Child Care, Voting, Membership Perks

Here a couple things for tomorrow's meeting;

There is a nursery and we have a few teens willing to watch kids. However, we only have a few. If your teen is willing to come and help we'd greatly appreciate it.

That being said, there will be "limited" babysitting. If you have another option for childcare, we'd ask that you use it in hopes to not overrun our few volunteers. But, by all means, bring little ones if means otherwise you'd have to miss the meeting.

Eventually we'll have money to pay babysitters, and have child care at every meeting. Soon, very soon!

All voting, and anything done officially as a PFA will be for members only. If you want to vote in tomorrow's election, or anything else we decide as a PFA, only those who have paid their dues (at the meeting or prior) will be counted. Those people who have paid their dues prior or during tomorrow's meeting, and who are unable to attend, will have the option of voting via email until Wed. No votes after Wed will be counted. This option will be available to all members who are unable to attend our meetings. Your votes count!

We also plan to offer Minutemen t-shirt discounts to PFA members. So, it pays to join! We are also working out other benefits. Ideas are welcome.

Important Discussion

Dear NCA families,

After the recent decision by the Idaho Charter School Commission to not allow any religious documents in our Academy, many people were left confused and frustrated.

At this time many of us do not know what steps to take to have questions answered, or let our voice be heard. In the PFA, we have a voice. Monday we will be discussing this topic, and have asked our Director of Operations/Founder Isaac Moffett to address us. He will give us ideas on how to go about expressing our concern and support to our Board of Directors. As a PFA we have the right and privilege to come together in discussion. Through this, we can find ways to express our desires to our local legislation, Board, and one another about what we want in our schools.

Tuesday our Board will be holding a special meeting to discuss what actions they want to take, if any, in light of the Charter School Commission's ruling. Mr. Moffett will explain to us how we can become involved and support our Board in their decision.

As a classical school, using original source documents is essential to our curriculum. What can we do? How do we keep the integrity of our curriculum with banning such documents? Although, our Board and Mr. Moffett are unable to discuss aspects of these topics on the recommendations of NCA’s legal counsel, there are some things we can discuss to keep us all informed, along with ways to support our Board in the tasks they have ahead of them.

Please join us! We are all in this together, and need to stand together to have our voice heard.

Join us on August 31, 2009 7p.m.

Location: United Methodist Church 5420 Southside Blvd. Nampa, ID(Directions: From 12^th Ave heading toward Melba turn left on Greenhurst Rd then turn right on Southside Blvd the church will be on the left side of the street.) (Due to construction: from 12th heading toward Melba, turn Left on Greenhurst Rd, then turn right onto Sunnyridge,then turn Left onto Lewis Ln on the corner of Lewis Ln and Southside Blvd)

August PFA Meeting Agenda

NCA Parent Faculty Association

Meeting Agenda

August 31, 2009 7p.m.

Location: United Methodist Church 5420 Southside Blvd. Nampa, ID

(Directions: From 12^th Ave heading toward Melba turn left on Greenhurst Rd then turn right on Southside Blvd the church will be on the left side of the street.) (Due to construction: from 12th heading toward Melba, turn Left on Greenhurst Rd, then turn right onto Sunnyridge,then turn Left onto Lewis Ln on the corner of Lewis Ln and Southside Blvd)

Welcome & Thank You’s-Amber Gunnell

Presidency Reports:

President-Amber Gunnell

VP/Treasurer-Holle McRae

Secretary-Andrea Egan

PFA Council Reports:

Fundraisers-Christine Plummer

Coupon/Business Directory Book -Addy Cagle

Get Acquainted Night (September 3, 2009 6:30-8:00pm) -Pam Kruck/Jody Luke

Window Decals -Addy Cagle/Jody Luke/Sabrina Orihuela

Old Business:

T-shirts by Shawna Schneiderman & JoLynn Morriss

*Election of New Presidency-Amber Gunnell

Ad in Press Tribune for Music Volunteers/Instruments-Addy Cagle

New Business:

* Vote on Bylaws and Standing Rules-Explanation by Amber Gunnell

PFA Book-JoLynn Morriss

Curriculum/Board Recognition-Isaac Moffett

* Items requiring votes, in order to vote on items one must be a member of the PFA.

