Dear M100 Family,
I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe! We have had a wonderful week seeing our Colorguard and Percussion and even had the pleasure of working with our drum majors for a little while one day! Great to see everyone again and you're sounding and looking great!
Well - things are changing everyday. We’ve already had two major changes this week and I’m sure more to come. One positive thing from all of this - we’re all getting used to dealing with adversity and change. When this is over, many other stressors in life will seem easy to deal with!
Our latest announcements and reminders:
UIL GUIDELINES have changed as of 7/21/20. You can read them fully here: https://www.uiltexas.org/policy/covid-19
Some key points for us:
Texas bands (all classifications) cannot start drill for their shows until Sept. 7th regardless of when and how a school's year starts. So - that means we can only practice marching fundamentals and music until Sept. 7th. This will obviously affect our summer band calendar.
Students participating in remote learning offered by their school district, whether synchronous or asynchronous (as defined by TEA), may participate in UIL activities if they meet all other UIL eligibility requirements. Students must be enrolled in remote learning options through the school the student will represent
For the 2020-2021 school year, UIL eligibility requirements for the first six weeks of school have been modified to allow a student to be eligible for the first six weeks if they accumulated at least two and a half credits since the start of the 2019-2020 school year. Schools may impose additional requirements.
Marching Band Updated Calendar
September 7: First Day to Begin Contest Show Visual/Marching Curriculum
December 3: Region Contest Deadline for 2A/4A/6A
December 10: Area Contest Deadline for 2A/4A/6A
December TBD: 2A/4A/6A State Championships
*UIL contest dates have not been solidified yet.
ANNOUNCEMENT from the Bell County Public Health District - July 23, 2020
The Bell County Public Health District announced that schools in Bell County will not re-open for on-campus, face to face instruction until after September 7, 2020. There was an exception for electives. It has been communicated to me, by BISD administration, that we, the BHS Band (including Colorguard), may continue with our summer band plans (strength and conditioning) as normal. I have read the order many times. If I hear of any change to this information, I will share it immediately.
SCHOOL START DATE
Originally was August 19,2020. Our Superintendent sent an email on 7-24-20 stating:
(Dr. Smith) will present a recommendation to the Board of Trustees on Tuesday (7/28/20) that Belton ISD move the first day of school to September 8. Please take a moment to watch this message from Dr. Smith about the Health District’s order and Belton ISD’s plans moving forward: https://bit.ly/2D0R9LR. Again, thank you for your patience as we work through the latest development and additional guidance. Families can expect to learn more next week as additional information and resources are added to www.bisd.net/responseplan.
REVISED SUMMER BAND (STRENGTH & CONDITIONING) PLANS
In light of the changes listed above, we have thought it logical to change our plans for summer rehearsals (strength & conditioning) going forward. Here are the changes to mark in your calendars:
July 27 & 28 - Leadership Work Days - BHS Band Hall / possibility of outside work. WEAR YOUR FACE MASK, BRING YOUR OWN WATER (no sharing) AND AN OLD RAG (for dusting :)
July 29-31: No practices
August 1 & 2: Virtual SASI Leadership camp as planned. Log in info. Coming soon. Times on band calendar.
August 3 & 4: Leadership Work Days - BHS Band Hall / possibility of outside work. WEAR YOUR FACE MASK, BRING YOUR OWN WATER (no sharing) AND AN OLD RAG (for dusting :)
August 5-7: Leadership and New Member Camp - 8am-12:30pm (outside and inside). More details to come.
August 8-Sept. 8: We hope to start this week with ALL MEMBERS. We are working through many variables and options to create a meaningful, relevant, and safe summer band camp opportunity. More details will be provided in my next weekend update (8/2). Thank you for your patience and understanding!
MANDATORY SCREENING
Parents must pre-screen their child for COVID symptoms before they are allowed to come to camp everyday. Adults who come to campus or any practice must also pre-screen themselves.
HEALTH SCREENING QUESTION:
Do you have any of the following new or worsening signs or symptoms?
Cough
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
Chills
Repeated shaking with chills
Muscle pain
Headache
Sore throat
Loss of taste or smell
Diarrhea
Feeling feverish or a measured temperature greater than or equal to 100.0 degrees Fahrenheit
Known close contact with a person who is lab confirmed to have COVID-19 if exposure to the active confirmed case occurred within the last 14 days
Any person who answers yes or refuses to answer the question will be excluded from school grounds and facilities. Thank you for doing your part to keep the Big Red Community.
