Mr. Craig Update email 6-28-20
I hope your summers are going well! As you know, we are still dealing with unprecedented times, and as such there are still many questions regarding band and school as a whole. Mr. Jump, Mr. Gibbs, and myself definitely miss working with our students, and rest assured we are all working to plan for both the marching band as well as our classes during the school day. While I don’t have all of the answers at this time, I will share what I can to help us plan for the weeks ahead.
Some large items to be aware of:
- On Wednesday of last week the Governor and the Department of Education released their return to school guidelines. Since that release our district and KMEA have been working on how this will look for band classes in the fall.
- With Mr. Turner’s transition from Ryle to our Superintendent, for several weeks the process has taken place to hire a new head principal at Ryle. As you can imagine, as such there has been a bit of delay in terms of decision making for our school until this has occurred. Fortunately for us, as of Friday evening we were informed that our new principal will be Mr. Matt Shafer! Mr. Shafer has been one of our assistant principals for the past two years, so he is very familiar with our school, staff, and students. Mr. Shafer and I have been in contact, and are working on plans for both band class and marching band at Ryle.
- In Mr. Turner’s new role as Superintendent, he has advised me to work with our other district directors to provide guidelines for marching band and band classes during the day.
- I’ve had a video conference with our other district HS Band directors, and we are working to have a meeting next week with district officials to discuss marching band guidelines and considerations.
- The Kentucky Music Educators Association (KMEA) is the governing body for KY Band activities. For the next two school years, I will be serving as the Chair of the KMEA Band Council. All Band activities under KMEA’s umbrella are presided over by this council, so as chair I am highly involved in the guidance released from KMEA for band activities.
- There is currently a national study regarding the distribution of aerosols from wind instruments and singing, which will have huge implications for band and choir activities both in and out of the classroom. The wind results from the study are slated to be completed by July 10th. The link to the study information can be found here: https://www.nfhs.org/articles/unprecedented-international-coalition-led-by-performing-arts-organizations-to-commission-covid-19-study/
As many of you know, our district recently released guidance for athletic activities to resume beginning on July 1st. A few items of note in this regard:
- The guidelines that have been published are only for July 1st- July 12, and were made in conjunction with state (KHSAA) and local athletic officials.
- These guidelines were also created with our district athletic directors and administration, and were approved by the local health board as well.
- The Kentucky Music Educators Association (KMEA) has also published guidelines for marching bands in terms of practice, but those also only cover from now until July 12th.
- As such, there are some KY marching bands that are practicing under these guidelines at this time.
- Both KHSAA and KMEA (sports and bands governing bodies) plan to release guidelines for the next phase of rehearsals after July 12th in the next week or so.
- While there will certainly be similarities between the two, marching band does not fall under the governance of KHSAA, so athletic guidelines and band guidelines will likely have some differences.
While there will be more to come after our upcoming meetings and state guidance, at this time the district band directors have come up with the following information for parents:
- Marching Band in-person rehearsals will begin no earlier than July 20th.
- This will allow time for us to prepare for the next phase of guidelines as well as waiting until the national aerosol results have been completed.
- For us, this means the leadership meetings, new member camp, and the guard and percussion camps scheduled for the week of July 13th will be cancelled. We will work to modify our weeks moving forward to include these activities beginning July 20th.
- More guidance on the schedule for members after July 20th will be coming ASAP.
- All Marching Band students must have a physical in order to participate in any in person marching band rehearsals.
- KMEA does not currently have a physical form for marching band, but the KHSAA form will be sufficient for this need. Please see attached KHSAA physical form for this use.
- Students must have this completed form prior to participation in marching band rehearsals.
- All Students must have the following items prior to participating in in-person marching band rehearsals:
- Cloth mask/face covering that covers their nose and mouth.
- Students will be required to wear masks whenever social distancing is not possible during rehearsals/breaks/etc.
- Large Water Jug
- We will not be providing large water coolers for communal service in the foreseeable future. We also won’t have access to water fountains, so it is crucial each student has their own water jug for rehearsals.
- Binder with plastic sheet covers for their music (Wind and Percussion members only)
- Lunch/Meal bag that will keep food from spoiling outdoors. If we have to remain outdoors to participate, students will need a proper bag to store their lunch outdoors during summer rehearsals.
I know there are still a lot of questions that you have, and I’m sure the students have several as well. When it comes to things much further down the road (competitions, FB games, State Championships, etc.) the honest answer is that no one really knows what school will look like in September and October. We are only able to look at what’s immediately ahead of us, and do our best to make the best decision we can make. As adults, we have to remind the students that this truly is unprecedented in our lifetimes, and we will do what we can to do our activities, but the safety of all involved is our primary concern.
Lastly, while I understand that information travels faster than ever, and social media can be a wonderful tool to spread information/awareness. In the current climate, I ask that we use our Ryle Band social media accounts for information rather than discourse. If you have specific questions about things moving forward, please contact Cindy Richmond or myself via email.
Please stay tuned for more information!
GO RAIDERS!!!
Take care,
Joe