kerr & Mr. Conant will be meeting with a McCormick’s Uniforms representative to discuss the process of purchasing new Marching Band Uniforms. May be a multi-year process (buy tops one year, bottoms the next, etc.) Estimate 6-8 week lead time. Would like student & parent input. Big question is funding, hoping it can be included in the Town of Norwood Revolver fund.
- Semi and Honors Auditions, a massive thank you to all who ran or helped to organize. Both events were extremely successful and the students and families all benefited from your dedication and hard work. Four Points Zachariah Room was perfect for the group size and had a great ambience. Students were well-behaved and seemed to enjoyed the night.
- Two of our choral students (Lindsey Collins & Seby Eugene) were accepted into All East, held this year in Hartford over April break. The music department has taken care of their costs and a parent is working on chaperoning the event.
- Proposal to change Music Camp from Sunday – Friday to Monday – Friday model. There are challenges with getting much of the MB staff back from DCI and Mr. Conant feels that the time can be made up with some changes. He and Ms. Hartnett are currently working on this together. Suggestion was made to get the dates out to parents ASAP with details following later.
- Mr. Conant is working on setting up a Winter Percussion and Guard, hopefully, with a start date after February break.
- Two of our MB students (Jossie Cardoza & Liam McGuire) were accepted to the UMass Honor Band and they have been invited to go out to Amherst next Saturday, 2/15. Mr. Kerr asked for the PMA to cover their $45 per student registration cost. A check can be made and brought with them on the day of the event.
- Booking deposit needed: Bloom bus for the Great East Festival out at Six Flags that the PMA has offered to assist with. Mr. Kerr has an invoice to pay the deposit of $1,292.50, total cost will be $5,170.00 for 2 buses. Discussion about continuing busing availability issues & solutions for upcoming events with small number of students (Jr. Districts, All East, etc)
- Upcoming events – Jazz Classic (2/12), MICCA Choral (4/4-5). Sharon HS asked to perform early. Participating schools’ info coming.
- Judges and clinicians’ request. With the jazz classic next week and clinicians in the following week over break to work with the Jazz band, Mr. Kerr asks that the PMA have the checks ready for them on the day of the event. He will pass along names and am asking for the same remuneration as last year.
- Trip! Exploring a spring 2026 trip. Locations are being discussed and what impacts that a trip might have on a program. Trip would be an incentive for students to join the program. Potential 4-5 Day trip to participate in a program like Festival Disney. Would require a huge commitment to fundraise and manage logistics.
Treasurer – Dany Abdallah
- Statement of Cash Flows Jan 14, 2025 – Feb 4, 2025. (separate document)
- Kudos to Gigi & Zeina for selling $700 of merchandise at the Honor Audition. Will need to put together an order for more non-Norwood logo merchandise for upcoming festivals. Also before next year’s Honor Auditions, order more Youth sizes. Kieu & Zeina will coordinate with Straight Stitch.
- Students will be paying for Honor Ensemble Field Trip to Apex Entertainment thru the Norwood Town Portal (Unipay). Fee will be $75 to cover entrance fee, T-shirt & transportation.
- No undeposited checks this month!
- Motions to Approve for the Following:
- Jan Financial Report (Approved. All in Favored.)
- $45 each to 2 students for UMASS Amherst Honor Band Registration. (Approved. All In Favored.)
- $1,292.50 deposit for Great East Bus Transportation (Approved. All in Favored.)
Ways & Means – Kieu Wong
- Upcoming Fundraisers
- Smokehouse (Thur, Feb 13)
- Chipotle’s (Sat, Mar 1)
- Need to get $25 gift cards from 2 above for receipt raffle
- Jake & Joe’s (Thur, 4/17)
- Humble Pie (Easter orders)
- Will reconnect with owner in Mar to schedule
- Restorative Massage (TBD)
- Potential fundraiser for the Marching Band Home Show
- Owner would bring all his own equipment & provide 10-15 minute sessions.
- Kieu will follow-up
Other business
- Need to prep Concession food & Judge’s Food for Jazz Classic
- Need more volunteers for Jazz Classic, will send link out to general PMA
- Discussion about recording judges’ comments at Jazz Classic. We have 3 recorders that the judges will use. For MAJE, they are switching to the judges using own phones to record and directly uploading to online file.
Meeting Adjourned at 8:15pm
Next PMA Meeting March 4, 2024