Mark
Rauterkus
Plum
School District
School
Board Members
&
Friends of Fitness, Literacy and Enrichment
Dear
Board Members,
I
had a great time in my first year as the coach of the Plum High
School Swim Teams. I’m thankful for the opportunity to work with
the students and get back into the day-to-day activities of sports.
I’ve
done a great deal of thinking about next year and the long-term
future. I’ve explored some possibilities with myself and those
around the Plum program and in the community at large. Now I’d like
to put a solid proposal into discussion and to a vote regarding the
administration of the after-school-hours aquatics program.
Looking
forward to our discussions.
Sincerely
yours,
Mark
Rauterkus
President,
Sports Support Syndicate, Inc.
Plum
High School’s Head Swim Coach
Facts
1.
Plum has a swim pool facility. A past investment built a concrete,
steel, and ceramic-tile hole in the ground.
This
fine, bare-bones facility will not wear-out.
We
have a new diving board.
Chemicals
are controlled automatically.
2.
The District should serve the tax payers when possible.
Lessons
can be learned at the pool after school hours.
Jobs
can be obtained, either through pay or life-guard certification.
Recreation
concerns are public policy issues.
A
sense of community can flourish, and gatherings can
contribute
to civic pride.
3.
The School District could use an Aquatics Director.
To
coordinate and overhaul existing swim-related programs
To
create new swim and fitness programs
4.
Plum’s financial situation is already under stress.
Programs
are being reduced.
Expenses
are being re-evaluated for economy.
5.
Plum’s swim pool is under utilized.
Summer
lessons were canceled.
The
pool is empty many hours per week.
6.
Progressive Aquatics Programing can generate new revenues and incomes
for the school district.
See
attached plans for budget numbers.
Summary
The
Plum District should seek to cut expenses and generate revenues in
tight financial times, while always striving to offer programs that
enrich the physical, intellectual and professional well-being of the
students, faculty, staff and community.
Proposed
Solution
The
Plum District should seek to reduce expenses and generate revenues
from existing facilities by addressing short-comings in the aquatics
programming.
Plum
should seek the expertise of a leader and organizer who will strive
to offer aquatics programs that enrich the physical, intellectual and
professional well-being of the students, faculty, staff and
community, while costing the district no additional expenses and
generating new revenues for the district.
To
hedge on the safe side in these tight economic times, the salary for
the new Aquatic’s Director position should be based on a strict
commission basis.
For
implementation, the district could:
1)
expand the duties of Swim Coach,
2)
create a new, contract, commission position of Aquatic’s
Director,
3)
agree to have Mark Rauterkus create, non-profit corporation to
administer
programs, collect fees, pay bills and hire staff.
Summary
of Finances with Mark Rauterkus as Aquatics Director & CEO of the
non-profit agency.
•
The Plum
School District will not have any new financial burdens.
•
The Plum
School District will have an increase in revenues from these
programs.
•
Mark
Rauterkus will be paid by the Plum District for the regular coaching
salary as previously approved in past meetings, and Mark Rauterkus
will be permitted to receive a salary based on a straight commission
from the new aquatics programs.
•
The new,
non-profit organization will collect user fees, generate new incomes,
and in-turn, pay the Plum School District for facility usage as well
as pay operational expenses, including payroll and the director’s
salary.
Suggested
Revenue Breakdown from Plum Aquatics Programs
Percentage
of Income from User-Fees:
Plum
School District Revenue = 10%
Non-Profit
Aquatics Fund = 90%
Non-Profit
Aquatics Fund (90% of fees) includes:
Staff,
Coaches, Lifeguards, etc. = 55%
Supplies,
Materials, Equipment = 15%
Overhead,
Phone, Office, Postage = 10%
Marketing,
PR, Recognitions = 10%
Profit,
Aquatic’s Director = 10%
Programs:
Age-Group
Swim Team
200
members x $120.00 = $24,000
Masters
Swim Team
50
member x $200.00 = $10,000
Adult
Fitness
20
participants x 6 classes x $40. = $4,800
Triathlon
Classes
6
classes x 50 participants x $40 = $4,800
Sponsorships:
Title
Sponsor $15,000
Secondary
Sponsors $15,000
Special
Events:
Scouts $5,000
Scuba $4,000
Marathon
Swim $3,000
Talks,
Guests $20,000
Camps $12,000
Swim
Meets $15,000
Sales:
Informational
Items $3,000
Gear
& Merchandise $2,000
Total
Revenues = $137,600.00
Plum
School District gets $13,760.00
Points
to mention.