PLEASE CONTACT YOUR DIRECTOR IF YOUR CHILD TESTS POSITIVE OR IS EXPERIENCING COVID SYMPTOMS OR IF YOU KNOW YOUR CHILD HAS BEEN EXPOSED TO SOMEONE WHO TESTED POSITIVE.
THANK YOU!
LETTER JACKETS
If you would like to order a letter jacket for your child, please go to BHS between Monday 7/27 and Thursday 7/30 between the hours of 7:30am and 4pm to pick up a packet to fill out for letter jackets. The letter jacket company cannot schedule an in-person session so they’ve asked me to make these packets available to you. Inside the packet you’ll see instructions to measure your child and order sheets to fill out. The packets are in a box (no lid) on a small table just as you walk in to the front foyer of BHS with a sign attached - BAND LETTER JACKET FORMS. Please take one, fill it out and return it by July 31st to the front office of BHS or a band director. A director will be at BHS July 27-28 from 9am-3:30pm and July 29-31 from about 9am-noon at least. You can always email me if you have any questions. (shannon.gill@bisd.net) Thank you!
“EVERYTHING DAY” - It is online this year, as you know, due to our band size, construction, and out of an abundance of caution with everyone’s safety in mind.
Please check the Everything Day Checklist to make sure you are taking care of tasks-https://www.beltonmarching100.com/everything-day-checklists
FORMS: Please continue to submit your forms to us either by email (shannon.gill@bisd.net) or you can drop them off at the band hall (see hours in paragraph above). Please email Mrs. Gill if you need hard copies of the forms. Forms are located on the band website https://www.beltonmarching100.com/blank-page-1
PAYMENTS: Mrs. Cobb, our Band Booster President, will be sending an email soon to inform you about payments -when they are due, how to pay, etc. Please watch for her email, through our Charms system.
NEW PRIVATE LESSON TEACHER - TUBA/EUPHONIUM
Excited to introduce a new private lesson teacher to our staff - Mr. Matthew Kundler. He is new to UMHB this year and is excited to take on students from BISD! He has a very impressive resume and received his Bachelors of Music in Classical Euphonium/Tuba from the University of Alabama, his Masters of Music in Music Performance from Northwestern University and his Doctor of Musical Arts in Performance and Pedagogy (ABD FAll 2020) from the University of Texas. Please contact him directly at matthewkundler@gmail.com if you would like to set up private lessons. He has already been doing many virtual lessons and that is recommended at this time. You can also discuss his fees.
Very excited to have him join our staff!
FACE MASKS
In accordance with current regulations - anyone who enters BHS must wear a face covering. We are enforcing this strictly with our students but everyone must comply. I have also purchased neck wrap type coverings that are red with a Belton “B” on them for each band student and have already given them out to Color Guard and Percussion who were at school this last week. Students can wear these or their own.
REHEARSAL SURVEY
We’ve received about 180 responses from members for the Rehearsal Survey I sent out on 7/21. If you haven’t completed this survey, please do. https://forms.gle/KD2sPhxW8RhDGn3K6
This will help us plan for the future. Several people have filled it out twice - please do not. If you’re plans change, just let me know (shannon.gill@bisd.net). Thanks!
REHEARSAL CONCERNS
From the survey - several parents concerned about students marching in the heat with masks on. We have been given permission, by our district, to NOT have students in masks while marching and/or playing outside as long as they are spaced at least 6’ apart. They only need to wear masks if they are on a break and/or cannot appropriately socially distance and also to and from the outside rehearsal. We will also avoid marching in the heat of the day and focus our outside activities to occur before noon if at all possible. (working through this). We always go inside during the middle of the day on normal years as well.
When inside - we will mark off the rehearsal spaces so that each student has 6’ of space around them AND they need to wear masks whenever they are not playing (brass and woodwind). Percussion can wear masks while playing. Colorguard can as well but if they get too winded, they may take it off as long as they are appropriately spaced. We do recommend wearing the mask even throughout the rehearsal if at all possible (Guard).
We completely understand your concerns for safety and are doing everything we can (including sanitizing all touched areas in between rehearsals) to make our environments as safe as possible. Summer rehearsals are optional but please communicate with us so that we can help answer any questions you may have.
NEW REMIND CODES FOR 2020-2021
Please join if you haven’t already done so:
To join a class, text the code to 81010
All Students: @20202021m1
Parents: @8g24b8
Leadership: @ea3aadb
Thank you for your continued support, patience, and understanding. Stay safe and healthy!