Move In & Sat Ideas

First, we wanted to say how impressed we have been seeing so many parents come out to help with the move in. Thank you! It has been fun working with you, and getting to know you better. It's exhausting work, but isn't it exciting! It really means a lot to our faculty and board that we are all pitching in to help, too.

The below are some ideas for Saturdays cleaning, what to bring, and what needs to be done.

• Vacumns!!!!
• Scouring pad/sponges
• Soft Scrub
• Dish soap or other multipurpose cleaner
• Straight edge razor blades to scrape off stickers and gum
• De-greaser, Goof Off or another Adhesive remover
• Disinfecting spray
• Buckets and Rags (lots of buckets as there is no water in most of the classrooms, and has to be hauled from the spigot)
• Paper Towels
• Post-it-notes and pens to write what has been cleaned and what has not, or where something needs to go.

We mostly need people to come and clean desks and chairs, organize classrooms, and help organize the books in the library. People need to wear tennis shoes as it is very dusty.

Booth Helpers

We are in need of helpers during the Meet & Greet on Sep 3 at 6:30pm-8:00pm. These are for 30 minute spots at our PFA booth, and possibly helping sell ice cream. We don't want anyone staying for longer than 30 minutes, so they have chance to mingle and meet teachers (so the more helpers the better).

We will be selling Minutemen tshirts and water bottles, and taking PFA membership dues at the PFA table, and ice cream bars at the other tables.

It's going to be a great night, and we hope with a few people pitching in we can give Pam Kruck and our other tireless helpers a break and a chance to meet their kids' teachers.

Please email her if you can help. krucks4@yahoo.com

Minutemen

Although the terms militia and minutemen are sometimes used interchangeably today, in the 18th century there was a decided difference between the two. Militia were men in arms formed to protect their towns from foreign invasion and ravages of war. Minutemen were a small hand-picked elite force which were required to be highly mobile and able to assemble quickly. Minutemen were selected from militia muster rolls by their commanding officers. Typically 25 years of age or younger, they were chosen for their enthusiasm, reliability, and physical strength. Usually about one quarter of the militia served as Minutemen, performing additional duties as such. The Minutemen were the first armed militia to arrive or await a battle.

...Thus, although lacking central command, the Minutemen were still better organized and battle-tested than any other part-time military. They were a vital and necessary force, playing a crucial role in not only the Revolutionary War, but in earlier conflicts. Without these "ready in a minute" men, our history may have been written in a very different way.

From ushistory.org

Thank You Music Theater of Idaho!

Jean Andrews is a NCA parent and posted this to our blog. Thank you Jean and the Music Theater of Idaho for this generous donation!

Mr. Lamitina will connect with you on the collection of the items.

My business (The Music Theatre of Idaho) voted to donate to the PE department. Today we purchased 10 kick balls, 3 soccer balls, 3 basketballs, 2 hand pumps for the balls, 8 jump ropes, 16 large cones, 12 flat cones. We are looking for the hula hoops and softballs. The stuff is in the back of my husbands car..love to drop it off but I work most evenings. Let me know how to proceed.

Get Acquainted Night

Get Acquainted Night is scheduled for Septemeber 3rd at 6:30pm. This is your chance to meet your child's teacher and allow them to see their classroom. You can take a tour, and mingle with other parents.

As a PFA we are selling a yummy treat! We will have Schwan's ice cream bars (in multiple flavors) for sale for $1 each. We will also be selling a few water bottles, but bring your own drinks if you need them. We will also have a booth set up where you can purchase Minutemen tshirts and join the PFA.

What a great night! We hope you all can be there!

PFA Meeting Change

Our next meeting will be Monday the 31st at 7pm (location TBA)

We did not want our meeting to interfere with the Academy move in. I hope everyone is helping in some way. It will be very exciting to be a part of this!