Competition
with PAYS
Schedule
Conflicts with the District
Non-Profit
Corporation operates under 501 (c) (3) Tax Code
Letters
of Support
Possible
School Board Motion
To
expand the duties and responsibilities of the existing position of
Senior High Head Swimming Coach for the 1992-93 school year as
follows:
To
administer all programing in the natatorium (and other existing
facilities as needed) for all times with the exception of the
school-day classroom periods.
To
devise programs that will increase aquatics revenues for the Plum
School District by 15% per year for the next five years and decrease
expenses a similar amount over the same time period with exact dollar
amounts and a complete review of existing budget items and a full
report to be made to the School District Athletic Committee and Board
of Directors on a semi-annual basis.
The
Plum Borough School District will increase the compensation of the
Senior High Head Swimming Coach by $100.00 per school year and permit
additional compensation from other sources.
The
Plum Borough School District will maintain or diminish the existing
spending levels on all non-academic aquatics programing, and permit
and facilitate close cooperation among other sources so as to further
reduce expenses for the district in aquatic areas, and to further
enable these other sources to offer programs and generate revenues.
For
the Board to create and accept a steady stream of revenue from other
sources as a result of new aquatics activities as administered by the
Swim Coach.
Vision
Description
As
for the new responsibilities, I see a number of different ways in
which I could be of value to Plum besides being the swim coach. I’ve
witnessed a number of needs for Plum that match perfectly with my
past experiences and my goals for the future. I’d like to pull
together a combination of part-time duties, and build a new position
for myself within the district that would keep me busy on a 12-month
basis.
For
starters, Mark will become the executive director of a few new
ventures including: the Keystone Swim Conference, the Plum Press and
the Pennsylvania Literacy’s Unity Movement.
These
new names and organizations will be necessary to generate large-scale
projects with significant sponsorship investment. We will be able to
go beyond the basics of teaching elementary students how to float and
kick. With my contacts, I’d like to generate larger amounts of
The
Keystone Aquatics Conference will host big swimming competitions and
clinics at Plum and around the area. For example, the Plum Area YMCA
Swimmers are preparing a bid to host the 1993 YMCA district meet.
This two day meet generates profits of thousands of dollars.
The
best description for the Plum Press is the academic press model in
use at colleges and universities. I am sure you have heard of the
University of Pittsburgh Press, or the Yale Press. The Plum Press is
a business agency that utilizes student/employees to create
educational products, mainly books. The Plum Press would jump into
action as an outgrowth of the existing activities of the Sports
Support Syndicate, Inc. A catalog and a list of projects that would
take a life-time to develop are enclosed.
The
Pennsylvania Literacy’s Unity Movement (PLUM) is an umbrella
organization that allows the activities of the Plum Press to extend
beyond boundaries of the community. Other schools, towns and
sponsorship dollars are expected to be more attracted to our programs
and further brought into the fold if we used the Pennsylvania
Literacy’s Unity Movement banner.
Each
of these new projects will be a not-for-profit (and not-for-loss
either) venture and operate as a subsidiary of the Plum School
District. In total, these new organizations will bring in substantial
revenues to the district.
As
for specific costs, the new projects presented should all pull their
own weight. Mark would like to have a separate operational
budget
and line of credit for these activities that are not part of the
traditional school district budget. Instead, the district could
establish a corporation that is owned by the district. Each year the
operational profits could be reinvested into the programs to purchase
new equipment and provide better products for the district to enjoy.
Given
a smooth transition and solid support for the ideas from the
district, Mark can make projections of first year revenues (1992-93
school year) exceeding $50,000.00. In future years, the Plum Press
could expect to grow to generate at least $250,000.00 per year.
The
Plum Press, and/or the district can purchase plenty of computer labs,
team uniforms, bus trips and timing scoreboards on a quarter of a
million dollars of revenues. The Executive Director would like to be
able to act like an entrepreneur and be able to respond to the
marketplace quickly. Getting the responsibility, a special account,
an identity and line of credit at a bank would take care of the
majority of the start-up investment from the district. Both the pool
and presses sit vacant and idle many hours every week. There would
not be a start-from scratch learning curve as the Sports Support
Syndicate could jump-start all Plum Press business.
