Thank you for taking on a Committee Chair role at Blossom Hill Elementary School. Your time and effort as a volunteer in our school community is providing our children with incredible experiences through curricular and extracurricular programs and community building events. This wonderful tradition at Blossom Hill only continues thanks to you!
COMMUNICATIONS and PUBLICITY
Communication plans for your event must be approved by the President of the H&SC. Please send your plans to president@blossomhill.org for review and approval. Communication options are detailed below:
Online/Digital Communications
The Beehive All H&SC Committee events, requests for volunteers, etc. should be communicated in The Beehive. Please submit articles via email or as a word attachment by the Monday afternoon before you would like the article to appear. Please also indicate how many weeks you would like the article to be included in The Beehive. The appropriate committee chair should approve any article s/he asks a committee member to write. Plan ahead! You may want to submit all articles in advance as it helps the Beehive Editor know what is coming. Please keep formatting to a minimum. Articles should be concise and upbeat! Any graphics should be of the best quality possible. Submit to beehive@blossomhill.org and cc: president@blossomhill.org.
Website & Facebook To request that something, such as The Hive, Harvest Festival, etc., be publicized on the H&SC website or Facebook, please email our Webmaster at webmaster@blossomhill.org and cc: president@blossomhill.org.
Room Parents Sending a note to Room Parents to distribute to their classes is an excellent way to get the message out. A brief write up may be submitted to the H&SC Vice President at roomparents@blossomhill.org for approval. The H&SC Vice President will then pass the approved email to the Room Parents to share with their classes.
Constant Contact The H&SC utilizes Constant Contact to email all parents who have agreed to receive communications from the Home & School Club. If your committee would like an email, invitation or survey to go out to parents, please email all of the information you would like included in the communication to the H&SC President at president@blossomhill.org.
Hard Copy Communications
Cabinet Bulletin Boards There are a variety of bulletin board cases around campus, some of which are available for committee use to publicize events or activities. The bulletin boards are designated to be used as follows:
Front of school gates: Project Cornerstone
Library wall:
Library
H&SC
H&SC
Behind 1st Grade Block: H&SC and LGEF
Kindergarten: H&SC and Kindergarten messages
MPR along Blossom Hill Road: H&SC
Approval to post items inside the cabinets is required from the H&SC President. Cabinet keys are held by Cindy Adams in the office. Please be sure to remove any posters/flyers promptly when your event is over.
Vinyl Banners If you wish to use vinyl banners to publicize your event, there is space for large banners on the back side of the Kindergarten block and at the front of the school. There is also space for a banner between the trees at the corner of Blossom Hill Road and Cherry Blossom Road. Banners should be at least 72” x 36”. An ideal size is 96” x 48”. Approval to post banners is required from the H&SC President. Please let the H&SC President know when you would like your banner on display so that we can be sure all groups have their events advertised at the proper times.
Paper Posters All posters must be approved by the H&SC President before posting. Posters should be placed in the plastic sleeves at the gates. Please do not overrun our beautiful school with flyers and posters. Also, please remember to remove your materials promptly when your event is over.
Laminating Our laminating team will laminate posters or flyers on a weekly basis. Please check with laminating@blossomhill.org to confirm that the item you’d like to have laminated will fit the machine. Since the team does not laminate every day, please make sure to give them plenty of notice. It is a good idea to laminate posters that go in the plastic sleeves during the rainy season as the sleeves are not completely waterproof.
Easels We have over a dozen wooden easels in the H&SC shed. (The H&SC shed is the one closest to Clubhouse.) Please email the President for permission to borrow them in case another committee requires them. Remember to return them to the shed when your event is over. The President will also provide you with the combination to the lock on the shed.
FACILITY USE
On Campus Room Reservations Use of campus facilities requires permission from school administrators. To reserve a room on a weekday while a custodian is on site, please contact Julie Sheehan (jsheehan@lgusd.org) or Cindy Adams (ciadams@lgusd.org) in the front office. There are two rooms that can be reserved for meeting or event use – the Flex Room and the Multipurpose Room. Please make your reservations at least two weeks in advance of your event.
