Welcome to the first week of the 2020-21 school year! Many things about school in general and band in particular will be different than the norm! Here are some important details for our high school band students.
• We are on a block schedule this year, with 1st, 3rd and 5th hour classes on 'A' block days, and 2nd, 4th and 6th hour on 'B' block days. Tuesday will be an 'A' day.
• All band students should have received an invitation to join their band Google Classroom in their JPS email account. Please make sure they have joined before Tuesday if possible.
• ALL high school band students have band 3rd hour during marching band season (roughly coinciding with the first quarter of the school year). Concert Band students' schedules indicate that their band class is 6th hour, but we do a "band flip" which means that they should come to band 3rd hour on Tuesday, and they will go to their listed 3rd hour class during 6th hour on Wednesday. Teachers with students in the band flip are aware of this.
• Instrument storage: Before school on Tuesday, marching band students should put their instruments in their band room locker, which were assigned last Wednesday. Non-marchers may bring their instruments into the band room before school begins, and we will assign lockers during their 3rd hour class. All students must have a "band lock" (available for $6.00 in the band office) to protect their instrument/belongings. NO FOOD OR BEVERAGE (other than water in a securely closed container) is allowed in the lockers. Acceptable items include ONLY your instrument, music, shoes for marching band rehearsal, and water bottles.
• Extended Traditional students: At least for the beginning of the school year, band classes will use Zoom rather than Google Meet because of some issues with separate sections ("breakout rooms") in Google. The link for your Zoom meeting will be posted on Google Classroom no later than Tuesday morning.
• Extended Traditional students in Marching Band are expected to attend class in person. It would be impossible for students to stay caught up and confident if they only attend 3 out of 7 hours of our weekly rehearsals (4 hours of 3rd hour class plus 3 hours of rehearsal on Tuesday evenings). These students will need to find out if their 1st hour teacher expects them to be in synchronous attendance through the end of the period (some will not) and if their 5th hour teacher needs them to be in attendance right on time (likely all of them will!). There will definitely be details to figure out here - please be patient, and contact the band directors to communicate issues as they arise. Again, please be patient and gracious as we are ALL navigating a brand new paradigm with this option!
• Because Tuesday is now a half day, Extended Traditional students should not come to marching band class in person so that they can be present for the full 55 minutes of their 1st and 5th hour classes online. There should be a separate marching band Zoom meeting for these students. Again, this arrangement is JUST for Tuesday because of the half day! (Should other half days be necessary this fall, we will stick with this - so no in person attendance for marching band on a half day.)