ABC Board Meeting
Apr 27, 2007

Welcome: Meeting called to order at 8:48 a.m. by ABC co-manager Vivian Brachmann. This is the last formal meeting; next month’s meeting will be the year-end breakfast meeting.
Co-manager Judy Yehuda requested ideas for a focus for next year’s meetings—this year’s focus was the conservatory directors’ reports. The ABC will be looking at how Honor Roll student recognition is handled.

Treasurer’s Report: Jeanine Konishi reviewed the expenses for March & April and reported that the remainder of the budget is slated for scholarships for graduating seniors for college.

Principal’s report: Dr. Alatorre commented on recent Performing with the Pros opportunities: one was with Lindsay Mendez from Grease (the new Broadway production) and another was a master class with the performers from Light in the Piazza.

The school is currently revisiting SADD week, which was first held the week before spring break. The police came and gave the students field sobriety tests.

The recent Star testing went well.

School safety is always a concern--a concern on everyone's mind after the shootings at Virginia Tech University. OCHSA has assured parents of the safety of its students. In a recent emergency drill, 1,300 kids were evacuated in nine minutes. The administration is constantly reviewing, revising and improving safety procedures. Currently being examined is how to organize the procedure for checking students out of an emergency situation to their parents or car pool. The school also needs to ensure that conservatory teachers are trained in emergency procedures, as most are part-time. Next year a drill will be held during conservatory.

Dr. Alatorre is finishing up next year’s school calendar and plans to start work earlier on the 08/09 calendar. School will start on Aug. 21; registration is Aug. 14-17.

The school is considering providing a certificate of completion (or merit) for conservatory—like the diploma for academic classes.

Conservatory Department Report: Mrs. O’Connor, with Dr. Opacic, Jeff Paul and Heather Stafford, recently visited esteemed Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan, to see how OCHSA measured up. She found similarities and differences. Interlochen—almost entirely a boarding school—is a year-round program of cultural events. It’s geared towards the junior and senior year, like a finishing school. The emphasis is on the arts, not academics. OCHSA measured up well, especially as a school focusing on both arts and academics.
Mrs. O’Connor plans to visit other schools, including Idyllwild. Questions she keeps in mind when comparing OCHSA to other arts schools include: What do we want to concentrate on? What is our niche market?

Conservatory reports:
Dance: Jim Kolb, dance chair and director of the Commercial Dance conservatory reported that OCHSA’s dancers give many performances each year. This year they performed with the Long Beach Symphony; he choreographed the dances. They have a performance coming up at the Orange County Pavilion—opening the door there for more opportunities for OCHSA performances. They are also working on more student-choreographed dances.
The rubric for is complete for the jazz dance standards; there are six dance forms with seven levels each. The dance forms include lyrical, hip-hop, modern, tap and ballet. Ballroom dancing is being offered as an elective next year.
Kolb explained that while OCHSA doesn’t compete with outside studios, the school does go to invitationals for exchanges of ideas. There are so many outside competitions now that they have become somewhat meaningless.
Steven Hyde is new this year in the Classical Dance conservatory. He spoke of how the conservatory has “bumped up” the classes, making them more rigorous, and of the need to maintain discipline in the technique classes. There’s no slacking off for rehearsals.
They are developing an artist-in-residence program—professionals who will come in for a week.

Leadership: Reporting for Leadership, Vivian Brachmann spoke about the Blood Drive coming on May 4. Parents can participate, and the money goes to Grad Night.

ABC Committee Reports:
Grad Night: Vivian reported that plans are well in place; they are looking for donations for the seniors—items they can use in college or fun gifts. They are also seeking all-night chaperones for the event.
This year only 19 seniors aren’t attending; last year 55 didn’t go. This is because they got to work on it early this year, at registration, and kept the cost down to $70. The cost could go up to $200 if fundraising isn’t started early.

Parent Education and Hospitality: Nothing new to report.

O Shop: Carol Ward reported that the O’Shop has donated $60,000 to the conservatories so far this year. Most recently, the shop donated 12 printers to the academic classrooms.
O’Shop volunteers displayed some of the shop’s wares.

And finally: The airline tickets have arrived for the two fashion design students, the award winners selected to go to Italy this summer for an internship with Italian designers.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 10:50 by Judy Yehuda. The next meeting will be Friday, May 18 at 8:45 a.m. in Room 707.