Happy Monday Mighty Hawk Band,
I wanted to reach out to everyone and give a major update coming from BISD about the upcoming summer band rehearsals / fall marching band schedule. Due to the major spike in COVID19 cases in the last two weeks in the DFW area, the Director of Fine Arts for BISD, Head Band Directors from Birdville High School, Richland High School, and Haltom High School, as well as the BISD Administrative cabinet have decided that it is in the best interest of our students and faculty’s safety to not participate in a competitive marching band season for the 2020-2021 school year. The physical and financial obstacles of social distancing students properly on school buses for travel are just not feasible with 225 students. Our students and faculty’s safety is 100% our priority and was the main factor in making this difficult decision.
With this decision being made, this is going to drastically change our rehearsal plans and what our fall semester is going to look like. We are still planning to do a marching band unit for the fall semester, but obviously the rehearsals / performance ideas need to be discussed and planed out with the new end goal now being very different. The BHS Band Staff is meeting tomorrow evening (Tuesday, July 14th) to put together a new summer band schedule. Detailed information regarding summer rehearsals and thoughts of what the fall semester might look like will available later this week. To help with your planning, for sure we will not start any rehearsals earlier than Monday, August 3rd but again, everything is going to be dependent on COVID19 decision made by, Governor Abbot, TEA, UIL, and BISD. Thank you guys for understanding the situation and being flexible with us.
I’m not going to lie, this was a very tough pill to swallow. The competitive marching band season is always such a special time for all of us. Please trust that these decision were made in the best interest of your student’s safety and that the Birdville High School Band Staff will work tirelessly to ensure that meaningful learning is happening while keeping the fun, memory making experiences playing music and marching with your closest friends the biggest part of what we do in the safest ways possible. Thank you guys so much for understanding. We’ll get through these crazy times together. Please be safe, stay home, and wash your hands. Don’t forget to look for an email from me later this week with more information regarding the new Summer Band schedule / fall marching band plan.
Mike Cheripka
Director of Bands
Birdville High School
Birdville Independent School District