Personally
and professionally, Mark, as executive director of the non-profit
agency associated with a school, would earning salary based upon
performance.
There
are thousands of benefits presented when discussing the formation and
operation of the Plum Press. However, chief among the benefit are
abilities of the Plum Press to:
•
stimulate
reading,
•
foster a
respect and love of books, and
•
teach
that hard, challenging work is personally rewarding and fun.
With
the new directions being stressed by the Governor and the State Board
of Education based on educational outcomes rather than credit hours,
Plum is faced with changes. This proposed program stresses excellence
in education and fitness and can easily garner front page headlines
in the Wall
Street Journal
and features in Newsweek
magazine. The whole community and school system can get excited about
these ideas. Furthermore, my plan gets the ball rolling in areas
outside of the traditional school day—lengthening the school day
and lengthening the school year. In due time, we can put the energy
and visibility of these projects into the classroom.
Natatorium
CEO / Aquatics Director
Job
Description
•
Program
and administer all after school activities at the swimming pool.
•
Design
and manage the budget for programs.
•
Hire all
staff.
•
Coordinate
payroll, time sheets, and getting all pay materials from the
employees to the school district accounting office.
•
Hold a
forum for community input and evaluation regarding the programs.
•
Coordinate
usage of the pool with outside groups.
•
In the
summer months, either manage or hire a manager to operate the pool’s
programs.
Goals
Increase
utilization of the natatorium by the community with involvement in
meaningful programs such as:
Learn
to swim, family swim, water safety, masters swimming, fitness
swimming, rehab exercise, and alternative activities such as water
polo, diving, scuba, underwater hockey, birthday parties.
Mission
To
upgrade the aquatic educational opportunities in periods beyond the
school day by sponsoring creative programs and enrolling active, dues
paying participants supporting such programs.
Needs
•Classroom
and weight room availability
•
Instructor
payroll
•
Marketing
and promotions budget
•
Class
supplies
•
Storage
for pool area
Executive
Director of the Plum Press
Plum
Press Definition
The
Plum Press would be a new department or a non-profit subsidiary
within the school district.
The
Plum Press would have its own operational budget that allows for
revenues, expenses, speculative investments, capital investments,
inventory, part-time salary, etc.
The
Plum Press is a commercial enterprise, operated by a school district
appointed executive director that creates an educational setting for
the students and allows for the development, display, distribution
and marketplace involvement of in-house products.
Mission
of the Plum Press
The
Plum Press would be a cutting-edge, private/public cooperative
venture that would operate 12 months of the year.
The
Plum Press activities would work with student/employees giving
experiences in a wide range of roles including:
Management,
Manufacturing, Writing, Editing, Photography, Design, Production,
Advertising, Marketing, Accounting, Sales, Telephone Marketing,
Wholesale, Public Relations, Printing, Merchandising, Direct Mail,
etc.
Job
Description
Design
and seek approval of a business plan for the formation, funding and
operation of the Plum Press.
Direct
all aspects of the Plum Press.
Projects
for the Plum Press
Mark
Rauterkus has researched a wide variety of projects, investing
countless hours, searching for meaningful and viable projects. Mark
has a long list of pending projects ready for his direction, a list
so long and deep that these projects would take a life-time to
accomplish. The following is my short list.
Following
Ideas by Category:
Book
Series
Big
Books
Periodicals
Book
Series
Each
title below is not one book, but a series of books with up to 30
total books in a series. Some of the books are simple, 48 pages in
length, others are longer. Enclylopedia companies are hungry for the
rights to sell books that come in a set. Each series would take a
year or two to complete. Sponsors could be found for each series,
similar to what BP Gas Company is doing with Winnie the Pooh books
now being advertised.
A
is for Athlete
This
series of multi-lingual, sports-specific, alphabet books would teach
languages and sports and culture. The series would feature one book
for each Olympic Sport and each book would feature six or more
different languages, including sign-language. I think we could get an
Olympic sponsor, such as Pittsburgh Paints to sponsor this first
printing. The Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs would also
want to be involved.
Sports
Math
This
series of workbooks feature questions and answers about math as it
relates to sports and recreation. The books in the series get more
difficult with regard to the sports in discussion as well as the math
skills needed to solve the problems. There has been a tremendous
advance interest from this book. An attempt to publish the book with
questions from sports magazine was not easily accomplished.
