The second meeting of the Donations Policy Review Committee was on November 30, 2016.
Attendees: Andrea Jones, Amy Lenox, Betsy Johnson, Carolyn Stanley, Chris Sampson, Connie Peterson, Dana Tavener, Debbie Romero, Elizabeth Sytman, Ellen Epstein, Jeff Lowell, Jeffrey Blunden, Jerry Hartmann, Jess Garcia, Kerri Patterson, Lisa Shank, Marie Telecky, Michelle Ball, Amy Li, Michelle Deerkop, Molly Schladetzky
Welcome/Introductions and Check-In
Around the room introduction of all members indicating group they are representing.
Questions?
How does the WIAA work?
- Donations are pulled in for many reasons, not just Athletics. Significant donations are made for Activities such as music, orchestra, band, choir, robotics, debate, cheer, drill, etc. A brief overview of WIAA was given including the different activity districts, leagues, and sports/activities.
How do WIAA members get paid?
- Revenue is generated through fees from member schools (through ABS funds), ticket sales, and sponsorships (e.g. Les Schwab Tires)
With Activities, does WIAA govern those events?
- Member schools are eligible to do specific WIAA state-level events. Many other Activity events have nothing to do with WIAA.
Scope of WIAA in terms of donations?
- On today’s agenda. It is a part of what we are talking about, but not the only thing driving discussion.
Recap of Areas of Interest
Reviewed “Concerns” and gave members opportunity to add to the list
- Make sure not just the donation, but also the donor is appropriate – who makes that call?
- How do grants fit in to this?
- Layers of vetting to see who is donating
- How do we prioritize what work is being done and identify what is broken and what needs fixed?
- Who does the donation come from and where does it go – do we have a problem with whom is donating? Who is less of a problem than the process and/or communication.
- Is this a policy problem or a people problem? The Board is wondering if we have a policy problem, a communication problem, etc.
- Where is the auditing taking place to ensure the money is going into the right place?
- Overall financial support vs Title I support
- PTSA/Booster transportation coverage, affects 501c3 insurance
- How much true budgeting is taking place the year prior?
- Communication an issue, seems that everybody just does their own thing.
- ASB-related, the communication coming from schools to parents about what is going on with money, $65/person. Transparency to parents from ASB, especially the size of some of the budgets. If not an ASB officer, really don’t know what ASB does.
Reviewed “Hopes” and gave members opportunity to add to the list
- Consistent training across the District for all levels. Can tie in other models, e.g. PTSA training model. Challenge is covering the intersections of booster club, PTSA, ASB.
- Calendar system, fiscal year and budgeting, how that impacts budgeting process for other entities
- System to ‘register’ support group for each school. Recognition of all the parent clubs, much like ASB. Would allow list of all recognized parent groups in Bellevue. Define the difference between ‘PTSA’ and another type of ‘booster’ club. Look into how that relationship will lead to difference in donation policies. Should policy be differentiated between different types of groups?
- Collaborators and participants in Eastside Pathways, should they be represented at this table because of their in-kind donations? How much are our collaborators collaborating, what does the in-kind look like or not. How does their participation impact what we’re doing now?
- Do we have anybody on the committee who are ASB advisors or students (one student who’s not here)?
Next step is to determine areas to we want to address
- Take big ideas, put them into buckets, and those buckets are places where we can start to look at policies, rules, practices.
- This group in some form exists beyond committee so that there’s continuity, communication, so that we can build and develop relationships that have started here in this process.
Touch Base on Policies Reviewed
Discussion of review of binder materials: current BSD Policies, WSSDA Examples, Other School District Policies (Everett, Lake Washington, Mercer Island, Seattle, Tacoma)
- Track equity issues
- Everett SD has policy: board approval for donations over $5,000
- Lake WA had a lot of info on booster club
- Lake WA, comprehensive, not necessarily agreeing, touched on a lot of things touched on today, lots of topics with summary was really good.
- Like Lake WA a lot, language was plain
- Didn’t see much info on school auctions…when parent buys a restaurant gift card and want it to sell at an auction, ran into trouble, IRS picky about how you do that…didn’t see anything about that. Might want to specify this in our policy. If a parent donates $ to PTSA and asks PTSA to buy gift card, in effect money laundering.
WIAA Rules and Regulations
A member requested information on pertinent WIAA Rules and Regulations at conclusion of prior meeting.
- Handout: “Rules and Regulations – Excerpts from the WIAA 2016-17 Official Handout”
- Brief discussion related to what was included in the handout with references into how donations could lead to potential rules violations and how WIAA ties into Activates.
Next Steps – Where do we go from here?
Question of how to move forward. By end-of-day Friday, Jeff will provide via email the committee’s “next steps,” based on first two meeting discussions and resulting “Concerns” and “Hopes” lists.
Next Meeting
December 14, 2:30-4:30pm, Transportation Building – lower level conference room