66^TH Year, No. 2                 Nov. 19, 2001

Present and signed in were:

ITEM NO. 1 - CALL TO ORDER AND INTRODUCTORY REMARKS: The second meeting of the year was called to order by District Chairman, Paul Wilson, at 7:02pm. Mr. Wilson thanked everyone for making Marching Festival a success including:

1. Brian Nichols and Chris Perez - Warm Up Coordination
2. Pam and John Guess - Ticket Booth and Sales
3. Mark Bujnicki (Lee Sellers)- Master of Ceremonies

Lisa Bujnicki (Help w/husband)

4. Mike Parks - Official Timer
5. Heather Harding - Adjudicator Liaison
6. Franklin Jennings - Bus Parking

ITEM NO. 2 - ROLL CALL AND INTRODUCTION OF NEW DIRECTOR’S AND GUESTS: Jim Smisek briefly introduced Michael Janeiro, the new associate band director of University H.S. and Aaron Geist, intern of University High School. Attendance was handled via a sign in sheet.

ITEM NO. 3 - READING OF PREVIOUS MINUTES: There were no objections or changes to the previous minutes, so they stood approved as distributed.

ITEM NO. 4 - TREASURER'S REPORT: Report handed out at meeting.

Balance on hand: $2,501.39

Jeanie Berry asked why we use the Citrus Bowl for Marching Festival each year.

Mr. Wilson responded that by using the Citrus Bowl the students were able to see the Festival from the front. He also suggested bringing this up when we got to "unfinished business" in the agenda.

ITEM NO. 5 - COMMUNICATIONS:

1. Shelby Chipman – Assistant to the Director of Bands, Florida A&M University.

His letter thanked District 8 for having him as an adjudicator for our Marching Festival.

ITEM NO. 6 - UNFINISHED BUSINESS:

1. Marching Festival Report – Report handed out at meeting.

1. Discussion : having it in the Citrus Bowl

Mr. Wilson said the available dates for using the Citrus Bowl, as of now, next year were Oct. 19 and Nov. 16 (both bad dates). Jeanie Berry asked if the advantages of having the Festival in the Citrus Bowl were enough to warrant a larger assessment. (The more gate we receive at the Citrus Bowl, the more our assessment could conceivably go down.) Mr. Wilson pointed out that with the gate this year and outgoing expenses we broke even, so the assessment going up will not be a direct result of Marching Festival. He also said how much he tried to advertise the Festival so the gate would be larger. Becky Kroll pointed out that Brian Marks (outside contact to Citrus Bowl) came to some of the High Schools and brought a great deal of free tickets, and that most of her band parents that would normally pay, got in free. Ms. Kroll asked if this hurt our gate. Mr. Wilson said Vicki Vargo, City Commissioner gave $150 for the (free) tickets. Lee Sellers suggested encouraging more middle school band students to come by offering free pass-offs, or points for their grade. Ken Pearce suggested deciding whether to have it in the Citrus Bowl, at the next FBA meeting, when we had more information on dates. Jeanie Berry suggested to have all the middle school band students do a field presentation at the Festival which would require all those parents to have to come and pay. Ms. Berry said this had been a huge success in another District. She and Bill Reinicki agreed to chair this for next year. Jim Smisek expressed that he wanted to keep having Marching Festival at the Citrus Bowl, it was worth it. Mr. Wilson agreed, concluding that the most important thing about any Festival is the education of the student. At no other venue can the high school band students see the Festival from the front.

1. FMEA Clinic Conference - January 10, 11, 12 Tampa

ITEM NO. 7 - COMMITTEE REPORTS

1. District Solo and Ensemble this year. Mr. Wilson pointed out the orange calendar with dates and sites.

1. "Festival" program required.
2. NOTE: All new schools will need to purchase their school copy of the "Festival" software program by sending a check ($20.00) and self addressed CD Mailer to:

Curtis Wilson

1428 E. 48^th St.

Savannah, GA 31404

You can download the update to the software from the FBA website. The

Update fixes some bugs and adds the duets and updates the list.

