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Who said there’s no band? Competitive marching band is only a spoke on the band wheel. The membership of the Kentucky Music Educators Association made the correct decision along with almost every circuit in the country.

Maybe those assistants found an opportunity to get away from the crazy person they work for...👀

I would hope so. The same thing ironically happened in the late 1990's. I think in 1997 they had about 180. In 1998, 112. This was right before JHHS was built. It takes almost no time with the wrong person to destroy years of progress.

Any KMEA member is eligible to be elected to serve on committees. The district 1 membership elected Mrs. Stribling to that post and they have every right to do so.

Can you imagine the grief KMEA would get with the almost inevitable technological/streaming issues and critique of the online 'judging'? People will be a lot more forgiving of some third party... "Well, at least they tried". As opposed to "KMEA ruined it!".

I appreciate the effort but......I don’t see this being successful

My understanding is that bands submit a video from their home field and the video is live streamed by the host. but I’m not 100% on that it’s just what I heard through the grape vine. the thing that disappoints me is if this proves to be successful why couldn’t KMEA get it together enough to do this?

Work "with," definitely not "for." They work "for" the Hardin Co Board of Ed, and are assigned to each building and its principal. I know what you were referring to, though 😎

Is this a serious question?

The governor and public health will likely step in and say no. The KHSAA punted to the governor’s office.

...except for band. If we could only have had this decision 6 weeks ago. Too late for the marching season. 😭 https://www.wave3.com/2020/08/20/watch-live-khsaa-make-final-decision-fall-sports/

Lot of people are in agreement about that individual. I feel sorry for those that have had to deal with it. KMEA has proven they won’t do anything once they encounter a barrier. Their answer is to just cancel it. Proof being with the state conference and all-state already being cancelled. It’s truly maddening.

Oh God, please hire Box5 for this. I need this.

I was told one took a job in another county, and the other is now an assistant principal. What I hear is there was a huge drop in the number of students signing up for marching band, although the concert band numbers didn't change much. And then COVID hit, which knocked a few on the fence into the 'not worth the effort' group. I hope that's not the case. CH always seemed to have a good group of kids and a decent band for a school that historically focused more on their sports teams than their band. Any program faces special challenges with a director change. The impression I get is the 'change' last year was not handled well at the top. Here's hoping lessons were learned and they can bounce back.

I feel terrible for your kids. It’s clear they are not receiving an appropriate, well rounded music education, and are in band for all the wrong reasons. How many of your former students play their horns in adulthood? How many participate in a collegiate ensemble (major or non-major)? How many current students pursue outside opportunities such as all state band, summer music camps, youth orchestra, private lessons, etc? How many freshman graduate the program 4 years later? I would be willing to wager those numbers are sad and pathetic. In your world band ends in October. What do you do from November to June? Beat more marching band music into the kids? Probably. The various KMEA committees voted to protect the health and safety of our students and communities. They 100% made the correct decision. All state auditions will be held in a virtual manner in 2020-21. This is also the correct decision for our students.

My account is not fake. Of course, if I was saying the crazy things that bdit is, I would create a fake account as well. Z Not lazy.

Then you are in the wrong business. The purpose of music education has nothing to do with competition. Don’t complain next spring when your program gets cut because you refuse to serve your community and school. I’m also certain that any band director worth a penny would not be posting on a band forum arguing with mostly students and parents.

I was told their marching band went from around 125 kids to around 60 something. But I imagine COVID had something to do with it.

Posts like these make me miss what we usually talk about. Instead of breaking down opening weekend lineups and reviewing preview shows, we get this.

I think there's a better-than-average chance you're correct. Pandering to scary headlines is more valuable to some administrations than looking at the actual numbers: "The Kentucky Football Coaches Association put out a graphic last week regarding COVID response and mitigation data. Of 190 schools reporting with 10,962 football players in the programs, 96 tested positive (0.875 percent) and none were traced back to football workouts. There were 1,760 staff and support staff tested and 17 were positive (0.965 percent) and nine were traced back to football workouts. The combined numbers are 12,722 players and staff, 113 positive tests (0.888 percent)... What more do you want?" https://www.thenewsenterprise.com/sports/athletics-governor-please-listen-to-your-constituents/article_0467029e-04d3-5930-8b8d-98295eb141a2.html If you're willing to shut down when less than 1% test positive in a cohort, and where those few who did test positive have only a slightly smaller risk of dying by lightning than adverse COVID outcomes, you probably don't need to be in a position making policy decisions.

There will not be KMEA all state ensembles this school year. I understand the decision was made this past week by the KMEA board. The KMEA conference held in February will move to a virtual format for 2021.

You are totally and unequivocally missing my points, and twisting them to fit your agenda. You’ll vote for Biden, and I’ll vote for Trump. It’s all good 😁.

For students who want to participate in competitive marching band, music education has everything to do with competition. That's certainly not the case for all. But many kids are interested in competing, and competitive marching band draws them in. They might not show up without it. Which means they never get exposed to the other aspects of music education. I'm not a music educator, just giving you an outsider perspective. Something that's probably needed from time to time.

Someone has to educate these new teachers coming out, because it’s certainly not the universities in my area. Most of the ones that are coming out or student-teaching are either coat-tail riders or just flat out lazy. And you have no idea what my credentials are......plenty of fake accounts on here 😎. And not sure where you get that I’m “arguing.” Just stating my opinions. I can also guarantee you that our (see, it doesn’t belong to me) program will not get cut either next year, or the year after that. My admin is fully behind us and our students. Anyone else also notice how the vote yesterday was 17-0 in favor of keeping hopes alive? Looks like they all went to vote for the best interests of their students. All we did was vote to bail on ours.