Schools Should REALLY Examine Themselves.....

Before we moved out here to BFE, we were in a wealthier district. There were about 250 kids per grade so it wasn't small, but it sure wasn't inner-city ghetto, either. Of course, those teachers were INSANE liberals (over the top), but they have been in the district for a long time and were great (most of the time) with kids. Parental support was amazing. I remember when one of the elementary schools had to stagger holiday party days because they couldn't accommodate all the cars (from parents) in their parking lot at one time! They have (ok...HAD because MSTEP has taken them down as it has other schools) amazing test scores, high graduation rates, a VERY successful football team, and their band is heavily involved in competitions, etc.

We moved to a smaller district that is kind of rural. There are about 70 kids in a grade. You would think this district would have it easy to be successful, but...it's not successful by any means. In fact, their graduation rate is one of the lowest in our tri-county area. This is the arm-pit of the county filled with mostly blue-collar families (which isn't necessarily good or bad) and a 40% rate of students eligible to receive free or discounted lunches. Their football team hasn't one game in YEARS. In fact, this past fall, one area team who went to state finals pulled out of their date to play our school. LOL They would've STEAMROLLED our team. Instead, they chose to play an equal team that was more their league. LOLOL Their basketball team sucks. This is one of those schools you NEVER see on sports news on the local TV stations.

And then there is the band. Good God, I just cannot wrap my mind around this. The director is nice enough, for sure. In fact, he meshes so well with these kids. However, this band sucks, too. I am not even kidding. I remember hearing them for one of the first times. They played a piece that was a popular song and has a pretty decent moving tempo. This band played it slower. WHY????? WHYY!!!!!!!! It may be the same reason they play Sleigh Ride at a crawling tempo, as well. It's TOO HARD for these kids to play it where it SHOULD be played. Quite honestly, I don't know if this band could play ANYTHING as it should be. I think there are a NUMBER of issues going on here. Aside from the fact this school is just an unsuccessful school, you have to look at the demographics. When you attend a school function, you are going to find camo clothing as if it were the latest and greatest fad. I am sure none of them have ever heard of the name Mary Kay. I saw one guy come to a function in his WADERS. W A D E R S..... AND the whole 9 yards with the overalls.
I think it was the same night I saw another fuck who thought it was ok to bring their large dog. Nope. Not a service dog..just their damn pet. Unreal. So, anyway, you have a high amount of brainless rednecks who brag about the fact their 3rd great-grandparents also went to this school. These people are born and raised here and never LEAVE. They quit school to do backyard mechanics...I swear. Parents don't care about their kids here. So there is problem one. Then let's look at the staff. I truly believe in the trickle-down theory. Do you think staff is going to give a shit if parents don't? Perhaps. But that goes away quickly when you have to deal with these dirtbags. Eventually, teachers don't care. In fact, this school district has a HIGH turnover rate. My daughter started high school this year and had no spanish teacher. Nope. Not one. I think middle school was missing a science teacher (or maybe that was high school...or I wouldn't be surprised if it were BOTH!). They lost a math teacher after only 2 years. I've heard rumors teachers have walked off their job in this district (before we got here). They have a teacher who doubles as an athletic coach. This teacher has read a student's doctor notice to the entire team....clearly, violating HIPAA. We've been out here for three years and we've had three different principals..LOLOL You get the point.

Back to band. Yes, this is going to be a "when I was in band in school" moment. Band was NOT a blow-off class back in the 80s. In fact, one year, I had a written final exam. That aside, we did testing. We were expected to know the music...LEARN the music and PRACTICE the music. You then were TESTED on this music and subsequently placed in the appropriate chair. It was based on ability. Even after placement, you could easily challenge the chair ahead of you to try and take their chair! Bottom line is...we were given a reason to practice. We were motivated to do well because we wanted higher chairs (fun fact: I was first chair and nobody challenged me...;0)). Now I KNOW, I am not director here in this school, but this band is NOT put into chairs. I've been told they don't even do testing. SOOOOO...do they get grades just for showing up??? Is that how that works? No wonder these kids suck. They have no reason TO DO well and they don't WANT to do well. It's all disgusting to me. They don't do competitions, either. They do festival and that's it. That's ALL! Oh, they do go to Disney every 4 years forcing parents to try and raise nearly 2000 dollars so their non-caring kid can take a joyride to Florida. The SAME DISTRICT THAT HAS A HIGH POVERTY RATE. This band has a decent amount of money in their checkbook. Enough to send EVERY kid to Florida, but that's not the point. If parents weren't forking out this large ass check, this band could go somewhere EVERY YEAR and it would be a helluva lot easier to swallow that price tag over Florida. But nooooo......there is a hard-on for Disney and these music classes their for a band that SUCKS and DOES NOT GIVE A SHIT about band! It's unreal. But, who am I?

Tonight, my daughter and I went to a neighboring districts concert. This band (all three we heard) was JAW-DROPPING. I nearly fell out of my chair! Even the middle school was remarkable. My daughter kept whispering me, "Take me. I don't care what chair I am in....I need to be here". I told her, "You better really think about this because these kids could be shittier (as in bitchy/bullies/etc than what you are already exposed to". She didn't seem to care. The district we went to tonight is comparable to the one we left three years ago. It's a wealthier area, but does tend to get inner-city kids because they are closer. It's probably as large as our old district, but the parental support and turnout is outstanding. Clearly, someone is doing something right in this music program because these kids are extremely talented.