Thanks for your flexibility everyone!

Physical Education Department Equipment List

Hey everybody- I am the Physical Education teacher for NCA. I have
been talking to some of you about possible donations. At the moment
anything would be totally awesome and extremely helpful!!
Here is a list of some equipment needs:

10 basketballs
10 soccerballs
10 footballs
10 kickballs
baseball tee
10 softballs
10 hula-hoops
Small orange cones
Large orange cones
15 football tear-away flags
2 Gatorade Water Coolers


This is a list of needs for the department at the moment. Thanks to
all that can help and to those who are showing thier support for the
school and the P.E. department.

Will Lamitina
NCA Physical Education Teacher

July PFA General Meeting Minutes

PFA General Meeting

July 30, 2009

Called to order 7:02pm

Welcome and Thank You’s Teachers and EA’s welcomed by Amber.

Presidency Reports:

Secretary- Andrea Eagan read minutes from June 2009 meeting.

Treasurer- Holle McRae announced that the checking account has been set up, so we will be collecting dues tonight for PFA membership. A check has been written to NCA for the rummage sale. Starting August 12^th Bank of the West is running a special, if PFA members open a checking account, after the first $250 direct deposit, the account holder will receive $100 from the bank. Also, once they open that account they will receive free checking, the bank pays for the first box of checks. If parents open an account and mentions that they are part of the PFA then the bank will donate $50 to the PFA for each account opened.

President- Amber Gunnell discussed some of the events that were planned at the fundraising/social event meeting from July 21, 2009. All events are subject to change based on Headmaster Bush’s approval and availability of calendar. September- Movie night with history movie, concessions, and Schwan’s Ice Cream. Also, we will look into the National History Day competition. October will be a literacy day, where we dress up characters of a book. December we will do a service based project and holidays around the world celebrations. This even would include a breakfast. April 30^th will be Heritage Celebration with costumes, music and historic impersonators. Possibly have some of the older boys dress up as minute men. Tonya Freeman is the contact person for this event. End of the Art program and volunteer recognition will be moved to May. We will continue that rummage sale again this year in June/July and include a uniform swap with this. It was also discussed that at the end of each PFA meeting we will hold a uniform swap as students start to grow out of current uniforms.

PFA Council Reports:

Fundraising- Christine Plummer discussed that from the rummage sale and a few items being sold on Craigslist, total funds were $263.65. July 21, 2009 there was a meeting and 18 parents showed up. Lots of ideas were present, and we were able to narrow it down and this list of events will be present to Headmaster for approval. Although many parents did not want to see product sales as a fundraiser, due to being the first year as a PFA and no monies from previous years, this is something that we cannot avoid. Maybe in years to follow, this can be something that we can opt out of. The product fundraiser this year will be Boise’s Best. The PFA will receive 40% profits. Other fundraiser for the year will be script sales, box tops, Chef Pierre pies, and Papa Murphy’s cards.

Social Events Committee- Pam Kruck reminded us of upcoming events. August 5^th 7-th grades will meet to do poster for car wash. August 7^th will be the car wash for grades 7-9 from 10am- 2pm. August 13^th will be the kindergarten meet and greet, 7pm at Lion’s Park. Sing up sheet was passed around for more committee members.

Volunteer Committee: In need of a new committee leader. This person is in charge of room parents and volunteers for the rooms.

Old Business:

Collection of dues- Holle McRae passed around sign-up sheet for those wanting to become PFA members, dues were collected at end of meeting.

