Klarinet Archive - Posting 000403.txt from 2003/11

From: Troy Shimkus <musickmann@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] School instruments
Date: Sun, 23 Nov 2003 11:37:04 -0500

As a newbie to the world of the band directors (I'll
be graduating with my BME on December 16 YIPEE!) I
have to say that one comment about 'schools not
wanting perfect instruments because the kids aren't
playing well enough to appreciate them' bothers me in
the respect that it’s the directors responsibility to
teach the kids to respect the instruments and the
overall program. Now, I do have a bit of that fresh
college grad naivety, and I more than realize that
there are kids who won’t respect anything no matter
what the band director tries to teach, but I still
honestly believe that situations like that can be
overcome with time and patience. The responsibility of
providing schools and students with proper equipment
and enough funds to run a band program should with out
a doubt be up to the school board, individual school,
and community (in that order, and in my humble
opinion), however, we all know that the way Florida
has chosen to fund its public schools is ridiculous
and ineffective. This is not the fault of school
boards or schools, but the fault of politicians and
voters who make these decisions. This is exactly why
teachers in Florida make substantially less than
teachers in other states (27,200 as a starting salary
in some counties in Florida as opposed to 34,500 some
counties in Georgia and other states). So that being
said, band booster programs have to step up to find
the money for the band programs, if we continue to
blame the school boards for lack of funding and
continue to be afraid of finding our own money for the
fear of loosing all school funding, the only people
being hurt are the students, and after all, isn’t our
first responsibility to the students?

And there you have the thoughts of a naïve soon to be
first year band director.

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