I seriously had not planned to even try and think about the Buna Public Schools for a few days this morning.
But yesterday my messages " lit up" with this text from the Buna ISD.....
In it included the following-
And it seems to have been in the form of a " Papal Bull " from administration-
Included was the commands-
- Band and auxiliaries will no longer be able to take the 3rd quarter off to visit the concession stands. Members will be provided a meal before the game, and parents can no longer bring food or drink to their students. However, students can bring snacks if they feel they may be hungry during the game.
- Passes will be used when students need to use the restroom. Only 2 at a time.
-At home games, the band and auxiliary will be roped off not to allow people in and out.
And it goes on.......
Charles R. Smith the Band Director at Vidor, who was the hardest, hard-ass there was in my educational career, made me look like a sissy teaching y'all, allowed us a 3rd quarter break when I was at Vidor High.
It never caused a commotion.
In college, we got a break after half. ( But in college in the 1970s, band members used tobacco products in the band section, and this writer may have or may not have had a pipe with old fashion Sir Walter Raleigh pipe tobacco in the baritone section.)
All I could think we was, " Let's micromanage the hell out the fun band kids might think about having."
Trust me, this would be just a start. More rules are coming....Or would be-
Okay, time to get ugly-
The " Papal Bull" sounds like some malarkey some former Jock or Jockett has come up with.
They think that the only and the most important extra-curriculars are something from the athletic department.....They literally look at the band, choir, art, CTE( Blog on this tomorrow) and UIL Academics as somehow second class extra-curriculars. Do not tell me otherwise.
I saw it firsthand for 30+ years.
Buna Schools had a Supt. of Schools who did everything he could to kill UIL Academics when I was there. Never mind we were sending massive numbers of kids to regional and were winning at State in Austin in several of the contests.
The sorry piece of manure called our overnight trips to Region and State a " Vacation" for the teachers. Do you know what it is like to keep 40+ kids from getting into trouble on a trip? Making trips to CVS Drug at 2:30AM because a student had forgotten feminine products? Or keeping male and female students from sneaking into each others rooms at 1AM? Or getting up at 4:30AM to get kids to their contest for a 6AM contest?
They don't know, or care how many hours these kids put into their contests....Months of work. One year, in a contest, kids had to read a 700 page book on the Belgian Colonization of the Congo.....That was just to start learning what was coming for the contest....Just start. That is just one team, one contest.
Do you know how many hours some of these band kids have practiced a trumpet or flute, or the drums?....And that is before they even marched a step.
And trust me, Core Teachers, Math, Science, English, History at other high schools judge how serious a school is with their academics, by how well their UIL Academic Teams do at contest. Do not do squat at contest and they know, the kids in that high school ain't learning nuthin'. It's a heck of a gauge.
This may shock some of you reading this, but getting an education is what school is supposed to be about. More kids get full academic scholarships than sports scholarships, by a long shot....Including, my son. We did not pay a nickel for his university education.
So, apparently someone, I am guessing parents threw enough of a fit by the end of the day, the band had the 3rd quarter off again....
And Buna ISD patrons, I am going to get really ugly here, and not all members of the profession are this way, as many had kids in band, UIL, etc.....And they " get it."
How many members of your present school board were at one time or another called " Coach?"
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