The Dell Rapids School Board made the decision to purchase new uniforms for the Dell Rapids High School marching band at its regular meeting held on Monday, March 10th. Band Director Brian Smith requested the purchase of new band uniforms in November. The request was to purchase 80 uniforms for a total cost of just under $25,000, and the estimated time of order fulfillment is between 120 and 150 days. Edie Hinricher, Music Booster President, was on hand during the school board meeting and said that the Music Boosters would donate $5,000 towards the purchase of the new uniforms.
During the discussion, school board members Steve Stofferahn and Matt Weiland asked if the decision to purchase the new band uniforms should wait another month since the financial budget for FY2015 is still in the early stages of finalization. But Tom Morris, school board President, said, “I just think because of the time constraint, I would hate to wait another month, knowing that we need these uniforms, and then not have them available for next year.”
Morris then made the motion to approve the request of the purchase of new band uniforms for FY2015, with a $5,000 donation toward the purchase to come from the Music Boosters. The motion was seconded by Stofferahn. The motion passed with all member voting yes.
The full discussion can be seen on the archived video. The band uniform discussion starts at the 15:26 mark and ends at the 31:50 mark of the video “DRHS School Board 3-10-14” on the webcasts page.