Dear FBLA Advisers
For those interested in pursuing "PA FBLA Outstanding Chapter" status for your high school or middle school chapters, the first membership milestone is this Thursday, October 20, with a payment postmark deadline for the first batch of dues scheduled as October 31. What does this mean, and what must you do?
First, this is a membership milestone date, and there is nothing catastrophic going to happen to your chapter if you don't do anything regarding this date UNLESS you have students working in the High School Business Achievement Awards or the Middle School LEAD Awards. For students to continue in those programs after October 20, the students' dues must be marked paid by October 20. How can you quickly make sure your students are paid so that they can continue past October 20? Pay the dues by credit card.
What it does mean is that you can have 1, 2, 3, or your entire chapter's membership entered into the National FBLA membership system. It's an initial reporting date encouraging chapters to show they are active with one or more FBLA-HS or FBLA-MS members in the system.
Second, keep in mind that chapter advisers may enter new members into the membership system as many times as you wish during the year. There is no rule indicating all membership may be entered only once during the year. Advisers are free to enter members whenever convenient, and they are free to create membership orders for students as many times as they want. Keep in mind, however, that once you create a membership order for a student, you are committing to paying membership dues for that student.
Third, PA FBLA High School chapters can have members entered into the National FBLA membership now and have them ready to go when RLC registration opens in November. Students can be registered for their competitive events without dues being paid at the time of registration; however, all dues MUST be marked paid by December 31. Since Middle School competitive events are later, information regarding dues deadlines will come from Michele Sites, Middle School Coordinator, regarding the middle school program.
Fourth, having at least one member entered into the National FBLA membership system and having those dues postmarked by October 31 (if mailing a check) could earn your chapter its first 10 points toward William Selden Outstanding Chapter status and a nomination for the National FBLA Hollis and Kitty Guy Gold Seal Chapter Award of Merit. And how do you claim those points, I hear you ask?
You need to access the William H. Selden Outstanding Chapter Criteria. Here's how you can access it:
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www.pafbla.org > programs (menu) > William H. Selden Outstanding Chapter Criteria
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Direct link: https://www.pafbla.org/programs/outstanding-chapter/
OCC Item #1 is (active link to the online form is below):
When you open the form, it will look like the illustration below. It's an easy and simple online form to complete. What you see is what you complete; that's it for this one.
The common question: what's my chapter number? Remember, all chapters were assigned new chapter numbers last year. Login to the membership system, choose manage your chapter, and the chapter # (aka chapter record #) is immediately below the name of your school). See the illustration below. You will need this chapter # for various items. Make a record of it and keep it handy.