Elections/Nominations

President- Amber Gunnell nominated self, Holle McRae 2nd

Vice President- Christine Plummer nominated self, Pam Kruck 2nd

Secretary- Jolynn Morriss nominated self, Andrea Eagan 2^nd

Denise Aggen nominated self, Becky Gabert 2^nd

Treasure- Holle McRae nominated self, Andrea Eagan 2nd

Parent Representative- Andrea Eagan nominated self, JoLynn Morriss 2^nd

Kaleidoscope program- Amber Gunnell read letter from Erin Taylor. Our art program will be similar to the Reflections Program of PTA. We are hoping to get the program going in October, there will be information to follow. There will be end of the year recognition. Erin is hoping to have a committee meeting in August. Teachers at the academy are encouraged to involved. Please email Erin if you are interested in helping out with this committee.

T-shirts- Shawna Schneiderman informed us that everything is ready to go with the t-shirts, we just need the $50 set up fee. These shirts will be appropriate for t-shirt day, PE, or extracurricular activities. These will be white shirts with NCA on the front and the Minuteman logo. If we order over 200 we can get the shirt for under $5 if less then that they will be $10. We need to get PayPal set up so that orders can be placed through the web store. We can also order hoodies and sweatshirts through this company with no minimum number to order. Hoodies are $18.50 our cost. Sabrina Oriheula volunteered to help with this committee.

New Business:

Music Program- Mr. Marvosh discussed that music in a classical education encompasses everything. Grades 1^st to 9^th will get music. Grades 7-9^th , approximately 150 students, will have music everyday. There will be 2 choirs and 2 orchestras. Grammar classes will have music every other day. Mrs. Cook will be instructing 2 classes. He is in need of lots of help with ideas, time, materials, skills. He will get a list of instruments needed that will be placed on the PFA website. The biggest needs are:

1. Instruments- Students will need to provide their own instruments. Classes will not be performance based only, they be taught appreciation and history.

2. No performance venue- We will need to rent something each time there is a performance. Anticipate that there will be 400 to be seated at each event. Stay away from gyms because of the acoustics. Maybe donations can be taken at the performances to help cover the costs of renting. Many volunteers will be need from making programs, supervising students, and set up.

3. Music Curriculum- We don’t have any materials such as sheet music (can’t copy because of copy write laws), we have no rhythm instruments for grammar classes. Possibly looking a recorders because of cost.

4. Would like to have a piano accompanist

5. Uniforms- It would be nice if we could have choir robs, but they are very expensive to purchase. Kids tend to whine about these but when in a performance or competition they look very nice.

6. Risers- These are very expensive to purchase. We could look at building a set. It is nice to have student at different levels so that everyone can have eye contact with instructor. If we build a set they would need to have carpet.

The academy is currently looking into the Dustin Wells foundation for musical instruments. Also, we can look to the community in the way of retired persons to help with instruction.

Meeting Adjourned at 8:16 pm

Board Meeting

Just a quick reminder... the NCA Board has their monthly meeting tomorrow night at 6:30pm at the temporary office. This is a great way to learn more of what is going on with the Academy. Tomorrow the teachers will be reciting the Academy & Teacher Creeds. Don't miss it!

Don't forget...

We'll be posting our agenda soon, and you'll definitely want weigh on our votes. So, don't forget to pay your dues! You can pay online at www.ncapfa.org in our web store. We'll be printing membership cards soon, so don't delay!

Business Directory/Coupon Book

Dear NCA Families,

We would like to put together a Business Directory/Coupon book for NCA. If you have a business and would like to advertise and/or put in a coupon we need your ads, business contact info, and coupons. You can purchase a full page ad for $50, half page for $30, or quarter page for $20. Or, you can just be listed in the Directory for $10. Those who pay for larger ads will be listed in the directory for free. If you pay for an ad in this book you will also have the luxury of being included on our website, and adding extra ads or coupons into our quarterly newsletters throughout the year.

This is a great way to advertise your business, and will be a great resource for the family's of NCA. We would like to support NCA families wherever possible. I am looking forward to getting this available. Please send your info, ads, and coupons to 8350 Partridge Dr. Nampa Id 83686, email them, or bring them to a PFA meeting, and give them to me (or any of the presidency), along with your money by September 8 (the first day of school).

I would appreciate if you could send a shout out by email to addylynncagle@yahoo.com if you want an ad in so I can see the interest in this and get a picture of the size the book will be.

