[Dixielandjazz] School District Lists - Prospecting 101

[Don Kirkman]

On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 20:11:56 -0500, Steve barbone wrote:

>I don't have a gig tonight, so forgive my numerous posts. Following is Step
>One in how to develop a prospect list for School Districts. The example is
>for those bands in the Los Angeles Area, but works well anywhere in the US.

[Sorry for the length; I found it hard to snip logically]

>1) Google search for: Los Angeles County School Districts. (Do not
>abbreviate to L.A. as LA is such a common word, Google hates it.)

>2) First hit is LACOE. Open it.

www.lacoe.edu/

>3) Surf around the site until you figure out how to hit on the alphabetical
>list of School Districts, and address for them

>4) First S D on the list is ABC Unified. Open it. See address. You could
>stop here and write to them, go to the next one etc. But surfing the site
>will reveal that this S D has 19 elementary schools, 5 middle schools, 3
>high schools and 1 college prep. A veritable gold mine.

>I also suggest, for your own information and piece of mind, that you use the
>search box on this S D site.

>1) Surf around until you find the "SEARCH" box. Type In: Music Programs. You
>will get 5 pages of information about music, music programs, music
>appreciation, field trips, bands, foundations that help with money, talent
>shows, spring musicals, and all sorts of assorted information about how much
>this S D does to make the kids aware of music. (except hire your band)

>2) This should convince those in Los Angeles that the schools do have money,
>and that they will spend it on school music programs and that a certain
>portion of that SHOULD BE IN YOUR POCKET since you are providing music and
>art appreciation to the general population of kids. ;-) VBG

Thanks for noticing, Steve.  However, let me point out that Cerritos,
one of the larger cities in the ABC district, is relatively rich--not in
the Beverly Hills class, but well above a typical Los Angeles area city.
The point is, neither Cerritos nor the ABC district (encompassing
several cities) can be used to prove that other local districts are
equally well off.  And I suspect the LA *City* school district is poorer
than most of the districts spread across the county, though it's
probably relatively close in size and enrolment.

My kids are long gone from the ABC district, so I don't know what's
going on nowadays; my gut feeling is that the district, including its
music, arts, and athletics programs, may have slipped a bit from those
halcyon days of two or three decades ago.

>Enough said. Works for any county in the USA. Try it.

[. . .]

>LA County has 80 School Districts and 1.7 million kids in schools. Great
>Market. As are the counties surrounding LA, from Simi Valley to Riverside to
>Orange. As is San Francisco, (The whole Bay Area), San Diego, Fresno, and
>probably even little old Sacramento and Monterrey. Your fame and rock star
>status await you. What are you waiting for? Turn on those kids.

>Remember you have a unique product: JAZZ, AMERICA'S MUSIC which is arguably
>the only uniquely American Art Form. JAM, not a band name for it either.
-- 
Don
donkirk at covad.net