• ASB needs $11,000 to maintain current activities and events
• Will appeal to superintendent about parking fees decision
• Will sell flowers for events, to offer messages on marquee and a School Cents competition
• ASB may charge for Renaissance t-shirts

  

A lack of participation in Foothill’s new Great American fundraiser has resulted in another $8,000 decrease in expected income for ASB. This is in addition to the $8,000 loss announced earlier in the school year due to lost parking fees.

After years of selling coupon books to raise funds, ASB decided to try something new by asking students to sell products from the Great American online store.

Students raised $4,000 in total. About half of the money went to the company involved, meaning ASB will receive $2,149.70 of the expected $10,000 goal.

“We are disappointed because we can’t do as much this year, and we are in a deficit,” ASB Funds Coordinator and sophomore Victoria Shaw said.

ASB Advisor Melanie “Captain” Lindsey said that few students participated in the fundraiser, and many did not ask for any donations.

“It was a massive disappointment, because we changed the fundraiser based on the feedback that we had been given from the student body,” Lindsey said.

“They had said that they would be more willing to help out with and then- it crashed,” Lindsey said.

This loss in funds has caused ASB to go into a state of deficit.

Lindsey said that if students do not help fundraise, a change or loss of events is expected.

The expected success of the fundraiser was based on data from other schools.

“The projected income was based on how well ATLAS Elementary School did. It’s a low-income school and they made a lot of money off of this,” ASB president and senior Evan Askar said.

“Basically, their success on it encouraged us to give it a shot, because we figured we’re a bigger school with higher income, so we thought it would turn out well.”

The low amount of money raised from fundraisers have been a problem for ASB for the past few years.

“It’s been going down each year, pretty much. I think we don’t have enough time on our hands to go out [to ask people to buy from the fundraiser catalogue],” said ASB vice president and senior Nick Vaughan.

Askar expressed that decreased fundraising happens to many schools when students reach high school age.

“Their school activities are going to change massively if we don’t have student participation in these kinds of things. It’s unfortunate, but it’s true,” Melanie “Captain” Lindsey said. 

“It’s not just Foothill, I think it’s high school students in general. Typically, they either they don’t remember or it’s not something that’s super important to them,” Askar said.

Shaw said that ASB had already lost funds earlier in the year, so the current decrease in expected funds was an unfortunate situation for their budget.

“It was [a disappointment] because our budget was cut due to parking costs, and we had to make up for the money we lost last year and from the parking.”

ASB begins to sell flowers, bouquets, messages on marquee

ASB is planning to implement new ways to raise funds so events will not have to be changed.

The new methods of raising funds include: selling boutonnieres and corsages for winter formal, selling bouquets for Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, and selling flowers for prom and other events.

Students will also be able to send messages, such as “Happy Birthday,” to their friends on the marquee over Spirito Hall for $25.

ASB is also currently participating in School Cents, a competition between 20 schools to see which schools can spend more money at the mall.

The reward for first place is $3,000, and the reward for second place is $2,500.

“School Cents might end up being a decently good source of revenue,” Askar said.

Anacapa is in the lead for School Cents, but Askar said that Foothill has a good chance of earning second place.

Askar said they won’t find out if Foothill won until May ,and the money won’t enter the budget until next year.

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ASB appeals to superintendent about parking fees decision

The parking fees were cancelled this year because district staff didn’t want inconsistencies regarding which schools could charge parking and which could not. 

This resulted in a significant loss of funds for ASB. Lindsey said the fundraiser usually brings in more than $8,000 for the budget.

ASB members expressed frustration over the loss of parking fees.

“A large percentage of the kids showed up to orientation with the 100 check, ready to pay for their parking spot,” Vaughan said.

“It’s not like it was a big deal throughout everybody. But then, they were turned away, they didn’t have to pay the $100 when they were there.”

The parking fees, which had been collected from students for about 10 years, were $50 per year. The amount was to be $100 for this year before district administrators decided to disallow this practice.

ASB is currently appealing the parking fees decision with Ventura Unified Superintendent Trudy Arriaga.

“We sent an email to Dr. Arriaga [asking] if she could give us any suggestions, reconsider, just understand how vital that money was going to be to us, how important that really was,” said Vaughan.

Arriaga has replied to the email, asking for the ASB president’s contact information in order to set up a meeting with the members.

A date has not been set yet.

If the appeal isn’t approved, ASB will start asking parents for donations.

To read more about the ASB “rainy day fund” and the decision behind not spending it, click here

Upcoming Changes in Events, ASB Calls for Student Support

The $8,000 loss of income from parking and $8,000 loss of expected income from the Great American fundraiser put ASB $16,000 below their projected funds for this year.

Earlier, $5,000 was transferred from a reserve fund in the student store, which means ASB is facing a $11,000 decrease.

“We had money in the student store account. That profit belongs to the general student body. We transferred the money,” Lindsey said.

“That made $5,000 in what we were lacking, so we’re $11,000 under where we want to be to be able to do everything we want to do. “

Fundraising coordinator Victoria Shaw called for students to continue fundraising for the school’s events.

“If you want to be able to keep doing the fun things that ASB plans for you, you have to help us out with fundraising and stuff or donate to ASB so we can keep having fun events,” Shaw said.

Lindsey has other money-raising ideas that ASB may pursue.

“We could tell kids, ‘Okay, if you want a Renaissance shirt, they’re five bucks a pop.’ Or we could go find sponsors, which is one of the things that every other school does.”

“They get sponsors for their Renaissance shirts that say: ‘Renaissance sponsored by’ or ‘Supported by’ and then they put the name of the company on the back.”

Lindsey expressed that events will change if students do not support ASB more in fundraising.

“We cannot do it without them and we cannot do it for them. So, their school activities are going to change massively if we don’t have student participation in these kinds of things. It’s unfortunate, but it’s true.”

Sienna Romero and Fidelity Ballmer contributed to the reporting of this article