**Please see the letter below as there is a lot of important information for parents in ALL grades regarding purchasing student Activity Passes and Booster Club Memberships/passes, registering for 7th-12th grade 2024 fall activities (Sports, Dance, Football Cheer, Band, Choir, FFA) and turning in physical and concussion paperwork.
Hello, Algona Bulldogs!
As many of you have heard, we are rolling out a new scheduling and information system in our Activities Department. Go Bound has been around a few years now and has continued to grow and improve their services to schools. We will now be housing all of our Activities and School Schedules on Bound. We held a brief introductory meeting about that a couple weeks ago. In that meeting we covered upcoming breaks this school year, first days of practices for this fall, how to use the Bound School Calendar and a number of other important topics. If you were unable to attend - you can view that meeting here: https://youtu.be/STMElQ8KGno
Along with scheduling all activities, Bound will also allow us to collect all necessary paperwork online. Starting July 1 for the 2024-2025 school year, you will now register for activities and turn in all of the required documents to participate. For students in 7th-12th grade, your required paperwork - physical (last page only) will be uploaded and you will sign your yearly concussion information page directly on Bound. You will still need the physical paperwork from the school before you go to the doctor. We know that this year will be a transition year. If you do not need a physical until later in the year, you do not have to get a physical early - we will use the current physical on file until it expires. To upload your documents you will need to register and create a family account. Step by step instructions (or video instructions) to create your account and upload necessary documents from both your computer or via Bound's app can be found at the following links:
Bound-Computer- https://5il.co/2m2wq
Bound-App- https://5il.co/2m2wo
Bound-Computer-Spanish- https://5il.co/2m2wp
Bound-App-Spanish- https://5il.co/2m2wn
It is imperative that you and your child register on Bound ( https://www.gobound.com/ia/schools/algona click on Registration) and create an account with a valid email address and phone number. Once registered - Bound's Messenger App will allow coaches and sponsors to contact yourself and your kids in a more efficient way than Remind by replacing all the various Remind groups we currently use. One of the benefits of Bounds Messenger services is once your child is on a roster - you are automatically signed up to receive text and email updates- no more codes to enter. Bound will also email out reminders when your paperwork is about to expire - remember - physicals expire 12 months +30 days after your appointment. Although Algona is new to Bound, many other schools have fully implemented Bound's tools and I consistently hear that Bound's messaging system is excellent!
We will also be moving all of our Activity Ticket and Booster Club event passes to Bound's online ticketing system. Remember - Booster Club passes are the only way to get an adult activity ticket for our events. When you are ready to purchase your passes for the 2024-2025 school year head to the "tickets" menu on the Go Bound Algona website (https://www.gobound.com/ia/schools/algona/tickets). You can purchase your student passes and/or booster club passes and your QR code pass will be emailed directly to you. You can either save that QR code on your phone, print the QR code, or save it on your phone in your account on Bound's App. The QR codes will be scanned at our pass gate or ticket booths just like they have in the past. We will continue to take cash or credit/debit card at the gates as well but we are moving to Bound's Pass system this year for all passes. Log-on and get your passes starting on July 1 - these are incredible savings for attending events!
We know that this is a big change and fully expect some growing pains with this new system. However, it seems Bound will be able to help us streamline and increase our communication in regards to schedules, passes, and paperwork. Please go to Go Bound Algona (https://www.gobound.com/ia/schools/algona?slug=algona) and register for your fall activities and get your passes soon. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me directly. Thanks!
Andy Jacobson, Activities Director