Using School Facilities after School Hours Use of campus facilities when school is not in session requires District approval. To reserve space during non-school hours, you must go through Facilitron (www.facilitron.com). A custodian must be paid for and onsite during these events. Examples of non-school hour events include rehearsals in the MPR, weekend activities, use of fields, and all other spaces.
Ladders Please visit the school office for information about borrowing ladders.
Tables and Chairs The H&SC owns six 6’ tables and two 8’ tables for H&SC use. These are kept in the storage room at the back of the MPR. If you need tables or chairs set up for an event or meeting, please complete a facilities request form in the front office and submit to the custodial staff at least two weeks in advance of your event, activity, or meeting.
GETTING VOLUNTEERS
H&SC committees primarily use the SignUp Genius web application (www.signupgenius.com) to secure volunteer sign-ups for class activities or larger events. Everyone can see who is signed up for what and reminders are sent automatically via email. The H&SC has a SignUp Genius account that is open for all committee chairs to use. The email address to use to sign into the account is volunteers@blossomhill.org and the password is Blossom2! (case sensitive). If you have any questions about using SignUp Genius, please contact volunteers@blossomhill.org.
EXPENSES
Please try to keep all expenses to a minimum. A budget for your committee will be provided to you by the H&SC Treasurers. Please operate within your budget, keep good records of your expenditures, and submit expense reports promptly. Committee chairs for larger events will be asked to attend a H&SC Board meeting before their event takes place for budget review and approval purposes.
Expenses above $500 need full Board of Director approval for reimbursement. Expenses can be reimbursed by completing a Check Request form, available on the H&SC website. For committee reimbursement, please have the Committee Chairperson authorize the request before submitting the reimbursement. All requests must be authorized by the committee chair or H&SC officer and the H&SC President before a check is issued. The form can be completed online and emailed to the appropriate parties to be signed. Receipts may also be scanned or photographed and submitted digitally to president@blossomhill.org and treasurer@blossomhill.org. Reimbursement checks will not be issued by the Treasurer without a fully approved request complete with receipts. Please allow 10 days for a check to be approved, prepared, and signed. (This process may take longer when we are not on campus.)
A deposit must have a complete deposit request form. For high volume sales (such as Honeybee Choir, Chorus, The Play, etc.) where there are multiple checks, the checks need to be accompanied by a spreadsheet with names, check numbers, and amounts. Any breakdowns that need to be accounted separately – e.g. play tuition, buyout, DVD purchase, etc. should also be included. This information is needed to make sure the money is distributed correctly.
CONTRACTS
Any contracts required for an event MUST be signed by the H&SC President for insurance protection purposes. This also allows the Board to know what’s going on. Soft copies of contracts can be emailed to president@blossomhill.org. Hard copies can be left in the H&SC President’s folder in the school workroom.
GIFT POLICY
We have a strict no-gift policy. The H&SC is unable to reimburse for gifts purchased for committee members, chairs, or volunteers.
THE H&SC SHED
All H&SC items are stored in the shed closest to Clubhouse. The combination for the lock can be obtained from the H&SC President. When returning things to the shed, please be considerate of the next committee who will be using the items. Clearly label boxes and make sure that items are returned tidily and in good working order. Please let the H&SC Vice President (vicepresident@blossomhill.org) know if anything gets broken or needs to be replaced.
H&SC COPIER CODE
Please use the copier code 11461 for all H&SC copy jobs. Please make every effort to do things electronically whenever possible, in an ongoing effort to save paper. If you must send a flyer home to all students, please limit it to a half sheet of paper. All flyers must be approved by the H&SC President and Mrs. Reynolds.
Please don’t hesitate to email president@blossomhill.org should you have any questions. Thank you for your commitment to Blossom Hill Elementary School!
