Our primary task as an executive committee is to address membership concerns - to service the ``internal customer''. The first task we have before us is to determine exactly who are customers are. John Cole and Cindy Billiot are picking through numerous documents to re-establish member lists and credit for dues paid. Those of you who have any records of dues paid, specifically when and how much, are encouraged to contact Cindy or John with that information to verify payment status. This is especially important for those of you who have contributed towards ``life member'' status. We hope to finish compiling the lists by the end of Spring, at which time we will send out dues status/reminder cards.
Tax-Exempt Another money issue is our tax-exempt status, or lack thereof, for donations. Formerly, the Alumni Association's funds were mixed with the Parents' Association funds. I am under the impression that the Alumni Association operated under the Parents' Tax ID number. That is not the case now. Therefore, Treasurer Cole is processing the paperwork to send to the IRS. It has been my experience that this can sometimes require multiple submissions, so I don't have a definite timetable for you. As I mentioned in Part One of this report, if there is a large donation you really have to make now, by all means consider the LSMSA Foundation, or call me in order that we can set up some tax-free holding instrument. Any CPAs or IRS agents out there are asked to help in this matter.
Regarding the LSMSA Foundation: I have selected an alum for membership on the Board of Directors. I will announce the name as soon as I have that person's confirmation of the nomination. I had hoped to have the name available for this report, but I want to do this the right way and verify acceptance first. I will forward this person's name and credentials to the executive committee as soon as I hear back, probably this week. At that time, the announcement will go out on the e-mail list as well as the website.
Scholarship Funds Switching gears, but still related to money: we have scholarship funds which have been awarded from time to time to graduating seniors. Cindy Billiot is going to compile a list of awardees, and we will update the plaques. We should be caught up by this graduation. We discussed the idea of putting a permanent list of winners on the website, and will likely do so once that information is complete. If any of you know the names of recent winners, please forward them to Cindy - it would make her job a lot easier.
Memoria Finally, I would like to comment on Alumni memorials. One of our primary duties to LSMSA and ourselves is the preservation of standards and tradition, to be an institutional ``memory''. Recent list-serv messages have demonstrated that there is a lot of collective memory out there. What we don't have is a comprehensive policy or plan for memorializing those of us who have passed away. In the first years of the School, the School itself bore that responsibility. This took the form of plaques on the courtyard pillars and scholarship funds. Those funds are part of the Alumni finances. Now, the process by which our classmates are remembered must become our responsibility.
I propose the following mechanism: Any alumnus may, on his own or through the class president, ask the executive committee to start the process of memorializing a classmate. Routing thought the class president may encourage class involvement and input. There would either be a request for action or a proposal for action submitted to the EC. The EC would then have 90 days to address the proposal made, or to develop a proposal on behalf of the applicant. Once a plan was determined, the EC would bring it to the School Administration (Executive Director), who would either approve, disapprove, or require changes to the plan. The Administration's involvement is based on two things: the role they have regarding the current student body, and the fact that the physical plant is school property. At that time, a dollar figure and timetable would be sent to the class of the deceased alumnus, or, if desired, to the LSMSAAA membership as a whole. Examples of memoria include (but are not limited to): Auditorium seats, trees, benches, plaques, scholarship donation/endowment, classroom/lab sponsorships, and events/contests. While it strikes many as cold and mercenary to talk about money in this context, the fact of the matter is that since there are those who wish to contribute funds towards a meaningful end, it is our responsibility to see that avenues to do so are available. Memorials are for the living, and it is the living who are hurt by poorly-established remembrances, or by the lack of remembrance at all.
I welcome any and all suggestions to the construction of our policy. We need a policy we can all support, and by which we would be willing to be memorialized should it be our own name submitted. I know that the recent string of conversation on e-mail touched on this issue, and I hope this discussion will continue. The interchange of ideas and recollections is the blood and bone of our tradition, and it is on this tradition that we base our actions, and it is by our actions that we will become a group of graduates who make the Louisiana School better by our continued presence.
Jim Taylor (`86)
LSMSAAA President