Band Camp 2020

 It's August, which means we should be having Marching Band Camp. In a normal year. Which this isn't.

Socially Distanced Sectionals

Fortunately, we are able to have voluntary band practices, with certain accommodations. We wear masks at all times. We have bell covers for all of the wind instruments. We maintain proper social distancing at all times. We do not congregate in large groups...

The Central League has just announced that there will be no sports until January 1, 2021, with the 2020 fall sports season (i.e. football) expected (hoped) to be played in March/April of 2021. (Winter sports in Jan/Feb and spring sports in May/June).

So the band rehearses music. And learns basic drill. But more importantly, for the first time in ~6 months, the kids sorta get to do something together with their friends. It's difficult to put a value on that...

School in the district starts next Tuesday, virtual for at least the first month. Beyond that, who knows, but I would doubt that anything but virtual will happen until 2021.

But at least for the moment, we have 100+ kids scattered around the width and breadth of the high school campus, doing something that has the vaguest hint of normalcy about it, which is a good thing.

I think that one of the things a parent would wish for the most is the ability to protect their kids from this sort of...whatever you would call it. But that isn't possible. So at the very least we can sew bell covers, do temperature screenings at check-in every day, ask about Covid symptoms, and spend 3 hours every evening strolling the campus and checking for proper social distancing. It's a very small sacrifice...