IS LCTI GOING TO SPONSOR AN FBLA CHAPTER THIS YEAR?
Yes.
The FBLA National Organization and Pennsylvania FBLA are making plans for an exciting year of FBLA programming. While some schools have made a determination to not participate with CTSO involvement out of an abundance of caution, LCTI will participate with FBLA this year.
WHAT ARE FBLA MEMBERSHIP DUES THIS YEAR?
Your FBLA dues for the 2020-2021 school year are $20.00
$7.00 – FBLA National Organization
$7.00 – Pennsylvania FBLA Organization
$6.00 – Region 28 FBLA OrganizationLast year the dues payment included a $5.00 fundraising amount that was credited to your personal fundraising account. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be no fundraising amount added to your FBLA dues. As a result, the LCTI FBLA dues have been reduced from $25.00 to $20.00 for the 2020-2021 school year.
HOW MAY I PAY FOR MY FBLA MEMBERSHIP DUES?
Dues payments will be accepted in cash or check. Checks may be made payable to “LCTI Student Activities Fund”. Payment may be made in person with Mr. Peregrin in D-202: Web Design / Programming or checks may be mailed to:
LCTI FBLA, attn Mr. Peregrin
Lehigh Career & Technical Institute
4500 Education Park Drive
Schnecksville, PA 18078Prospective members for whom checks have been returned for non-suffient funds will be assessed a processing surcharge of $25.00 to cover the fees that the LCTI chapter of FBLA will be charged by our financial institution.
WHAT IS THE DEADLINE FOR PAYING MY FBLA MEMBERSHIP DUES?
FBLA is proud to feature an open, rolling enrollment. That means that you may join FBLA at any point in the school year.
There is, however, an important exception. If you wish to particpate in FBLA competitive events, All FBLA membership dues must be paid in full no later than November 2, 2020. Students opting to join FBLA after November 3, 2020 may continue to do so by paying their membership dues in full; however, students joining after November 3, 2020 will not be eligible to participate in either the FBLA Regional Leadership Conference in January nor the FBLA State Leadership Conference in April.
You are encouraged to submit your FBLA membership dues earlier rather than later. LCTI FBLA will process FBLA membership on October 1 and November 2. Last year, FBLA members that had joined and paid membership for the October 1 membership process had received their FBLA membership cards for the 2019-2020 school year before November 1. FBLA members that were processed in the November membership update did not receive FBLA membership cards for the 2019-2020 school year until March due to the significant number of member enrollments that occurs as the competition deadline date approaches.
MAY I USE MY FBLA FUNDRAISING ACCOUNT TO PAY MY FBLA DUES?
No. FBLA is a professional organization and as a professional member organization, it is the obligation of members to join and pay dues in order to be recognized as a member in good standing.
Your FBLA Fundraising custodial account is your accrued balance to offset the cost of participating in FBLA events, not to pay for membership in the organization itself.
I WOULD LIKE TO JOIN FBLA BUT I CANNOT AFFORD THE $20.00 MEMBERSHIP DUES. WHAT CAN I DO?
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of our families are realizing very tight at-home budgets.
If you wish to join FBLA this year and you believe that you are going to have difficulty paying the $20.00 membership dues, please see your FBLA adviser, Mr. Peregrin, privately to discuss alternate options that will be agreeable to allow for your participation in FBLA. One popular option is to arrange for a payment plan where we agree to accept a small weekly payment of $1 or $2 to cover the entire cost of membership.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDRAISING?
Due to a number of precautions that have been enacted in order to ensure the safety of students during the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of changes to our fundraising activities will be enacted during the 2020-2021 school year.
Students are still highly encouraged to participate in the limited number of fundraising opportunities that will exist this school year as the funds raised will help to the cost of State or National conference participation. Fundraising account balances carry forward to subsequent years until the student graduates from LCTI so a student may begin fundraising in their 9th grade year but not use their fundraising balance until their senior year.
WHAT ABOUT THE STATE LEADERSHIP WORKSHOP AT KALAHARI RESORT?
The FBLA State Leadership Workshop will occur in a virtual format in November. The face-to-face State Leadership Workshop has been moved to a virtual only event. There will be no activities at the Kalahari Resort this year.
HOW IS FBLA RESPONDING TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC?
It is the goal of the FBLA National organization as well as Pennsylvania FBLA to ensure the safety and welfare of all FBLA members.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic emergency, Pennsylvania FBLA has moved to an all virtual format until December 31, 2020 at the earliest. This means that the FBLA State Leadership Workshop as well as any Regional Leadership Conferences occuring in the month of December will be virtual only.
Pennsylvania FBLA has permitted each of the 29 regions to conduct their Regional Leadership Conferences in either December, as usual, or in January. The hope is that a January Regional Leadership Conference date may allow for some students to particpate in the Regional Leadership Conference events in-person. Evaluation of this possibility will occur by the middle of December 2020. The plan is for Regional Leadership Conference events occuring in the month of January to be virtual AND in-person events, at the discretion of the student FBLA members as well as their sending member schools.