Remember, this opputunity is only for NCA families' businesses (at this time), and only for paid PFA members.

Thanks,

Addy Cagle

PFA Advertising Committee Leader

Web Store Open!

Our web store is open for business. You can pay for your annual PFA dues online. In order to particapate in next month's voting (we are voting on multiple things) you'll need to be an official PFA member (paid member). Please visit our web store, or bring your $5* next month.

We will soon have Minute Men tees and sweatshirts available as well.

*A small paypal fee is added to the online price.

Capri Sun position: FILLED

Thank you to all who volunteered for the Capri Sun collection! Piper Skoglund will be our point person on this.

Box Tops, Capri Suns, & Soup Labels - oh my!

Thank you to those of you who have already turned in Box Tops. Annette has been passing them on to me. I will get those to Michelle. She already has some ideas in place for collection, so please save as many as you can! Michelle is willing to collect soup labels, but needs some help with Capri Suns.

Can we get someone to be in charge of the Capri Suns? We want to start this right away since so many kids will be bringing these in their lunches. Let us know if you are interested. ncapfa@gmail.com

Recent Comments & Concerns

Dear Parents,

I have received multiple concerned emails about our Chairman's recent comments about the PFA (in his newsletter). I wanted to let you all know a few things.

I have had a conversation with our Chairman about the PFA in general. He, like all our faculty and board members, are very supportive. He applauds and appreciates our efforts.

As parents, we talk and share openly on the google group and at different events. Since the PFA, and the things we do as a parent group are a separate entity from the Academy, it's important for each of these organizations to have clear boundaries. He has a responsibility, like we do as a PFA, to operate inside those boundaries.

Anything we say and do as parents is not necessarily a reflection of the views of the Board and Academy. We are not bound by the same requirements a school is. Our google group is even further a reflection of the parents alone. I do not post official PFA statements or stances on the google group. Those are for the blog and our website. They are copied to the google group for everyone's convenience, but the blog is for the official statements made by our own non-profit organization.

The Board, Faculty, and PFA all decided earlier on this year it was important to define the parameters for each of us. We cannot speak in one another's behalf. That line may have seemed blurry at one point, but now that we have clearly defined our roles, we can easily work independently of one another, but with one common goal.

All of us want our Academy to be a success, that is why it's important to educate those involved on what our parameters are.

We, as a PFA, decided early on that none of our leadership could also serve on the NCA Board. It is important that our non-profit organization be a true reflection of our views as we present our ideas or desires to our school board. This is an important element for the future students of NCA. The parents and faculty need to have a "voice" when leadership changes in the future. It is our job as stakeholders to hold our leadership accountable to following the NCA charter.

From my perspective everything is humming along as it should. We have incredible faculty and curriculum, with lots of devoted families. And, we have lots of gratitude from the Board and faculty for all we do to support them. We also want to publicly thank THEM for all they do. Often times they work just as many hours in our behalf as they do for their own families. I'm sure they are exhausted. Let's keep them energized by showing lots of gratitude and pitching as much as we can. It's all so worth it!

Thank you all for continued patience and willingness to help!

Amber Gunnell

President, NCA Parent Faculty Association

7-9th Grade Supply List change

9th grade

3--2" clear view binders

1--1" clear view binder

7-8th grades

2--2" clear view binders

1--1" clear view binder

From the Academy...

The first day of classes has been pushed back until Sep. 8^th. Opening ceremony will begin at 8 AM.

Serving faithfully,

Isaac Moffett

Director of Operations & Founder

Nampa Classical Academy, Inc.

www.ncacharter.org

208-466-NCA1

Petens Sapientiam, Libertatem Defendens

Update on Embroidery

Embroidery for the school polos and cardigans at $4.00 per garment is now available at Uniform World. Bring your own garment in to be embroidered. The turn around for these items should be 2-3days. Tell them you are with Nampa Classical Academy as they have the needed information on file for the embroidery requirements.

