Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Boosters concerned with board's decision

Members of the Gurdon High School band boosters were on hand at the Gurdon School Boards meeting on Tuesday, June 19, hoping to change the boards mind as to the recent reorganization of the Gurdon High School band.

During its May meeting, the board voted unanimously to reorganize the band into a grades seven through 12 configuration. The band was previously only for students in grades nine through 12.

Board members said one of the reasons they reorganized the band was to have a larger band on the field at football games.

Band parents disagreed with the board members, saying that placing the seventh and eighth grade students in a more advanced setting could only hurt the future of the band. The boosters said that seventh grade students have only one year experience in band, and many are still learning the fundamentals of playing an instrument.

Theres no way in the world they could be ready for it, one of the parents in attendance said. This parent also said he had considered moving his children to the Arkadelphia School District to allow them to have a better band experience.

Gary Maskill, pastor of Gurdons First United Methodist Church and a member of the band boosters, also addressed the board. He said that it is hard enough for the seventh and eighth grade students to play their instruments while sitting still in a concert band situation and that making them march at football games would be even worse.

Youre taking the only stability they have away from them, he said.

Maskill said that adding the younger students could cause the band to lose its quality, and that, in turn, could cause the band to lose even greater numbers of students in the future.

I think if the band degenerates in quality, people are going to say I dont want to be a part of that.

Band booster Tamara Dempsey presented a letter to the board on behalf of the organization.

Our band directors have asked for a compromise to please go grades eight through 12 for our high school band next year, but you have failed to listen to their request because we assume you know what is best for our kids, the letter said.

Folks, our band aint broke; it dont need fixin, she said.

Tina Martin, president of the band boosters, said her concern is about band booster finances. She said the club often pays for meals and hotel expenses when the band is out of town at contests and other events. A bigger band could cause the club to have to expend more money, she said.

Martin asked that the board keep an open mind about helping the booster club with the increased expenses.

I feel like we will to the best of our ability, Superintendent Bobby Smithson said.