Greetings HVMB Families:
The parade was a huge success and great turnout from our kids, and I want to thank each and every one of you for helping make this happen! The kids looked and sounded great, even with frozen instruments in 30 degree weather! Thank you all so very much!!!
I have been considering all that goes in to making banquet happen, and the current situation with several students out with COVID, and all that this means for us gathering indoors for a 2 – 3 hour ceremony in the cafeteria. I want to be safe, smart, and responsible. I want you all to consider everything that is in front of us and understand my thinking on this as well, so I am being completely up front about this:
- We have over 10% of the marching band who have had/have COVID at this time (since Indy).
- We have a banquet, with 100+ members and their families…at about 250 – 300 total people in attendance, sitting together in the cafeteria for at least 2 hours, if not more.
- Our banquet is a dessert banquet. I am not interested in making it no food/no drink, unless we absolutely have to, and would love to at least have what we have in place happen. This means masks are required when not eating/drinking, but there will be people enjoying the desserts/refreshments throughout the program as well.
- With the number of cases, I don’t want to put ANYONE at further risk, and while we are clearly in a world where we won’t really know that everyone is COVID free, we have to do the best we can to navigate the risks and be responsible.
- I do not want to risk anyone (student, parent, staff, or otherwise), with so many recent cases, just before the holidays, and ruin the chance for families to spend time together on a well-deserved and much needed winter break. It would be selfish and unwise to do so.
While there are inherent risks in any gathering, I would feel much better/safer about gathering after the new year when the current students who are out have all had a chance to recover, hopefully cases are down for everyone (not just the band), and we can gather safely and enjoy our time together and celebrate these amazing kids.
Therefore, I have made the decision to move banquet until after the holidays. I want to hold it as close to what we’ve done in the past as possible (for both schools), with some sort of food/reception/desserts, awards, etc. I want to do this safely, and I want to include all the kids. I don’t want to split them up, I don’t want to have a senior only banquet (I think they all deserve to celebrate together), and I want parents/family to be able to attend.
I also understand we don’t want it to get too far away from the season either. That makes it no fun as well. I want to get right back to planning the event right after the holidays and find a suitable date for us all to come together, as planned, but with just a slight delay!
While I know everyone is looking forward to banquet, I sincerely hope I have your full support on this to be cautious and careful, and to get back to having a banquet as quickly as we can do so with everyone’s health in mind.
Please take a moment and complete this form, letting me know your preference on the three dates I have set aside for banquet at this time. If there is a date that stands out as the best choice, we will move forward with that one and I will get that information back out to you as quickly as possible so we can all plan accordingly.
Please discuss this with your student/family together, and please limit responses to 1 person in the family (either student or parent) for each member of the band. The first question on the form asks for the student member name, so indicate who that is and only complete the form 1 time within your family.
Here is the link to the form. Please complete it by this Wednesday, December 1 (or asap):
https://forms.gle/yvcvCnza2qV9VWGM7
Thank you all for your patience and understanding with this,
Mr. Green