Thanks,

Kym Slater

Uniform World

303 2nd Avenue South

Nampa, Idaho 83651

(208)467-5916

Rides for Bowling

If anyone needs a ride for their child, I have 4 seats left. I live on the corner of Greenhurst Rd and Midland, in Nampa, if you need to drop off.

Please email me your address and phone so I can pick the kids up around 9:30.

I'd like to be at the bowling alley a little bit before 10.

If any parents can stick around to help chaperone, we'd appreciate it!

Thanks!

Sabrina Orihuela
Treasure Valley Signs
941 W. Greenhurst Rd.

Nampa, ID 83686

208-412-7103
www.treasurevalleysigns.com
sabrina@clearwire.net

*New* Meet & Greet at Nampa Bowl

The car wash has been postponed due to bad weather. We will have one at the end of August or it may be in Sept.

We are still going to keep the Meet & Greet. It will be at Nampa Bowl, on Caldwell Blvd. We are going to keep the same times, so not to mess with any weekend plans. We will be meeting at 10:00 am and parents can pick up at 1:00. I have room for four (4) more kids. Please call or reply with any questions. Again, this is open to 6-9th graders. If smaller children want to attend, a parent or guardian needs to be there with them.

Cost: $1 per game, $1 shoe rental, $1 hot dogs, $1 fries, $1 sodas. We will play 2-3 games depending on time and how many children attend.

Thanks to all that came tonight and made such great signs. See you Friday.

Sabrina Orihuela
Treasure Valley Signs
208-412-7103
www.treasurevalleysigns.com
sabrina@clearwire.net

**Important** Car Wash Update

Car Wash Update. Due to the crazy weather and my lack of luck, it looks like Friday will be the worst possible day yo have a car wash. We can discuss this tonight at the poster making meet, at Lion's Park, off Davis, In Nampa, if anyone is still interested, we can make them and use them at a later date.

I called Nampa Bowl and they have $1 Fridays. It's $1, per game, $1 drinks, $1 hot dogs. From 10 am - 9 pm. Does this sound like a good plan to anyone? I can still provide transportation and we can decide on a time. Since they do not hold lanes that day, we may have to wait for lanes to open. Please respond TO ME or CALL ME personally.

Thank you!

Sabrina Orihuela
Treasure Valley Signs
208-412-7103
www.treasurevalleysigns.com
sabrina@clearwire.net

Severe Weather Alert

Today	Tomorrow	Fri
Partly Cloudy	PM T-storms	Scattered T-storms
High: 93° Low: 61°	High: 83° Low: 57°	High: 64° Low: 53°

Watches and Warnings

Nampa Forecast

...MAJOR CHANGE IN THE WEATHER TO BEGIN THURSDAY...  A LARGE FALL-LIKE STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE OVER THE REGION LATE THURSDAY INTO FRIDAY...BRINGING MUCH COOLER TEMPERATURES AND LOTS OF RAIN TO SOUTHEAST OREGON AND SOUTHWEST IDAHO. WE WILL SEE RECORD-SETTING TEMPERATURES...IN THE RATHER OBSCURE FORM OF COOL DAYTIME MAXIMUM TEMPERATURES. THE CLOUD COVER ASSOCIATED WITH THE RAINFALL WILL KEEP THE TEMPERATURES FROM PLUMMETING AT NIGHT...AND THEREFORE WE WILL NOT SEE ANY RECORD LOW NIGHT-TIME TEMPERATURES... THE KIND WE NORMALLY THINK OF WHEN WE THINK OF RECORD COLD WEATHER.  THE OTHER IMPORTANT ASPECT OF THIS STORM IS THE POTENTIAL FOR VERY HEAVY RAIN. PARTS OF THE AREA WILL SEE OVER AN INCH OF RAINFALL IN A 24 HOUR PERIOD. MODEL GUIDANCE IS EVEN INDICATING THAT TWO TO THREE INCHES OF RAINFALL MAY OCCUR IN SOME AREAS. THEREFORE...IT IS ALMOST CERTAIN THAT RAINFALL RECORDS WILL BE BROKEN AS WELL.  THE RECENT REAPPEARANCE OF EL NINO...AND THE OFTEN-DISCUSSED TOPIC OF CLIMATE CHANGE...MAY PROMPT THE QUESTION...WHY ARE WE HAVING THIS STORM? SCIENTIFICALLY...THIS PARTICULAR STORM CANNOT BE TIED TO ANY ONE PROCESS. FOR MOST OF THIS WARM SEASON...UP UNTIL ABOUT THREE WEEKS AGO...THE NORTHWEST UNITED STATES WAS IN A PERSISTENT PATTERN OF BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND ABOVE NORMAL RAINFALL. THIS STORM SIGNALS A RETURN TO THAT PATTERN. IT APPEARS LIKELY THAT THIS PATTERN WILL DOMINATE THE SUMMER OF 2009. THIS IS NOT TO SAY THAT WE WILL NOT HAVE ANOTHER HOT SPELL...BUT OVERALL THIS SUMMER WILL END UP BEING RELATIVELY COOL AND WET FOR MOST FOLKS IN OUR PART OF THE COUNTRY. 