Age
Group Swiming Around the World
This
series of books would feature a different sport in each book. For
example, the swimming book would feature chapters on 11-year old
swimmers from different parts of the world. Different sports and
different age groups could keep this series interesting and it would
teach sociology as well as geography and languages. Mary T. Meagher,
world record holder in swimming wants to help with the swimming book.
First
Things First
This
series of sport-specific books would teach a 9th grader how to
consider trying out, joining, playing and conditioning him or herself
for a scholastic sports team. The series would have a book on each
sport offered in the high school setting.
A
Plum Season
This
series of sport-specific books would follow the activities of a
sports team, its players, its coaches and the competitors from the
first day of the season until the last, and beyond. We just published
a book called, A DAM Good Year, on Masters Swimming from the Davis
Aquatics Masters. The Plum Season could be similar in concept with a
workout diary and drills.
Yesterday,
Today and Tomorrow
This
series of sports specific books look at sports in terms of history,
development and how the play of the game has changed. For example, in
swimming, most good 12-year-olds can break world records, if they
only lived in the 1940s. The core of the history part of the book
would be a reprint of an older how-to book. The future section is a
fun part that gives insight as to how the game might change.
Patrick
Rabbit - Literacy Comic Books
This
series of comic books feature Patrick Rabbit of the literacy advocate
group, Cartoonists Across the World. We will write the stories, sell
the ads, build a program of distribution and contract with the
creative talent. Barbara Bush, an advocate of literacy and an avid
swimmer, wrote the forward to the swimming book, thanks to Mark
Rauterkus’ contacts.
Notes
on ________
This
series of more technical, how-to books are written, by and large, by
proficient student-athletes in conjunction with expert,
internationally famous coaches. Each book will be on one sporting
activity. For example, we can get Olympic Swim Coach, Don Gambril, to
coordinate the text for the book, Notes
on Swimming.
These books serve as handbooks for our clinics and seminars.
Lifting
in the 5th Dimension
This
is one book that looks at peak performance and it utilizes weight
lifting as the medium of expression. However, we can re-write this
book over and over again making it apply to all sorts of activities,
from marching in the band to playing on the volleyball team.
Talking
with the Golf God
This
book, like Lifting
in the 5th Dimension,
is written for a specific game—the game of golf. However, the
sports psychology, visualization, and other self-help messages of
this book can be taken out of the context of golf, and re-written for
other activities. This would be a fantastic project for high school
students to complete.
Big
Books
These
books are single titles and potential best sellers. If we sell 3,000
copies per year, of a $15.00 book that costs us $4.00 to produce and
deliver to the customers, the profits would start to grow.
Collegiate
Recruiting Guidebook
There
is not any one book designed for the high school athlete to read to
tell him or her what to do about college sports participation. This
book would be a big-time seller, if only all the rules would stay the
same year to year. Every high school in the country would buy a copy
of this book.
Pull
Your Own Weight for Kids
The
PYOW concept is in a pre-release edition and the Chicago Bears are
about to run with this idea in Illinois. We could get most NFL, if
not all the major league markets to get PYOW into the schools. Plum
will start a PYOW program with the elementary grades. It is great for
self-esteem.
Reading
Day at the Ballpark
There
is hat day, bat day, poster day, t-shirt day, and not READING DAY. We
can get Reading Day at the ball park in every stadium and arena in
every market in month.
Periodicals
These
titles would be published on a quarterly or monthly basis. The Plum
Press, as a book publisher, needs plenty of free space to promote its
own books, and we would do this in our own magazines. Our staff of
writers, editors and advertising executives (all Plum students) would
easily fill the pages, and our sponsor, Typecraft Press in
Pittsburgh, would print the magazines on color newsprint in an
economical fashion.
The
Sports Reader
A
quarterly, book review magazine with a fun, sports, recreation and
fitness focus. Book reviews, written by our students and expert
coaches and participants, would also appear in RR Bowker, Books
In Print.
The
Sports Chronicle
A
quarterly magazine of newspaper article reprints from around the
nation related to sports-specific topics. Every major weekly and
daily newspaper would send us their publication for our clip service.
We would read, select, and reprint local articles in a national
journal, giving us volumes of materials to use at our desire.
The
Golden Cog Award Program
An
awards program for authors, editors, photographers, video producers,
publishers, and illustrators for accomplishment in publishing in the
sports and fitness field. Like the Cleo's for advertising or the
Oscars for motion pictures, our award, The Golden Cog, would put our
organization on the map and under the spotlight for years to come.