The Pennsylvania FBLA State Leadership Conference event will be both in-person and virtual, with attendance at the discretion of the school district and the individual FBLA student members.
Participation in the virtual and in-person FBLA events will be at the discretion of the FBLA school district, in accordance with their safety policies, as well as individually among FBLA members.
Please note, however, that if the school has decided that particpation in FBLA activities will be virtual only, all students in that FBLA chapter must participate virtually. If the school has permitted participation with in-person FBLA activities, students will be afforded the individual choice to participate as either a virtual or in-person attendee.
WILL LCTI BE PARTICIPATING WITH IN-PERSON FBLA EVENTS IF THERE ARE TO OCCUR?
That decision has not yet been made. A decision will be made pending the continued review of the COVID-19 pandemic emergency responses and county infection rates.
WHAT WILL AN IN-PERSON STATE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE COST THIS YEAR?
While it is still unknown if Pennsylvania FBLA will be hosting an in-person State Leadership Conference or a virtual only event, the cost of either event has not yet been decided.
The cost for LCTI students that were invited to attend the Pennsylvania FBLA State Leadership Conference last year was $465.00 based on a four person per room occupancy.
If LCTI does participate with the FBLA in-person State Leadership Conference, the look of the in-person conference will be significantly different this year. Since four students to each hotel room does not fall within the CDC guidelines, the number of students to each hotel room will be reduced causing an increase to the overall cost of the State Leadership Conference should LCTI decide to participate with an in-person conference. Remember, if LCTI does not permit our chapter attendees to participate in the Pennsylvania FBLA State Leadership Conference, no members of the LCTI FBLA chapter may participate with in-person activities.
HOW DO I SIGN-UP TO PARTICIPATE IN AN FBLA COMPETITIVE EVENT?
Please review the FBLA Competitive Events folder in this Schoology course. When you’re there, review the complete PA FBLA Competitive Events list. Do you have the skills that will be required in order to be successful in the event that you have selected? Great.
Then head to the SIGN UP: FBLA COMPETITIVE EVENT discussion board, find the post that includes the name of the event that you wish to participate, reply to the post with your name if you are competing as an individual or with your name and those of your team members if you are competing as part of a team. All members of a team must post in order to be considered as a competitor on that team.
Your career and technical instructor will be asked to approve your particpation in the competitive event that you have selected. Should your instructor not permit your participation in the competitive event, you will be asked to select another FBLA Competitive Event.
FBLA Competitive Events
https://lcti.schoology.com/course/2975742430/materials?f=278523200
IN WHAT FBLA EVENTS MAY I PARTICPATE?
There are 76 different competitive events hosted by the Pennsylvania FBLA organization. Some of the events are project based, while others are presentation, and others are knowledge exams. In an effort to minimize errors, please refer to the PA COMPETITIVE EVENTS LIST for a comprehensive list of FBLA competitive events as well as the prerequisites and requirements for each event.
LINK: PA FBLA COMPETITIVE EVENTS LIST
https://lcti.schoology.com/link?a=&path=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pafbla.org%2Fprograms%2Fcompetitive-events-program%2F
WHEN WILL FBLA MEETINGS OCCUR?
For the 2020-2021 school year, all meetings of the LCTI FBLA chapter will occur in an online virtual meeting room using Google Meet.
Public meeting and information sessions will occur every two weeks on a Wednesday. Please consult the calendar in the Schoology course for meeting dates and times.
“MAY I COMPETE IN FBLA AS A STUDENT THAT IS ATTENDING LCTI VIRTUALLY THIS YEAR?”
Yes. There is no difference between a virtual student and an in-person student. If you will be attending LCTI virtually this school year, you may still join the LCTI FBLA chapter to participate in meetings and FBLA competitive events.
Please recognize that as a virtual student, it may be increasingly difficult to compete in team events. It is recommended that virtual students consider particpating in individual competitive events.
“HOW CAN I PAY MY FBLA DUES AS A VIRTUAL MEMBER?”
Students that have opted to attend LCTI virtually this school year may still join and participate in the LCTI FBLA chapter. Payment of FBLA dues is still required. Payments should be made in the form of a check or money order made payable to “LCTI Student Activities Fund”. The check or money order may be mailed to:
LCTI FBLA, attn: Mr. Peregrin
Lehigh Career & Technical Institute
4500 Education Park Drive
Schnecksville PA 18078
Please do not mail cash.
Prospective members for whom checks have been returned for non-suffient funds will be assessed a processing surcharge of $25.00 to cover the fees that the LCTI chapter of FBLA will be charged by our financial institution.
“HOW MAY I CHECK MY FBLA FUNDRAISING BALANCE?”
Fundraising invoices and credit balances will be tracked through the Invoice Ninja dashboard.
Invoice Ninja: https://lctiweb.com/FBLAfundraising/public/login