--

2009-10 Fundraiser Letter

Dear NCA Parents,

We are so very excited that each of you has made the choice to send your child/children to Nampa Classical Academy. We would like to extend a big THANK YOU to all of you who were able to complete our Fundraiser Survey. There were a lot of really great ideas and suggestions for the entire year.

We went through each and every survey detailing everyone’s suggestions. Many of our families expressed interest in both product and event fundraisers. We have some things in the works for event fundraisers and upon approval from NCA those will be unveiled soon.

Because this is our first year as an Academy we do not have the luxury of a residual balance in our account. Taking that into account we tried to plan fundraisers that would fit our Academy as well as bring in good return for our money.

All the money that is raised by the PFA will go towards our kids. Throughout the year there will be things that the Academy will need and we would love to be able to support them. Below are some of the product fundraises and on-going fundraisers we would like to do.

Product Type Fundraisers

Boise’s Best Fundraising is our main product fundraiser this year. We have chosen to work with this company because it has a variety of products that are all from Idaho based businesses. We will receive 40% of each product sold. Their pamphlet contains the Boise Prime Card (discount on local businesses), Dawson Taylor coffee, Idaho Pizza, Pumpkin Roll, Éclairs, Cookie Dough, Gourmet Carmel Corn, Cheesecakes and much more. Our hope is to have each family do their best to sell items with this product sale so that we can start the year off with a good amount of money in the PFA account. (Remember, we will not allow door to door sales for safety reasons, and all children will recieve a prize for their particpation.) We see this as a family fundraiser, and not the sole responsiblity of the children. If you choose not to participate, you can make a monetary donation. We are working on a prize for those children whose families choose this.

Chief Pierre Pies and Papa Murphy’s Pizza Cards are two others that we would like to support this year as well.

Ongoing Throughout the Entire Year

There are many on going fundraisers that will help support the academy with very little effort and money on each of us. We are going to sponsor some of theses as well.

One that we are working towards having is popcorn/snack days every week. Due the high cost of the popcorn machine we would like to have snack days first to help raise the money for a popcorn machine. There is also a possibility that the PFA could receive a grant towards a milk product vending machine. Snack days may go towards our cost for this vending machine as well.

We will sale Academy t-shirts that will be accordance with NCA’s P.E. uniform policy. These will soon be available on our Web Store.

Box Tops, Campbell Soup labels, and Capri-Sun pouches are a few things that can be saved. We will have a collection bin at the Academy for these.

Link your Albertson’s Card to our school and we will receive a percentage of what has been spent. There are also several restaurants in the area that sponsor special fundraising events. Some of these will be used throughout the year as well.

Our hope is that with providing a variety of venues each family will find what will best fit them. We understand that each of the things we have planned my not work for your family but hope we will have something that you will be able to support.