Reading
Public Service Announcements
A
series of TV commercials, PSAs, that feature reading and literacy
promotion, much like the Project PLUS from WQED. The Plum Press PSA’s
could star athletes and authors engaged in a dialog similar to
“tastes great vs. less filling.” Instead we would promote, “read
books vs. read magazines vs. read newspapers.” All our celebrity
shots can be provided at the annual Golden Cog Award Program.
School
Operational Considerations
The
Executive Director of the Plum Press would team-teach two classes per
semester, 6th period and 7th period, to be called Applied Reading and
Writing.
This
elective, one-semester course would be open for 10 to 15 upper-class students who have earned high-honors English grades.
Applied
Reading and Writing would be held in a classroom next to the office
and store-room of the Plum Press. Hopefully, this room could be made
available near the print-shop, perhaps room B6? This classroom and
storeroom would also need to be the Executive Director’s office
throughout the day. It will need to be equipped with 4 to 10
computers, a couple of phone lines and other, special equipment.
As
teacher, the Executive Director would report to the school principal.
The
Plum Press will also be a club within the school that all the
students could take advantage of if they want to particpate.
The
Natatorium CEO/Aquatics Director will hold many pre-school activities
for students and staff. Among those activities will be the creation
of a new club, the Plum Guards. The Natatorium CEO should be assigned
Home Room responsibilities and have the Plum Guards as students in
that Home Room throughout the entire school year.
The
Natatorium CEO should also teach one course in the first period in
the first semester to be called, Advanced Aquatics Exercise and
Instruction. This class should serve as a PE requirement for the
students who enroll. The class should be restricted to swimmers who
have already passed the PE swimming class. A classroom and part of
the swimming pool should be available for the class meeting. It might
be possible that the regular swimming class and the Advanced Aquatics
could be held in the pool in first period if both classes are kept to
a small number of enrollment.
As
far as the coaching is concerned, Mark would continue to serve as the
head swimming coach for the boys and girls teams. No significant
changes other than hosting a couple of large meets each season, are
in-store for the swim teams and the coach would report to the
athletic director.
With
the Plum Press and the activities revolving around fun activities,
like athletics and sports and such, the Executive Director would like
to be considered a “Resource Coach” for all athletic teams in the
school.
Governor
Casey Calls for Reforms
State
Board of Education makes sweeping curriculum and testing changes.
Education’s
Changing Face
Taken
from recent newspaper articles.
“To
lead our children out of the classrooms of the 20th century and into
the world of the 21st, I propose fundamental changes in how we
educate our children,” Governor Casey said.
...
to shift measurement of student progress from how much time a child
spends in school to what a child actually knows and can do.
...
an apprenticeship initiative that would bring schools, business,
labor and state government together to prepare kids for 21st century
jobs. This initiative would include classroom training, as well as
on-the-job experience, with certified craftsman and technicians
employed by businesses or industries.
...
students graduating from high school will have a wider understanding
of subject matter and an accompanying personal enrichment, both
achieved through dramatic revisions in learning requirements.
..
give educators the autonomy to develop their own programs. And those
programs, the Board of Education hopes, will produce graduates who
know what they need to know to become productive in society. Credit
standards will be replaced with knowledge standards.
Will
Plum High School have its own High School Press? It could be a
commercial, incubator, laboratory, enterprise, operated by a school
district appointed executive director.
The
Plum Press will create a new educational setting for the students and
allow for the development, display, distribution and marketplace
involvement of in-house products and services. Why talk about
exporting in class and not have an example of it in action down the
hall at the Plum Press?
The
Plum Press could be a cutting-edge, private/public partnership, that
would inject a tremendous amount of energy, and zeal for reading,
writing, fitness and sport into the student body and community at
large.
The
Plum Press would do wonders for literacy, personal fitness, creative
thinking, self-esteem, and the Plum Press would offer real-world
application of classroom knowledge for the students.
I
feel that the Plum Press could have a positive impact on every
student that goes through this high school and for every citizen in
the district. Within ten years, the Plum Press could have touched
every adult in the county in a positive manner. Furthermore, I am
certain that the Plum Press can be operated in a fiscally responsible
nature that would make it a source of new revenues within five years.
More
information and proposals, including the budget can be generated at
our next meeting.
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