Chapter 6: Program Administration
As seen from the foregoing, your Living History Program is a rich total immersion experience for you, your teaching team, the student participants, and the students’ families. If all those who are involved in the program participate fully, your administrative chores are relatively easy.
You are the principal administrator. You bear the primary responsibility for making the program work, but having assigned your teaching team members specific responsibilities, you are able to focus your efforts wherever they are needed most.
There are some areas in which you will want to exercise special oversight. These include:
It will be incumbent upon you to keep appropriate records of activities. Develop a system which is simple to maintain so that you do not become unduly burdened. You are helped in this by fully utilizing student participation and using records they generate. The chain of command needs to be actively engaged, and commanders and staff need to be appropriately tasked.
Giving the student chain of command real responsibility will enhance the effectiveness of the program.
Example: You are doing the War of 1812. The two regimental adjutants keep attendance records. The company commanders report periodically to the adjutants those student participants who are present for drill, those excused absent, and those absent without leave.
Example: Your program encompasses the period of the American Revolution. The company commanders inspect the pay books of each company member to insure they are up to date with respect to recording their attendance at drills and payment of dues.
Example: You are reenacting the Civil War period. Several teachers note that students in the Union Army regiment are being unruly in boarding buses for home. The commander of the regiment calls his company commanders together and directs them to be more observant of the conduct of their members when boarding buses to go home after school is over. The commander tells them that the unruly conduct reflects poorly on the reputation of the regiment.
Example: You are doing the French and Indian War. The holiday season is approaching and a holiday feast is planned. The regimental commanders have their quartermasters inform the company commanders of what parents are expected to contribute in the way of food. The quartermaster distributes information sheets asking parents for specific items of food.
At the beginning of the school year you will need to establish a budget for your program. This can be accomplished in several ways by:
As program director one of your major concerns will be costs incurred. Funding is obtained by:
Expenses will be many and varied but should not be high. Uniforms and equipment may be borrowed from the Living History Education Foundation, but if your program is to be sustained from year to year, you need to accumulate an inventory. (See ANNEX P for sources of uniforms, equipment, and weapons.) Some expenses are:
If you want your Living History Program to survive into the next year, you will want to express your appreciation to individuals and groups who supported your program during the school year. This entails writing thank you letters, especially to groups which provide financial support. Organizations which make special presentations for your Living History Program need to be thanked. If a person in a position of authority has expedited the accomplishment of some activity, a personal note helps to solidify his/her future support if required.
While general thank you letters can be sent at the end of the school year, there will be other times when you will need to send a thank you letter soon after the event.
You are the principal administrator. You bear the primary responsibility for making the program work, but having assigned your teaching team members specific responsibilities, you are able to focus your efforts wherever they are needed most.
There are some areas in which you will want to exercise special oversight. These include:
- Planning the year’s curriculum
- Driving the curriculum to a successful conclusion
- Insuring that, in coordination with the teachers responsible for oversight of property and finances, there is proper accountability for all:
- funding
- expenditures
- uniforms
- and equipment
- Insuring that all activities are safely conducted
- Maintaining effective liaison with school administrators.
It will be incumbent upon you to keep appropriate records of activities. Develop a system which is simple to maintain so that you do not become unduly burdened. You are helped in this by fully utilizing student participation and using records they generate. The chain of command needs to be actively engaged, and commanders and staff need to be appropriately tasked.
Giving the student chain of command real responsibility will enhance the effectiveness of the program.
Example: You are doing the War of 1812. The two regimental adjutants keep attendance records. The company commanders report periodically to the adjutants those student participants who are present for drill, those excused absent, and those absent without leave.
Example: Your program encompasses the period of the American Revolution. The company commanders inspect the pay books of each company member to insure they are up to date with respect to recording their attendance at drills and payment of dues.
Example: You are reenacting the Civil War period. Several teachers note that students in the Union Army regiment are being unruly in boarding buses for home. The commander of the regiment calls his company commanders together and directs them to be more observant of the conduct of their members when boarding buses to go home after school is over. The commander tells them that the unruly conduct reflects poorly on the reputation of the regiment.
Example: You are doing the French and Indian War. The holiday season is approaching and a holiday feast is planned. The regimental commanders have their quartermasters inform the company commanders of what parents are expected to contribute in the way of food. The quartermaster distributes information sheets asking parents for specific items of food.
At the beginning of the school year you will need to establish a budget for your program. This can be accomplished in several ways by:
- Requesting assistance from the Living History Education Foundation in developing a budget.
- Requesting assistance for guidance from some other school which has a similar program.
- Using the previous year’s program budget if this year is not the first time you have run such a program.
As program director one of your major concerns will be costs incurred. Funding is obtained by:
- Requiring each student participant to pay weekly dues. Because the school year typically lasts thirty-one weeks, you need to see that dues are set at a reasonable rate. (See CHAPTER NINE for a suggested rate.)
- Requesting an allocation of funds from your school administration. Your school should have funds set aside for field trips and special activities during the school year. It is best, however, in the interest of cooperation with school administrators to keep requests low.
- Asking the Parent Teacher’s Organization for financial assistance. Since parents will have their children in the program, this organization should be a good source of funding.
- Planning social events for families to raise funds for activities. The encampment at the end of the year will require each participating student to pay a certain sum to offset expenses. The more money that can be raised through such events before the final encampment, the less money will be required from each student.
- Asking for donations from groups sponsoring events in which they would like the regiments to participate. These might just be token amounts but by requiring such donations will help to establish the visibility of your program in the community.
- Staging fund drives. Have student participants collect refundable cans and stage a competition between companies to see which can accumulate the most during a certain time period.
Expenses will be many and varied but should not be high. Uniforms and equipment may be borrowed from the Living History Education Foundation, but if your program is to be sustained from year to year, you need to accumulate an inventory. (See ANNEX P for sources of uniforms, equipment, and weapons.) Some expenses are:
- Uniforms, equipment, and weapons. These may be a one-time expense. These become the property of the school if purchased and can be used again and again. The uniforms will have to be altered each year, which is done by the student participants. Equipment, such as belts, will have to be fitted each year as well. Tents, however, will only require yearly maintenance. Other pieces of equipment, such as forges and cider presses, will require cleaning but little maintenance.
- Transportation. Activities which are considered part of the school curriculum will be paid from school funds. A trip to a battlefield some distance from school and strictly a part of the Living History Program would be funded from the program’s resources.
- Entrance fees where applicable. If possible, you should negotiate the avoidance of fees at places which normally require them, such as state parks. Instead of having to pay fees, you might offer a drill demonstration by the regiment in their stead.
- Special events. While students’ parents would be expected to furnish certain foods for a feast, the program might provide the major meat dish, such as turkey, for a holiday meal.
- Incidentals. You will need to provide a “cushion” in the event there are overruns in executing parts of your program.
If you want your Living History Program to survive into the next year, you will want to express your appreciation to individuals and groups who supported your program during the school year. This entails writing thank you letters, especially to groups which provide financial support. Organizations which make special presentations for your Living History Program need to be thanked. If a person in a position of authority has expedited the accomplishment of some activity, a personal note helps to solidify his/her future support if required.
While general thank you letters can be sent at the end of the school year, there will be other times when you will need to send a thank you letter soon after the event.