Thank you in advance for your support. We look forward to working with you this year! Keep an eye out for our letter on upcoming Events.

Thank You,

PFA Presidency

Music

Mr. Marvosh gave us great information on how our music program is forming. He also shared with us his needs and hopes for the upcoming year. I have asked him to make a list, so all the parents can join in helping with fulfill those needs. Please direct your responses directly to him (his email is below), and he will keep us updated on the progress. Thank you!

Music at NCA

Music Electives--I think that we as a PFA should be pushing for music electives in the coming years. They weren't practical this year, us having such a shortage of teachers, but I think in order to properly facilitate music we need to have an electives schedule, with at least two music teachers.

Instrument Acquisition--Both for orchestra instruments for secondary students and for classroom instruments for elementary classes. I had some good suggestions from people on Thursday, but I am always looking for places to acquire instruments. We would love donations of instruments for the orchestras as well as for the classrooms. Instruments needed are string instruments, wind instruments, orchestral percussion (timpani, glockenspiel, drums, bells, triangles, cymbals, etc.), and classroom percussion (what is known as Orff instruments--small xylophones and glockenspiels). I am interested in using many kinds of instruments in the elementary classroom, but mostly percussion instruments. We could use buckets, boomwhackers (new sets of which cost about $25), or anything else that students can make different, but not too loud, noises on.

Performance assistance--As of this moment, I am thinking that our first performance will be for Christmas. I do not want to put too much pressure on myself and my students at the beginning of what will undoubtedly be a challenging school year. I would much appreciate any help I can get at performances, including chaperoning, ushering, program design, printing, and distribution, venue acquisition (I already had a few parents give me leads in this area), and logistical geniusing. During performances I have enough attention to warm up my groups, introduce pieces, and conduct. I have to delegate the rest. It would be ever so helpful to have a volunteer Manager who I could work closely with as performances approach, who could oversee all of the jobs I mentioned earlier. I know this is asking for a lot, but these volunteers would mean so much to me and the music department at NCA.

Music Acquisition--I will be borrowing a great deal of music this year. It would behoove the academy, however, to start building a music library for performing groups. Choral music costs approximately $1.75 per copy, and since choir sizes may be as large as 50 students, that is a significant amount of money. Orchestra music costs upwards of $50.00 for a complete set. Extra scores of orchestra music for judged performances can cost $7.00 apiece, so festival music may well cost an extra $21.00. Again, I will be borrowing most, if not all, of the music for this year, so this is a problem to think about for the future.

Classroom assistance--Again, I had a lot of great suggestions from parents about classroom assistance on Thursday. Looking for local people who are retired and willing to help in music classrooms is a great idea. Can we run an ad about that in the paper? I am most expressly in need of piano accompanists for choir in the mornings, and experienced instrumentalists for the orchestras. Any parents or friends of the academy with this knowledge and experience, or just a desire to help in the classroom would be most welcome. It will be easy for Mrs. Cook and I to get overwhelmed this year with the sheer number of students we will be responsible for, so I dearly hope that some wonderful individuals will be willing to offer their assistance however they are able.

Uniforms--I have very few ideas about the best way to go about acquiring uniforms for our choirs and orchstras. I think in would be very appropriate for our elementary school students to wear their school uniforms to performances, but for the older students we need to start exploring possibilities of dresses, tuxedos, or choir robes. I have little experience in the area of fashion, so if anyone has any knowledge about an easy and affordable way to assemble an aestethically pleasing performance uniform, please let me know.

Risers for my room--I had a great discussion with Irene on Thursday who directed me to her brother-in-law who she thought would be able to design and construct risers for my room. Thank you Irene! If anyone is willing to help with riser construction, please let me know.

Thank you all so much for your attention, advice, and participation in NCA and NCA's music program. I hope that together we can build a department that other schools will aspire to emulate. Please contact me about these or any other ideas at mmarvosh@ncacharter.org, or at 936-0659.

Thank you,

Michael Marvosh