April 21st Update...

Week of April 21st

Online Assignments for middle and high school band students are continuing on Google Classroom but students "should" have created their own account on SmartMusic and joined their respective band classes.  "IF" YOU HAVE NOT JOINED YOUR CLASSES' GOOGLE CLASSROOM THEN YOU ARE NOT EVEN GETTING THE ASSIGNMENTS.  If you need a class code please let Mr. D. know!

Join Band and Choir! PLEASE be sure to elect and band and/or choir for next year!  This thing is not going to last forever, and we DON'T WANT TO LOSE YOU!  We have so much to look forward to together.  Go Trojan Music!

Disney Trip UpdateWe are currently in conversation with both Bob Rogers Travel and Mr. Hebenthal (superintendent) concerning the logistics of next season's Spring trip to Disneyworld.  We are attempting to iron-out some wrinkles dealing with the registration, deposit and payment process to guarantee that students will not lose payments for any reason in the event of a trip cancellation due to either a "spike" in Coronavirus cases around the time of the trip OR due to the fact that a particular parent may not feel comfortable sending their child on the trip at that time.  Currently, the deadline to pull-out of trip participation is 90 days prior to departure, but students may purchase trip insurance through Bob Rogers Travel that will guarantee a much greater reimbursement.  Please give us some time to work these things out.  We (the directors) hope to have all trip information, along with the usual Disney informational Slides Presentation to you by this weekend.  

Marching Band for 2020 That is the question of the century.  We obviously have no idea at all what will transpire over the summer and on into the fall.  There are 3 big factors in determining whether or not marching band will transpire; the first is health-related.  If social distancing is still in effect, with individuals required to wear masks and with no more than, let's say, 15 permitted in any one place, that's going to make putting a marching band together and practicing difficult.  The next issue is that of funding; School districts across the country "could" be asked to make a 20% cut from allotted % of state and federal aid.  This will inevitably cause "cuts" somewhere along the board.  We'll just have to wait and see!  Finally, the question of how individuals feel about going back to being around crowds of people before there are vaccines and/or medications available for COVID-19 will inevitably have an impact on student participation at school and in athletics and music activities.  WE ARE GOING AHEAD AND PLANNING AS USUAL - and if we are told somewhere down the road that there is not going to be a fall season then we'll deal with it.  Otherwise, we are prepared and ready to go.  Finally, hopefully you were all able to see my "State of the Union" address on the Centerburg Music Facebook and/or Google Classroom, and heard where I mentioned about "0" payments necessary for this season's marching band.  We will utilize whatever remaining balance we currently have in the band activity account  for all student supplies and equipment this year.  Yes, there may be some things we'll need to go without (please see marching band mailer - going out sometime this week) but we'll do fine for a year.  We will, however, only include 0ne (1) uniform dry cleaning prior to the season so if yours does become soiled or other you'll be responsible for having it cleaned mid season.  Every time we send the uniforms to the cleaners is about $1750.00.  More updates to come (sorry to be so wordy)!

Marching Band Section Leader and Field Commander Training and Auditions Material is being attached to Google Classroom this week and may be viewed by all band students.  Instructions for online training as well as for the creation of interview and audition videos is thoroughly explained.  Look for it soon!

Last but not Least...  The school superintendent has just informed teachers that the last day of classes for seniors is May 8th and the last day for new assignments for middle and high school students is May 14th.  The remaining time up until May 22nd will be spent on assignment make-ups and for teachers to contact those students who have not been holding up their end of the bargain - that is, not turning-in work.

Keep up the good work!  and...   Go Trojans!  

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