1. State Solo & Ensemble this year. This site has been changed to Bartram Trail High School in Jacksonville.

ITEM NO. 8 - NEW BUSINESS:

1. High School Jazz Festival February 1 - need a site

1. West Orange High School submitted a letter to host.
2. Apopka High School submitted a letter to host.

Vote taken and Apopka High school will host the High School Jazz Festival

1. Entry forms and disks - see calendar for deadlines

$50.00 fine for submitting forms late,

$100.00 fine on the 8^th calendar day after the deadline

2. Classification proposal - Discussion/concerns - opinions to take back to board meeting.

1. Proposal No. 1 - Wilson disagrees because you end up eliminating schools. Reinicki agrees with Wilson and says if you go with the proposal, why not have middle schools go. Berry asks why the proposal if it denies more kids participating. Jeff Jordan points out with the new classification that on stage A, AA, AAA play vastly different music, but have the same sightreading. Jordan feels this is not wise. Ken Pearce asks if there was a problem with the old classification. Wilson says in his opinion, no, but says the defense of the new classification is that it helps with scheduling problems such as bands on a 4x4. Of course with the current classification system you have the option the reclassify.
2. Proposal No. 2 - disagree with the sightreading
3. Proposal No. 3 – disagree with adjudicators being penalized because their band was in class B
4. Proposal No. 4 – disagree with a band in less than class A not being eligible for Lampi award
5. Proposal No. 5 – disagree with Small Schools Honor Band being changed to High School Honor Band because the Small Schools will then have NO recognition.

Mike Parks suggests to Mr. Wilson to report to the executive board that District 8 disagrees with all proposals of new classification system.

ITEM NO. 9 – STATE FESTIVAL DATES AND SITES:

Best place for most recent information is FBA website.

ITEM NO. 10 - NOMINATIONS FOR ADJUDICATORS LIST:

1. J.B. Wilkins nominated Rufus Redding (Jones H.S.) to the Solo and Ensemble adjudication list. Mr. Wilkins and Bruce Green spoke of Mr. Redding’s past accomplishments as a band director, and said he would make a worthy adjudicator. Secret ballot vote was taken.
2. Lee Sellers nominated Lisa Bujnicki (Lakeview M.S.) to the Solo and Ensemble adjudication list. Mr. Sellers and Jim Smisek spoke of Mrs. Bujnicki’s past accomplishments as a band director, and said she would make a worthy adjudicator. Secret ballot vote was taken.

ITEM NO. 11 - SUGGESTIONS TO COMMITTEES

None

ITEM NO. 12 – NEW PROPOSALS TO THE EXECUTIVE BOARD

Proposal to the Executive Board of the Florida Bandmasters Association

From: District 8

Proposal

To discontinue the new certification requirement for FBA adjudicators

Rationale:

1. It is not necessary. The FBA has been doing a good job of screening adjudicators. Upon reading the adjudication manual, one will see that the requirements to become an adjudicator insure that adjudicators are qualified for this position. In addition, there are rules in place to insure that once someone has become an adjudicator, they must maintain a minimum level of performance excellence with their ensembles and adjudication.

2. The certification sessions are not scheduled at convenient times. High school directors in particular have scheduling problems with these sessions because they are taking place in the Fall Season.

3. Attending these sessions can be costly for adjudicators, requiring at least one night’s hotel stay and other travel expenses.

4. It is difficult to recruit adjudicators from our vast membership because of the current requirements. Adding the required certification has only further discouraged qualified members from becoming adjudicators. As it is now, there are too few members on our adjudicators list.

5. Requiring certification places even more burden on the volunteer members of our adjudication committee, our district chairmen and our adjudicators who are all over-worked as it is. In these times when people value more highly their personal lives, we cannot afford to require more volunteer work from them.

On a personal note:

I deeply appreciate the hard work of Dr. Bentley Shellahamer and the adjudication committee. These people work tirelessly making sure the high standards of adjudication are upheld in our organization. One of the reasons I am opposed to this certification requirement is because I would like to see this high-quality product continue.

Having attended the session in Miami on October 13 and 14, I can say it was a wonderful learning experience. I cannot, however say that the session would make a good judge out of a bad one, or change an adjudicator’s level of expertise. Keep in mind one weekend session every 5 years is not going to make much of a difference.

I truly believe the FBA has been doing a good job all along managing their adjudicators. I personally look forward to learning from anyone who has met our requirements to become an adjudicator.

Musically,

David Lee Sellers Jr.

Member, FBA District 8

Band Director, Chain of Lakes Middle School, Orlando

Motion to approve by Ken Pearce/Becky Kroll PASSED

ITEM NO. 13 - GOOD OF ASSOCIATION:

ITEM NO. 14 - NEXT DISTRICT MEETING

Tuesday, January 22, 7 PM at Edgewater High School

ITEM NO. 15 - ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 8:11pm.

Abby D. Powell, FBA District VIII Secretary